Document Legalization & Attestation Services

Legalisation is the umbrella term for the full attestation sequence a document must pass through when the destination country sits outside the Hague Convention. It is not a single stamp but a chain, and every link must be in the right order.

Handled piecemeal, this is where documents get stuck. A step taken out of sequence does not simply delay the process — it has to be undone and redone from the start, because each authority verifies the stamp of the one immediately before it. We routinely see documents that have been to three different offices in the wrong order and must begin again.

We treat legalisation as one managed job with a single quote and a single point of contact. You hand over the document once and receive it back fully legalised, rather than coordinating four separate offices yourself.

Who needs this

• Anyone relocating to a Gulf state, China, Egypt, Thailand or similar
• Companies entering a market that requires fully legalised corporate documents
• People who started the process themselves and hit a rejection partway through
• Anyone unsure which of the many stamps their destination actually requires
• Applicants whose documents need certified translation as well as legalisation

Legalisation versus apostille

An apostille is a single certificate accepted by every Hague Convention member. Legalisation is the longer, country-specific chain required by everyone else, ending with that country's embassy and often its foreign ministry.

The practical difference is roughly two stages and two to three weeks. Which one applies is determined entirely by the destination country, and is not a matter of preference or budget.

Translation and legalisation

Most embassies require documents to be presented in English or in the destination country's official language. Where a translation is needed, the translation itself must usually be certified and then legalised alongside the original — it is not enough to attach an informal translation.

We arrange certified translation as part of the job so the two documents move through the chain together rather than falling out of step.

What we need from you

• The original document to be legalised
• A photocopy of the document
• A copy of your passport
• A certified translation, where the destination requires one
• Company documents and a covering letter, for commercial legalisation