Welcome to Fatchett Legalisation’s Apostille Service. We specialise in providing efficient and reliable apostille services for UK documents, ensuring your documents meet international standards. Whether you need to authenticate your documents for legal reasons, travel, study, or work abroad, our professional team is here to assist you every step. Trust our document legalisation service to handle your apostille needs with precision and care.
Why use our Apostille Service for your UK Apostille?
- FREE document reviews
- FREE expert advice
- Competitive prices
- Money-back refund guarantee
- Highly recommended
Also, unlike many of our competitors, we are a firm of notaries. This means:
- We have more in-house expertise than most of our competitors, and can offer fast and expert advise without having to refer you to third parties.
- Our industry regulator holds us to a higher standard than most of our competitors.
Choose your Document Apostille Service
Document Formats for Apostille
You can get an apostille from the FCDO Legalisation Office for many different document formats including:
- Your original document
- A certified copy of your document from either the General Register Office (GRO) or local register office
- Your original document stamped or sealed in wet ink by the an official of the issuing authority
- Your original document not stamped or sealed or signed by the an official of the issuing authority
- Your original document signed and dated by a UK solicitor or notary
- Your original document signed, certified and dated by a UK solicitor or notary public
- Your original document signed with a printed or electronic signature of an official of the issuing authority
- A photocopy of your document
- A printout of your electronic document produced from the original PDF or other electronic document. The document may contain an electronic/digital signature or seal.
BUT which format is acceptable depends on the type of document AND the the requirements of the overseas requesting authority.
Also, some documents require solicitor certification or notarisation before they will be accepted by certain countries.
This is further complicated by some countries requiring or not requiring certification or notarisation depending on the purpose you use the apostilled document for.
It really is as clear as mud!
Fortunately, if you are in any doubt we are here to help you with our free document review service.
Free Document Review
UK Apostille Order Process FAQ
Our aim is to get your apostille certificate to you as quickly as possible by following a simple process:
Choose your service and order online or send your completed order form via email.
Send us your documents. For speed and security we strongly recommend that you use Royal Mail Next Day Special Delivery. If we need further information or clarification after reviewing your order we will call or email you.
We complete the apostille process with the FCDO and return the apostilled documents to you or you can collect them from our Birmingham office.
You will receive an email confirming the order details and instructions on what to do next.
If we need further information or clarification after reviewing your order we will call or email you.
We will take care of the rest of the process.
The documents for apostille. (Please contact us for free advice if you are unsure whether you need to provide originals, official certified copies, or copies signed by a solicitor registered with the FCDO or a UK notary).
It is important to include a note of your order reference or invoice number . This helps avoid mistakes that could delay your apostille.
Please note that payment must be made before we can process your order.
Please send all documents to this location including the unique order reference or invoice number if you have one:
Please send your original documents to:
Sarah Smewin
Fatchett & Co. Notaries Limited
1 Hagley Court South
The Waterfront
Brierley Hill
DY5 1XE
For speed and security we strongly recommend that you use Royal Mail Next Day Special Delivery.
The cost of a Hague apostille varies based on several factors:
- The nature of the documents – personal or business
- How many documents require apostille
- If the documents require solicitor certification or notarisation
- The speed of service required
- FCDO charges for standard or premium services
- Delivery charges – domestic or international
Our order form will produce an accurate price depending on your documents and chosen service.
Please contact us for free advice if you are unsure which service level you require.
We aim to complete all orders in the shortest time possible. As we are registered providers with the FCDO, we have access to services not available to the general public. We offer a range of price-dependent service levels:
Urgent (Next Day)
Express (3-4 Days)
Standard (10-12 Days)
We currently do not offer e-apostille services because they are proving to be unreliable as many countries are refusing to accept e-apostilles despite Hague Convention validity.
We currently do not off Same Day (Restricted) services because they are impractical. Although, theoretically possible, by the time that you have jumped through FCDO Legalisation Office hoops, a same day service rarely materialises.
Please contact us for free advice if you are unsure which service level you require.
Some apostilles can be completed electronically using email or our web forms. All scanned documents require prior certification by a solicitor registered with the FCDO or notarisation by a UK notary before the apostille can be requested. We have in-house solicitors and notaries who can do this for you.
Please contact us for free advice if you are unsure whether you can complete the apostille process using email.
Yes. You can apostille someone else’s documents. We just need instructions in writing from them along with the documents. We can also return the documents to any address in the World.
Unfortunately, some documents have to be originals to qualify for Hague legalisation. For example, birth, marriage and death certificates, medical notes and criminal record checks.
Please contact us for free advice if you are unsure whether you need to provide originals, official certified copies, or copies signed by a solicitor registered with the FCDO or a UK notary.
