Apostille Services UK

An apostille is an official certificate issued by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) that confirms a UK document is genuine. It verifies the signature, seal or stamp on the document so it will be accepted in any of the 120+ countries that are members of the Hague Apostille Convention.

Most UK public documents, including birth, marriage and death certificates, ACRO police certificates, degree certificates and transcripts, powers of attorney, company documents (certificates of incorporation, articles, board resolutions), passport copies, translations and affidavits. If you’re not sure whether your document qualifies, send us a scan and we’ll tell you.

For most civil documents such as birth, marriage and death certificates, yes — the FCDO will only apostille the original. For many other documents, a solicitor-certified copy can be apostilled instead, so you keep your original. We’ll confirm which applies when you place your order.

Some documents do. Copies, translations, educational certificates and company documents usually need a solicitor’s or notary’s signature before the FCDO will accept them. We can arrange this for you, so there’s nothing to organise separately. Solicitor certification is £20 per document on top of the apostille fee. If your document specifically requires a notary public, notarisation starts from £120 per document — we’ll confirm the exact cost before we begin.

Our standard service takes 3 to 5 working days from the day we receive your document. With our Next Day service, documents that reach us by 10:30am are apostilled and dispatched the next working day. For genuine emergencies — travel within 48 hours, repatriation, urgent corporate transactions — the FCDO runs a restricted urgent service; see our Same Day Apostille page for what qualifies.

Our standard apostille service is £59 per document and Next Day is £79 per document. Both prices include the FCDO fee. Return postage, and solicitor certification or notarisation where needed (see the question above), are charged separately.

Yes. Each document receives its own apostille certificate, so three documents means three apostilles.

Post them to us, or drop them off in person at our office — walk-ins are welcome. For documents that can be apostilled as certified copies, you can simply upload a scan through our order form and we handle the rest. We recommend Special Delivery for originals.

We return documents by Royal Mail Special Delivery within the UK. We can also send documents overseas by courier — let us know the destination when you order and we’ll quote the postage.

No. An apostille has no expiry date. However, some overseas authorities ask for documents issued within the last 3 to 6 months, so check with the organisation requesting the document before you order.

Usually yes — but the apostille is only the first step. Countries such as the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt and Thailand also require the document to be legalised at their embassy in London. We offer full embassy legalisation for these countries — see our Embassy Legalisation pages.

The FCDO can apostille a document in any language as long as it has a recognised UK signature or seal. If the receiving country needs an English or foreign-language version, we can arrange a certified translation and apostille that as well.

Yes. We offer the FCDO e-Apostille service for documents that have been signed digitally by a UK solicitor or notary. You receive the apostille as a secure PDF, with no need to post anything. Not every country accepts e-Apostilles yet, so check with the receiving authority before choosing this option.

No. The whole process can be done by post and email. You never need to visit us or the FCDO.

Yes. We regularly apostille certificates of incorporation, articles of association, board resolutions, certificates of good standing, commercial contracts and powers of attorney for businesses trading overseas.

This is rare, because we check every document before submitting it. If a document can’t be apostilled as sent, we’ll contact you straight away and explain what’s needed — for example, a replacement original or a solicitor certification.