Apostille Notarised and Certified Company Documents

A complete apostille, notarisation and certification service for all UK incorporated companies who require incorporation evidence for an overseas body or who wish to register a foreign branch.

There is a choice of four packages ranging from the official certification of a company’s memorandum and articles of association, certificate of incorporation and certificate of good standing by a UK solicitor to the full notary and apostilled service from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

All completed documents once returned to us can be scanned and emailed to you at a small additional fee where receipt of these items is of an urgent nature.

A Quick Guide to Our Services

1. Why have company documents certified?
2. Do UK companies trading abroad require an apostille?
3. What is the difference between a Solicitor’s certification and that from a Notary Public?
4. Which documents have to be apostilled?
5. How is a Certificate of Good Standing obtained?
6. Can other documents be notarised and apostilled?

1. Why have company documents certified?
The reason why companies have their incorporation documents certified is to provide evidence that the business had been properly registered in the UK and that it is operating within and meeting its statutory obligations as defined by Companies House.

2. Do UK companies trading abroad require an apostille?
The answer depends on with whom and to what extent the company will be dealing abroad. Many foreign government agencies and department will request either notarised or certified incorporation documents backed by Foreign and Commonwealth legalisation.

3. What is the difference between a Solicitor’s certification and that from a Notary Public?
Both certifications are recognised by the Foreign and Commonwealth as being valid for documents to be apostillised. The choice of whether to use a Solicitor or a Notary Public would be guided by the rule laid down by the body the company must satisfy. Generally speaking, notarised incorporation documents have greater standing because of the view that notaries have greater expertise in certification matters.

4. Which documents have to be apostilled?
The decision concerning which documents to have apostilled is governed by what items the foreign government would request sight of. Commonly, the certificate of incorporation, memorandum and articles of association and the certificate of good standing as either certified, notarised and then apostillised.

This ensures that all frequently required incorporation material bears the necessary legal marks and prevents a subsequent order having to be placed afterwards.

5. How is a Certificate of Good Standing obtained?
A certificate of good standing can be ordered from our Company Services page using either the express facility or the standard service. If the good standing certificate is one of the documents which are to be certified, notarised or apostillised, then depending on whether the same day or 1 week service is ordered, this time should be added to the period for which the receipt of the legalised items can be expected. Back to Top

6. Can other documents be notarised and apostilled?
Yes, our notarisation services can be applied to any document which requires and is capable of verification. The forms that this can take can either be where the notary witnesses and signature or where they state that they have seen the documents and thus verify the contents of it.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office legalisation department stipulates which documents can be apostilled. Some examples of these are: certificates and awards from recognised educational establishments, birth marriage, death certification issued by central or local registries, passports and other official identification documents, divorce, marriage, baptism and other issues from an established religion.

For the definitive list of documents which are capable of being legalised, see documents we can legalise.