Document Legalisation

You might need to do this if an official in another country has asked you to provide a UK document and they’ve said it must be legalised.

The Legalisation Office will check the document and see if any signatures, stamps, or seals match their records. If they do match, they’ll legalize the document by attaching an ‘apostille’ (stamped official certificate).

You cannot get documents issued outside the UK legalized using this service – get them legalized in the country they were issued.

When legalizing documents, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) (via a Local Authority (in the UK or abroad)) quite often requests that original documents (and sometimes copies) have been certified by a solicitor as being an original or a true copy. This means that a signature, seal, or stamp that is made by a UK public official on the document is confirmed as being genuine by the UK government.

Certified Copies

With certified copies, you should ensure that whoever is asking you for legalized documents will accept the copies rather than the originals. You will then know whether or not to have the original certified.

A solicitor will, in essence, review a document, sign it, and provide a statement outlining their reasons for certifying it. Depending on what the document is and why it is being certified, a different sort of certification may be included. Documents can frequently be certified as originals or copies only. In case your signature is being witnessed, the attorney will include “signed in my presence” or “witnessed by” to verify that they observed the signing of the document.It is necessary to properly certify documents. Documents must be signed by a solicitor, not the firm, and contain the correct statement, and make the date visible.

We can assist with certifying the following original documents or certifying copies. For any type of certification, the original documents must always be provided to us.