Legalisation

Some countries require a notarised document to be legalised.

Legalisation is confirmation by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) of an individual Notary Public’s signature and seal by the affixing of its apostille (or stamp) on a notarised document.

Once legalised, a document will usually be accepted (subject to any necessary translation) by the government or other agencies and authorities of its destination country as evidence of the matters stated.

There are 3 ways of legalising a notarised document at the FCO:

• you can do this yourself by (postal) application, sending the notarised document to its Milton Keynes office (and full details of procedures and fees can be found on www.fco.gov.uk); or
• Tranah Notary can make a (postal) application to its Milton Keynes office on your behalf; or
• Tranah Notary can instruct an accredited notarial agent to attend its London office to make use of the (premium) same day service.

In addition to legalisation at the FCO, some countries also want their Counsul or Embassy to confirm the status of the FCO by affixing its seal on the notarised document. This is sometimes called “double legalisation”. Any requirement for this depends on the country involved and the fees and timescales are therefore variable and outside any individual Notary Public’s control.

Any requirement for legalisation and fees will be discussed and agreed with you before starting work.