An apostille is an official certificate issued by the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) of the United Kingdom, verifying the authenticity of a signature or seal on a document for international use. While it confirms the authenticity of the document, it does not validate its content. If you are applying for a position overseas or need to verify your identity with overseas governments to take up a place at university or start a new job, you may well have to go through the Apostille process.
Why Do You Need an Apostille?
An apostille is essential for verifying the authenticity of documents in foreign countries. Although we are all familiar in the UK with what an authentic birth certificate or university degree certificate looks like, it’s unreasonable to expect that official bodies overseas have the same depth of knowledge. Getting an apostille stamp on a document lets these bodies know that they are looking at the real thing. Apostille is required in various situations, such as marriage to a person of a different nationality in their home country, business dealings abroad, adoption procedures, qualification certificate applications, naturalisation, and taking up temporary work in a different country.
What is an Apostille Certificate?
An apostille is a stamp with standard legal wording in French, indicating compliance with the Apostille Convention of The Hague. The FCDO issues this certificate to legalise documents for international use, making them valid abroad in all of the countries which have signed up to the Apostille Convention. There is a full list of all of the countries which are part of the system on the government website.
What Documents Can be Apostilled and How Do you Get It?
A huge range of documents can be apostilled, including death certificates, birth certificates, marriage certificates, university degree certificates or school education certificates, court documents, sales contracts, affidavits, wills, letters of recommendation, powers of attorney, and other official documents issued by the government and similar official bodies. Apostille can also be given by foreign governments on their official documents for use here in the UK.
To get an apostille, you first need to translate the document into English if it’s in a foreign language. Then, submit the document to the FCDO after certification by the issuing authority. Once approved, the FCDO attaches the apostille certificate, certifying the document’s authenticity for international use. The FCDO generally turns around documents fairly quickly, but workload varies and remember to factor in time for the documents to be sent back to you in the post.
Apostille vs. Notarisation
While similar in purpose, there are some important differences between apostille and notarisations. Notarisation is done by a notary public, often a lawyer, to authenticate documents locally, while an apostille is issued by the FCDO for international use. Both serve to verify document authenticity but have distinct processes. If you are asked to obtain an apostille for a document for overseas use, it is unlikely that a notarised document will be accepted.
