Following these guidelines will help avoid delays and ensure your documents can be legalised without issues.

• Only send in the documents you require to be legalised.
• Signatures signed “per pro” (p.p.) are not accepted.

If there is more than one signature on the document which meets our requirements, you must confirm which signature you require to be legalised. If this is not stated, FCDO will legalise the most recent signature.

If you are submitting documents that have already been certified, please provide the full contact details of the certifying solicitor or Notary Public, including their email address and place of practice. This allows signatures to be verified by the FCDO if required.

If your document is attached to a solicitor’s or notarial cover sheet, please ensure that all underlying documents meet UK legalisation requirements.

Where documents are certified by a solicitor, they must be registered with the FCDO to enable fast signature verification and to avoid delays in apostille processing.

This is particularly important for priority and same day apostille services under the FCDO apostille UK process.

Documents signed by a medical professional must include full contact details for the signatory, such as their email address and place of practice. This information may be required by the FCDO to verify the authenticity of the signature.

Where documents are signed by a medical professional, they must be registered with the FCDO to ensure prompt signature verification and to prevent delays in apostille processing.

This is particularly important for priority and same day apostille services under the FCDO apostille UK process.

Educational documents must be signed, dated, and certified by a UK solicitor, Notary Public, or an authorised official of the British Council.
If certified by the British Council, the original qualification certificate must be presented. Availability of this service may vary by location, so please check with your local British Council in advance.

Photocopies are not accepted for the following documents:

• UK birth, marriage, death, civil partnership, or adoption certificates
• Police and disclosure certificates issued by ACRO, DBS, Disclosure Scotland, or Access NI
  

This includes photocopies attached to other documents or included under a certified cover sheet.

For original marriage certificates signed by a Minister of Religion or an Authorised Person, please include contact details for the signatory or the venue where the ceremony took place, including an email address.
This may be required to verify the signature.

Laminated or hard-backed documents cannot be legalised, as an Apostille cannot be securely attached.
To proceed, the laminate or backing must be removed, or a replacement document must be obtained.

All pages of a document must be submitted together.
If a document contains multiple pages, every page referenced in the certification must be included. Incomplete submissions cannot be accepted for legalisation.

If you are submitting a document containing a reproduction of a UK
apostille, please note that it must not contain the FCDO Seal or the
signature of the FCDO official.

All documents which are attached should be referenced in the
certification. Photocopies of General Register Office documents,
ACRO/DBS/Disclosure certificates and fingerprint documents cannot be
submitted as attached documents.