Legalisation Services Reliable Legalisation Services Stamford For most countries, once a document has been notarised, it must also go through a process known as �legalisation� before it can be accepted overseas. This can either take the form of an �Apostille� provided by the U.K. Foreign & Commonwealth office, a Consular seal provided by the U.K Consulate of the intended destination country or (for some countries) both of these.
Apostille An Apostille is a certificate provided (in the U.K) by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (The FCO) which confirms that the seal and signature of the Notary are genuine.
An Apostille will be accepted in all countries who are signatories to the Hague Convention of 1961, which includes virtually all of Europe and most of the major countries worldwide.
The FCO have two offices. One offers a postal service only for non-urgent matters. The other is in London and offers a same day over-the-counter service for urgent matters. It is not possible to attend at the office personally and the London Office will not deal with postal applications. Moreover, the London office is only open to registered users thus necessitating the use of a London agent. The office aims to deal with applications within 48 hours and currently charge a fee of �30.00 per document . The charge for using the London office service is currently �75.00 per document although, added to this you must factor-in the cost of the London agent. Agents� fees can vary widely, depending upon the number of documents and whether Consular legalisation (see below) is also needed. If you email or call me with details of your documentation I will enquire how much the fee is likely to be.
The Apostille fee is charged per document, so, if you have a number of documents requiring legalisation the cost can rapidly mount. However, in some situations and for some countries, it is possible to �bundle� several documents under a single Notary�s certificate. As it is the Notary�s certificate to which the Apostille will be attached, only one fee (�30.00/�75.00) will be incurred in such case. I will be happy to discuss the possibility of doing this if you require further help on this point.
Legalisation Not all countries are members of the 1961 Hague Convention and, for those that are not (and even for a number which are) documents intended to be used in those countries need to be �Legalised� by their U.K. Consulate. This involves sending the document to the Consulate for the country concerned and paying a fee. Consular Legalisation fees vary both from Consulate to Consulate and also according to the nature of the document to be Legalised. The fee can be as little as �5.00 or (exceptionally and usually for commercial documents) as much as �500.00 per document . Some countries who are not members of the 1961 Hague Convention will, nevertheless, insist upon you obtaining an Apostille from the FCO first, thus incurring two sets of fees! If you would like to know how much it may cost to have your documents legalised I am happy to check the up-to-date position for you.
Please note that some countries, mainly those in the British Commonwealth and parts of the U.S.A. do not ordinarily require documents to be Legalised at all. Again, if you are unsure, please contact me for the current position.
Contact Me
It is always best to check the rules and regulations in each country when sending legal documents there as to what service you require. Call me on 07410 400219 for more information or to speak to me about your personal situation.
