The Hague Convention abolished the requirement of diplomatic and consular legalisation for public documents originating in one Convention country and intended for use in another. Documents that have been certified with an apostille will not need further legalisation to be used in another convention country.
In the UK, the department responsible for issuing apostilles is the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the current fee is £27 per document.
Applications can be made by post or in person at:
The public counter is open Monday to Friday from 9:30am to 3:30pm. No appointment is necessary. You do not need to bring identification documents and anyone can present the documents on your behalf.
Please note that postal applications can take up to three weeks for processing and additional delays can occur if they are particularly busy.
If you prefer that we take care of legalisation at the FCO for you, our fee is £40 including VAT, plus the FCO fee.
For countries that are not party to the Hague Convention, documents may need consular legalisation in addition to the apostille legalisation.
Find below a list of countries that are party to the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents.
- Albania
- Argentina
- Australia
- Austria
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Bulgaria
- China, People’s Republic of
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Ecuador
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Georgia
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iceland
- India
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Japan
- Korea, Republic of
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Mexico
- Monaco
- Montenegro
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Norway
- Panama
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Russian Federation
- Serbia
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- South Africa
- Spain
- Suriname
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Macedonia, The former Yugoslav Republic of
- Turkey
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- United States of America
- Venezuela
For more information about obtaining an apostille in other countries, please visit the Hague Convention website.
If you have any questions about legalisation (apostille), contact us and we will do our best to help!
