UK Apostilles for Notarized Documents

Apostille documents certified by a UK notary or solicitor

Documents requiring certification by a notary or solicitor include Passport Copies, DBS checks, Contracts, Powers of Attorney, Affidavits, Certified Translations, Academic certificates, School Records, Deed Polls. Employment confirmation letters.

Some documents must be physically signed in front of the solicitor or notary, such as Powers of Attorney, where the grantor’s signature must be witnessed. Other documents can be notarized remotely by sending in the original for verification or based on a good-quality digital scan. In some cases, signatures can be verified via an online notary session.

Isarey can assist with arranging notarization of UK documents and obtaining Apostille Stamps for their legal use abroad. We also arrange embassy attestation and legalization for notarized documents required for countries which do not accept Apostilles, such as Qatar, UAE and Vietnam.

We also provide certified translations in the UK and in other countries such as Spain, Italy and France.

When authenticating UK documents for use abroad, we use notaries and solicitors specialising in certifying documents for Apostilles. This ensures that every document is certified correctly and that documents are not rejected due to improper certification. If you have already certified your document, we offer a free pre-check to confirm the correctness of the certification in accordance with Foreign Office requirements.
Please contact us.

Solicitor or Notary?

For the purpose of obtaining a UK Apostille stamp, it generally makes no difference whether a document is signed by a solicitor or notary. But the authority receiving the apostilled document may specifically require certification by a notary, and may reject a document certified by a solicitor, even if Apostilled. When presenting to authorities in countries where notary certification is the norm, such as Spain, it is important to confirm that certification by a solicitor will be accepted.

Ensuring valid certification

Documents must be properly certified to ensure eligibility for an apostille, and the notary or solicitor signing the document must have a valid practising certificate. The certifying notary or solicitor must:

• State the action they have taken – e.g. that they have witnessed a signature on the document, certified a copy as a true copy of an original and/or authentic document, confirmed a document as an authentic.
• Sign using their personal signature. The signature of the solicitor or notary on the document being submitted for an apostille must be an original “wet” signature.
• Add their name and address, and give the date of certification.

Certification of the original or a copy

If the signature on a document needs to be witnessed, e.g. the signatures on an Affidavit or contract, then the original document should be certified and submitted for an Apostille. Otherwise, unless the authority receiving the document specifically requires the Apostille affixed to the original, most documents can be notarized from a good scan as certified copies. In certain cases, the notary will need to confirm the authenticity of the original, e.g. when certifying university degrees. Some documents such as ACRO police checks and Birth Certificates, should not be notarized – in this case the originals should be submitted for Apostilles.

If you’re not sure about whether to notarize a copy or the original, please contact us; we’ll be pleased to advise.

Notarizing non-UK documents

If it is just a question of certifying a true copy, foreign documents can also be notarized and apostilled in the UK, although this may not always be acceptable to the recipient authority.

United States: If you need to present a document in the United States, it may be possible to carry out notarization remotely before a US notary public, including Powers of Attorney and Affidavits.
See USA Remote Notarization.

France: A Power of Attorney required for use in France can be notarized remotely by a French notary, bypassing the need for a UK apostille.

Foreign Embassies and Consulates in the UK may also offer notary services in certain cases, but will generally tell you to use a local UK notary when possible.