To make changes to your order, contact us as soon as you can. Once the order process with the FCDO Legalisation Office starts we cannot make any changes, we can only cancel the order.
Please contact us for if need to change your order.
If you are not sure which apostille service you need, simply contact our expert advisors:
Call our friendly helpline on 0843 836 0201
Email us at [email protected]
Use our web contact form
Or use our free document review service
Still have more questions?
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Apostille Document FAQ
The Cambridge Dictionary defines an apostille as an official certificate from a government that makes a document from one country acceptable in another, or the system of using such certificates. It puts this more simply as “a method of certifying a document for use in another country“, and goes on to say that for countries that are signatories to the Hague Convention, it is sufficient to legalise the documents with the corresponding Apostille.
Although the appearance of a Hague apostille certificate varies by issuing country, the apostille always includes ten standard items of information following a model apostille certificate stipulated in the Apostille Convention. These standard items are set within a box and include:
- Country of Issue
- Name of Signatory (on the original document)
- Capacity of Signatory (e.g. solicitor, notary public, or official)
- Seal Details (if present on the original document)
- Place of Issue
- Date of Issue
- Issuing Authority (in the UK this is the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)
- Apostille Certificate Number (unique for verification purposes)
- Stamp of the Issuing Authority
- Signature of Representative of the Issuing Authority (in the UK, an authorised FCDO official)
UK apostille certificates are 15cm squares of paper fixed to the back of the document being apostilled. In the UK apostilles are signed and dated by “Her Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs”. The Legalisation Office will also apply the FCDO seal in the form of an embossed apostille stamp. In the UK, the apostille certificate is printed and attached to the original document. Other countries, may stamp a template onto the document and fill in the boxes by hand.
Apostilles can be issued in English, French, or Spanish.
The issuing authority may place other useful information outside of the formal apostille box such as website link for apostille verification and warnings that apostilles cannot be used in the country of issue and only apply to any physically connected document.
An apostille is a government-issued certificate that confirms the authenticity of a document’s signature and seals, allowing it to be used in other countries. The authority receiving the document should accept the signatures and seals as valid without needing further proof. However, an apostille does not confirm that the document contents are valid or that the document itself is genuine.
The only authority in the UK that can issue apostille certificates is the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO). Other member countries of the Apostille Convention have designated at least one similar “Competent Authority”. Only competent authorities may issue an apostille.
As well as issuing apostilles, competent authorities are responsible for:
- Verifying the origin pf documents.
- Maintaining a register of the details of issued apostilles.
- Combating fraud.
The HCCH website maintains a country list of competent authorities.
How to get an apostille in the UK?
To legalise documents via a UK apostille, private individuals and organisations can send their documents to the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) legalisation section for processing. Obtaining an apostille in this way typically takes around 20 days. The process can take longer than 20 days if there are problems with your documents, or if the FCDO department is especially busy.
The FCDO work with registered apostille service agencies. such as Fatchett Legalisation, to expedite the legalisation process. Registered agencies can attend the legalisation office in person. If you are not a registered business, you can not attend in person, only post documents or apply online.
Apostille services can get an apostille for a document in 1 to 2 working days and in extremely urgent cases, get the apostille the same day. However, the FCDO same-day service is notoriously unreliable. These timeframes assume the document meets all apostille requirements and no other services, such as a notary public, are required.
If a foreign authority requests legalisation of your UK documents, the document is public*, and the requesting country is part of the Apostille Convention then you need a UK apostille from the UK FCDO. Your documents can then be officially used overseas.
Documents needing a UK apostille for use overseas include:
- ACRO police certificate
- Adoption document
- Affidavit
- Articles of association
- Bank statement
- Birth Certificate (UK)
- Certificate of freesale
- Certificate of incorporation
- Certificate of memorandum
- Certificate of naturalisation
- Certificate of no impediment
- Change of name deed
- Civil Partnership and Conversion of Civil Partnership Certificate
- Companies House document
- Coroner’s report
- County Court document
- Court document
- Court of Bankruptcy document
- Cremation certificate
- Criminal records check
- Death certificate
- Decree absolute
- Decree nisi
- Degree certificate or transcript (UK)
- Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) document
- Department of Health (DH) document
- Diploma
- Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) document
- Disclosure Scotland document
- Doctor’s Letter
- Driving licence
- Educational certificate (UK)
- Export certificate
- Family Division of the High Court of Justice document
- Fingerprints document
- Fit note
- Gender Recognition certificate
- Government issued document
- Grant of Probate
- High Court of Justice document
- HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) document
- Home Office (HO) document
- Last will and testament
- Letter from an employer
- Letter of enrolment
- Letter of invitation (to live in UK)
- Letter of no trace
- Medical report
- Medical test results
- Passport
- Pet export document from the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)
- Police disclosure document
- Power of attorney
- Professional qualification certificate
- Reference from an employer
- Religious document
- School document
- Sheriff Court document
- Sick note
- Statutory declaration
- Translation
- UK Marriage Certificate
- UK Marriage Certificate Issued By A Place Of Worship
- Utility bill
- Veterinary document
* According to the HCCH, a public document is one that has been executed by an authority or person acting in an official capacity. Unfortunately, the interpretation of this directive is left to the originating country of the document.
