Apostille – Legalisation
Apostille service in London, obtaining legalisation for your documents
Wharf Notaries in London can obtain the apostille, arrange a translation, and get the document legalised by the consulate. Being in the heart of London’s financial district, our apostille service offers a fast and smooth process for getting your documents attested.
Legalisation London
If you would like us to arrange your legalisation by way of apostille with the UK FCDO and additional legalisation through consular embassies, we would be more than happy to help. The fees for this service will depend on your preference of how fast you would like the legalisation done. For example, a premium service will generate a higher fee, whereas, if there is preference for the postal service for less urgent documents, this will generate a lower fee.
It is important to remember that the UK FCDO and consular embassies have their own fees for such services, and this will be added to our fee as disbursements.
The exact fee and any disbursements associated with this can be discussed once we have a better picture of the exact service you require. We will provide a fixed fee for this.
Obtaining an Apostille from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO):
The definition of the apostille is ‘the authentication of a document for use in another country’.
The apostille certificate confirms the signature, seal or stamp on a UK document to be genuine so that it will be accepted when presented in another country outside of the UK.
An apostille is a certificate that confirms the signature and seal of a notary (or other public official) and provides full and final proof of these for all countries that are parties to the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents.
Not all countries that are party to the Hague Apostille Convention will require an apostille (for the USA for example, which is a party to the convention, requirements vary from state to state and according to purpose, so it can be almost impossible to predict whether or not an apostille will be required).
Usually, Commonwealth countries with a historical link to the UK (such as Australia, New Zealand and Bermuda, but not Cameroon or Mozambique) will generally accept notarial acts from notaries in England and Wales without further authentication
Consular Legalisation
If the country you intend to send your document to is not party to the Hague Apostille Convention, then it will require additional verification through the applicable consulate embassy in the United Kingdom. This means that after the initial verification by way of an apostille via the UK FCDO, the document will have to be sent to the relevant embassy for consular legalisation. Fees for this vary depending on the consulate.
We are happy to arrange this on your behalf. We work with various agents who have specialist knowledge of the time and fee required. We charge on fixed fee basis for arranging this on your behalf and add any disbursements on top of our fee. This will be agreed at the outset with yourself prior to any arrangement being made.
Wharf Notaries in Canary Wharf, London
Contact Wharf Notaries in London's Docklands today for a quick quote, or to learn more about our document legalisation and apostille services.