FAQ's

Frequently Question & Answers

 

The apostille itself is a printed certificate. It is attached to the notarial certificate or document itself. The text “Apostille” is written at the top of the printed certificate, followed by the text ”Convention de La Haye du 5 October 1961”. According to Article 4 of the Hague Apostille Convention, the apostille is not valid if not written in French.

 

An apostille can only be issued by a competent authority. A competent authority is designated by the UK government.

In the UK, the only competent authority is the Legalisation Office of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (known as the FCDO for short).

There are two Legalisation Offices in the UK –in London and Milton Keynes.

 

A document not in English will need to be notarised first. Once it has been notarised, the FCDO can apostille it.

 

Yes. You can post your document to the FCDO Legalisation Office in Milton Keynes, or if you are a registered business you can register with the London office.


The FCDO can reject documents for many reasons. Some common examples include if the document has not been certified correctly, the person signing it is not registered at the FCDO, the certification and document don’t match, the name of the person signing is illegible and there’s no signature on the passport.


Delays can occur if the FCDO has to query your document. For example, if they don’t have the signature of the public official who issued the document on file and they need to contact them to obtain it.


The apostille will contain a unique apostille number. This can be verified by going to https://www.gov.uk/verify-apostille.

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