Can I legalise a foreign document in the UK

We can’t legalise an original foreign document — but we can legalise a certified copy of it, and for most purposes that’s exactly what’s needed.

Here’s how it works. An FCDO-registered solicitor or notary certifies a copy of your document, the FCDO’s Legalisation Office issues an apostille against that certification, and we manage the whole submission for you from start to finish.

One thing is worth understanding before you order: the apostille confirms the solicitor or notary’s signature, not the foreign document itself.

The FCDO never authenticates the original directly.

That’s why the deciding factor is whether the authority requesting your document will accept a UK-legalised certified copy — we explain how to check this below.

This is the one thing to confirm before you order. The proper route for legalising any document is through the competent authority in the country that issued it — a French birth certificate, for example, is ideally apostilled in France.

The UK certified-copy route is a practical alternative when that isn’t possible, and in many cases it’s accepted without any problem.

Some authorities, though, insist the document is legalised in its country of origin, and a UK apostille won’t satisfy them.

Confirm their requirements before you pay for notarisation and an apostille — a rejected copy costs you both the fee and the time.

We’re often asked to help with copies of foreign passports, birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates, degree certificates, transcripts, driving licences and company documents.

Whatever the document, we check the UK route is appropriate before any work begins

Tell us three things — what the document is, where it was issued, and who’s asking for it — and we’ll confirm whether the UK route will work for you.

Every foreign document is a little different, which is why we ask before taking an order rather than after.

If the UK route is suitable, we arrange certification through one of our FCDO-registered notaries and handle the FCDO submission on your behalf.

The notary’s work is charged separately from the apostille service fee. And if the UK route isn’t right for your document, we’ll say so honestly and point you towards the better option wherever we can.

If you’d like the full picture on what UK notaries can and can’t do with foreign documents, our detailed guide covers it: Can a UK Notary Notarise Foreign Documents?