An apostille is a certificate to authenticate an official public document, for its use abroad, as stated by the Hague Convention 1961. Apostilles are a way of certificating the document owner’s signature, thus authenticating its origin and ensuring documents will be recognised and valid abroad.

Documents that can be legalised by the use of apostilles include birth certificates; death certificates; marriage certificates; documents of administrative nature; documents emanating from an authority or an official with a court, tribunal or commission; extracts from commercial registers and other registers; patents; notarial acts and notarial attestations.

Although an apostille authenticates the origin of the document (by certifying the signature or seal), an apostille does not authenticate the content of the document.

Apostilles can only be issued by a contracting state of the Apostille convention and can only be used in countries that are parties to this Apostille Convention, however, it should be noted that you can acquire an apostille from a country that is not a member of the Hague Convention, but, it must be a member of the Apostille Convention.

Any public document can attain an apostille by a competent authority, and in the UK can be acquired by The Legislation Office by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. An apostille must be directly attached or placed directly on top of the document for legalisation. If you require an Apostille our team can get a same day Apostille, please contact matthew@mdpryke-notary.com for further details.