What does an apostille do to the document it is attached to?
An apostille is designed to ensure that your document is accepted in countries that are members of the Hague Convention by verifying that the signature, stamp, or seal on the document is genuine. The apostille process was designed to shorten the legalisation process necessary to use public documents in an official capacity overseas, avoiding the complexity of each country having their own process for legalisation.
Some countries are not members of the Hague Convention and still maintain their own legalisation processes for foreign documents. For these countries, legalisation can be a very lengthy process, navigating many levels of bureaucracy, even all the way up to consular sign-off!
Apostille certificates include an issue date but no “valid until” or expiration date. Although for practical purposes, many apostilled documents remain indefinitely valid, this is not always the case. If the requesting authority requires documents to be recent e.g. issued within the past 3, 6, or 12 months, you will need an apostille on these recent documents.
For example, bank statements, criminal record checks, and proofs of address generally need to be within the last 90 days. A valid apostille on older documents will not be acceptable. So, you need to check with requesting authority to find out how recent your documents need to be before requesting the apostille.
Apostille Convention countries generally have publicly accessible databases of all valid apostilles. In the UK, you can check if your apostille certificate is valid on the official UK government website at https://www.gov.uk/verify-apostille.
Can all document get an apostille certificate?
You can obtain an apostille for most documents. The general requirements for UK apostille by the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) are:
- the document originated in the UK
- the document is an official public document or a non-public document certified by a solicitor or notary public.
You cannot get an apostille for documents only valid for use within the United Kingdom. Although a few exceptions exist, foreign documents generally cannot get a UK apostille, e.g. foreign educational and academic documents cannot be apostilled in the UK. Those foreign documents that can receive a UK apostille may require prior translation.
An apostille is required for UK documents when an overseas authority requests that the documents are legalised for use in their country. If both the requesting and issuing country are part of the Hague Apostille Convention, then this legalisation is achieved by means of an apostille. Please note that an apostille only certifies the authenticity of the signature on a document, and not that the document itself is genuine. Also, a UK apostille can only be used overseas, never in the UK.
No, a UK Embassy cannot issue an apostille. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is the only authority in the UK that can issue apostilles for UK document
Whether or not you can apostille a photocopy of a document depends on the type of document and the requirements of the overseas requesting authority. Also, sometimes photocopied documents require solicitor certification or notarisation before they will be accepted. If you need to know if an apostille of a photocopy will be valid for your purposes, please ask for a free document review.
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In UK English the correct phonetic spelling of apostille is ah-poh-STEEL. The derivation is from the French “apostille” meaning a marginal or bottom note, itself derived from Latin post illa, meaning “after those [words of the text]”.
Obtaining a UK apostille from the FCDO yourself typically takes 20 days or so, longer if there are any issues with your documents or if the FCDO has any questions. Fortunately, the FCDO has appointed official service providers, such as Fatchett Legalisation, who have special access to the Legalisation Office. We can provide expedited services including a next-day apostille, or, in rare cases, a same-day service.
No, a certified copy is not the same as an apostille.
An apostille is a certificate that verifies the authenticity of a document’s signature and grants the document legal status for use in countries that are members of the 1961 Hague Convention.
A certified copy is a facsimile of an original document that has been verified by a public official, such as a notary or solicitor. The official verification confirms that the copy is an exact representation of the original.
Yes, the United Kingdom is a party to the 1961 Hague Convention, which abolished the need for legalisation for foreign public documents. The United Kingdom signed on 19th October 1961, with the convention coming into force in the UK on 24th January, 1965.
Apostille is a government-issued certificate that’s added to a document to make it acceptable in other countries. The apostille is usually issued by the country that originally issued the document, but sometimes another country can issue it. Documents that are often apostilled include birth certificates, marriage certificates, divorce decrees, and adoption records.
Document legalisation is also the process of authenticating a document so that it can be legally recognised in another country. This process is often required when presenting an official document to a country other than the one that issued it. Document legalisation is necessary where an apostille is not possible, usually because the party requesting legalisation is in a country that is not a contractor to the Hague Apostille Convention.
Essentially, apostille is a simpler form of document legalisation for countries that are members of the Apostille Convention.
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