What is attestation?

When preparing documents for use overseas, attestation refers to the final legalisation step required by countries that are not members of the Hague Apostille Convention. Examples of non-Hague countries that commonly request attestation include Qatar, Egypt, and Kuwait.

Also called embassy or consular legalisation, the attestation process involves getting your document officially stamped or certified by the embassy of the destination country, typically in London. The final embassy stamp or certificate is often called the ‘attestation.‘

Your destination country determines the document legalisation path, as the routes depend on whether the country is a party to the Hague Convention.

Here are the two possible legalisation routes for UK documents:

To replace lengthy and costly document legalisation processes, several countries adopted the Hague Apostille Convention in 1961.

The convention required member countries to appoint a competent authority to issue a single apostille certificate as the standard and final legalisation step. The UK appointed the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) to issue apostilles.

Therefore, your FCDO-issued apostille will be accepted as is (no attestation required) in the 129 countries that are currently party to the convention.

For countries not party to the Hague Apostille Convention, document legalisation is a two-step process. You’ll need embassy attestation in addition to the FCDO apostille for your UK document to be fully legalised for use in that country.

That said, you must check your document type. Public documents issued by a government body can go directly to the FCDO for apostille. However, private documents require certification from a solicitor or notary first.

Therefore, the typical three-step path for private documents headed to a non-Hague country is as follows:

Navigating this process alone can be challenging. At London Apostille Services Ltd., we take the complexity out of it by managing the legalisation process end-to-end on your behalf.

Here’s how:

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Request a quotation to let us manage the entire legalisation process on your behalf.

The term ‘attestation’ comes from the verb ‘to attest’, which means to affirm to be true, genuine, or authentic. It also means to attest to the truth or validity of something.

In the document legalisation process, the embassy official essentially attests to the authenticity of the FCDO official’s stamp or signature appearing on the apostille certificate.

By attesting to your documents, the embassy official signals to authorities in their home country that your documents have followed the correct preliminary authentication procedure in the UK.

You’ll be able to use your documents for official purposes in the destination country because authorities can trust their authenticity.

In contrast, skipping attestation makes your documents incomplete and exposes you to the following issues:

The attestation step can only be performed by the authorised consular officials of the embassy or consulate of the country where the document will be used.

Each embassy in London has its own unique set of procedures and requirements. There are differences in the required supporting documents, fee structures, specific application forms, and processing times.

Also, some embassies in London only accept submissions from registered agents, such as London Apostille Services Ltd.

If you intend to use a UK document for any official purpose abroad, you’ll need document legalisation.

An FCDO apostille and an embassy attestation are often required for personal, educational, and business/commercial documents if your destination is a non-Hague Convention country.

Depending on your destination and the requesting authority, attestation is often required for the following personal documents:

Degree attestation is often required to process work permits or specific talent visas.

Because educational requirements vary by visa type, some authorities may request that you present attested diplomas, transcripts, or TEFL certificates.

Also, some countries have additional legalisation requirements for educational documents. For instance, Saudi Arabia requires an additional Cultural Bureau attestation step after embassy attestation.

A document attestation is especially important if you want to use your UK documents for commercial or business purposes in a non-Hague Convention country.

You must legalise documents such as powers of attorney (POA), certificates of incorporation, certificates of good standing, and board resolutions.

Also, for some countries, such as the UAE and Qatar, you’ll require a Chamber of Commerce stamp before embassy attestation of commercial documents.

As we’ve discussed, you’ll need embassy attestation for UK documents if your destination country is not a party to the Hague Apostille Convention.

These countries include:

Many people confuse embassy attestation with other related terms. To help you process your documents correctly, let’s break down the distinctions.

An apostille is the certificate issued by the FCDO Legalisation Office (the UK government) verifying the authenticity of the signatures and stamps appearing on the UK document.

The attestation step happens after the apostille. It is issued by the embassy/consulate (typically in London) of the destination country and attests to the signature and stamps on the apostille certificate.

Consular legalisation and embassy legalisation are used interchangeably when preparing documents for use abroad. They both refer to the embassy attestation stage of the document legalisation process for non-Hague Convention countries.

In the context of document legalisation, notarisation differs from attestation because it is a preparatory step before you submit a private document to the FCDO for an apostille.

It involves a notary public verifying the authenticity of stamps or signatures on a document, or that your document is a true copy of the original. In some cases, this verification can also be done by a solicitor.

Embassy attestation timelines vary widely depending on the embassy, the document type, and whether the Chamber of Commerce or the Cultural Bureau is involved.

You can expect the embassy attestation stage to take 2 days to 3 weeks, depending on the destination. This is in addition to apostille processing times.

You don’t have to navigate the complex attestation requirements of an embassy on your own. We’ve helped several people heading to different destinations around the world process document legalisations with incredible success, and we can manage the process for you, too.

Here’s how our UK attestation service works step by step.

We review and prepare your document to ensure it meets the requirements for an FCDO apostille and the specific legalisation requirements of your destination country.

If you’re legalising a private document (e.g., educational certificates), it will require prior certification by an FCDO-registered solicitor or notary. We arrange the certification using our trusted network of London solicitors and notaries. It saves you from having to coordinate multiple professionals during the process.

The next stage is submitting your document to the FCDO for an apostille.

We submit and collect documents at the FCDO Legalisation Office each working day. It is how we’re able to offer our expedited apostille facilitation services, which break down as follows:

It is important to note that some requesting authorities may require translations of documents. We can arrange for a sworn translation on our letterhead.

Depending on the authority’s instructions, the translation may precede or follow the FCDO apostille.

After we collect your apostilled document from the FCDO, we’ll submit it to the relevant embassy for attestation. We’ll then track it through the processing and collect it when it is ready.

Once your document is fully legalised for your destination, we’ll begin the process of getting it back to you.

You can pick up your document in person from our London office. Alternatively, we can ship it to you via DHL or Royal Mail. DHL has international reach, meaning we can manage the apostille and embassy attestation processes for you even if you’re currently not in the UK.

Ready to use our streamlined process to get your UK document legalised correctly and quickly?

Request a no-obligation quote today to enjoy our end-to-end service.