When conducting business overseas, you will often be required to present all sorts of formal public documents issued in the UK, including international trade documentation and corporate certification. However, if you are looking to use UK commercial documents in another country, you may need to have them legalised first. This is known as Embassy Legalisation.

Here at Blair, we offer a complete legalisation service, including arranging the necessary steps prior to Embassy Legalisation. Let our expert team take on the responsibility and give yourself the peace of mind that your documentation will be properly authenticated for use overseas.

What is Embassy Legalisation?

The process of “legalisation”, or authentication as it is also known, is the traditional method of verifying and certifying a public document internationally, making that document suitable for use in another country. This is because any official document issued in one country for use abroad will often have to be legalised to be accepted by overseas authorities.

Once a document has been properly legalised, this will show the relevant authorities that:

• the document was issued by an official authority in its country of origin
• the signature, stamp, and/or seal on the document is genuine
• the document’s format is correct.

Legalisation does not confirm that a document’s content is correct (that will be down to the authority asking for the document to check), but it will make the document acceptable for use in a country other than the one from which the document originated.

For member countries that are signatories to the Hague Convention of 1961, more formal legalisation has been replaced with the issuance of an Apostille certificate by a competent authority in the place where the document originates. This is essentially a simplified form of legalisation that allows you to use public documents in a participating country, although Embassy Legalisation will usually still be necessary for non-Apostille countries.

Why is Embassy Legalisation needed?

When using official documentation in other countries, some form of authentication is often needed, otherwise the task of judging the authenticity of a document on presentation would place an unreasonable burden on any party to whom that document is provided.

At national level, authentication by way of legalisation or an Apostille is not necessary. This is because the legal maxim of acta probant sese ipsa (the documents prove themselves) is applied, meaning that formal documents are presumed authentic unless proven otherwise.

In contrast, at international level, some form of authentication will typically be required. As such, completion of a multi–step verification process may be needed for use in most non-Apostille countries, including authentication by a diplomatic or consular official of the country concerned.

This legalisation process effectively reverses the burden of proof, placing the responsibility of verifying a document on the party wishing to rely on that document. In this way, overseas authorities can feel confident that any foreign public documents presented to them are genuine and have been issued by an authorised official in another country.

What does Embassy Legalisation involve?

The steps you must take to have a document legalised can vary by destination country, depending on the agreements made between the country where you want to use the document and the country of issue. In the UK, legalisation requirements are determined only by the country where the document is going, not by the UK government.

Embassy Legalisation is usually just one stage of the authentication process; there is often a prerequisite for documentation to be notarised by either a notary public or a practising solicitor before being referred to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) for an Apostille certificate to verify any signature, stamp, or seal.

After undergoing these preliminary stages, the document can then be submitted to the relevant embassy or consulate for the final part of the legalisation process. It is only after this stage that the document in question will be recognised for use in the destination country.

How can Blair help you with Embassy Legalisation?

Embassy Legalisation can be a lengthy and complex process, with many country-specific guidelines that must be strictly adhered to prior to a document being lodged with the relevant embassy or consulate to ensure procedural and regulatory compliance.
At Blair, we offer a complete legalisation service, including arranging any preliminary steps prior to Embassy Legalisation. This includes notarisation, obtaining an Apostille certificate from the FCDO, as well as certification by the Arab-British Chamber of Commerce. As the process of legalisation can often be time-consuming and costly, securing our expert services to assist with this process can help to keep costs and timescales to a minimum.

To discuss your document legalisation requirements, please call our sales team on +44 (0)1784 254123 or contact us to learn more.