Apostille Services UK: FCDO Legalisation
FCDO apostille and legalisation handled for you, with our Express Service (6–7 working days) or Urgent Service (3–4 working days) rather than the standard route of up to 25 working days plus postage. Certified translations and notarisation can be completed in the same order.
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*Authority names are referenced as industry benchmarks of compliance. All official translation orders are processed directly through DHCTranslations.
What the FCDO can legalise
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office issues apostilles for documents signed, sealed or certified by a UK public official or a UK notary. The lists below cover the cases we handle most often.
UK-issued documents
- Court documents sealed with a wet ink court seal.
- Public registry documents, such as birth, marriage or death certificates, or a company certificate issued by Companies House.
- Documents from a government department signed by an official, such as a letter confirming tax registration.
Documents certified by a UK notary
- Powers of attorney, contracts and qualification certificates.
- Copies of documents such as a passport or driving licence.
- Translated documents, once the translation has been certified by a UK notary.
- Other documents a notary is willing to certify for legalisation.
This is not an exhaustive list. Read the official guidance at GOV.UK: get a document legalised.
Documents issued outside the UK cannot be apostilled as foreign originals. The route that does work is to translate the document, have the translation certified by a UK notary, and submit that notarised translation for an apostille - once notarised, it is a UK document. Check that the receiving authority accepts a legalised translation.
Documents we legalise most often
Apostilles are usually the last step in a chain that starts with a translation. These are the document pages behind most of our legalisation work.
Birth certificates
For residency, family visas and overseas registration.
Marriage certificates
For spouse visas, remarriage and property purchases abroad.
Degrees and transcripts
For university applications and professional registration overseas.
Police clearance
For work visas, residency and professional licensing abroad.
Court judgements
For enforcement, appeals and legal proceedings in another country.
Contracts and powers of attorney
For overseas property, company filings and cross-border agreements.
Apostille timings
The FCDO’s own route is slow, and postage sits on top of it. We submit with our Express Service or Urgent Service and courier the apostilled document back to you.
Up to 25
Working days, before postage
Submitting the document yourself, then waiting for it to come back by post or courier.
3-4
Working days, plus courier
For deadlines where the standard route will not arrive in time.
Timings run from the day the FCDO receives the document, depend on their workload and the courier, and are confirmed in your quote rather than guaranteed.
How an apostille order works
Three steps from a scan of your document to an apostilled original couriered back to you.
Send Your Document
Upload a clear scan or photo of every page, and tell us what the receiving organisation has asked for, so the quote matches the service they require.
- The complete document
- Destination country
- Your deadline
Approve the Quote & Pay Securely
Review a fixed, itemised quote and pay through the encrypted gateway.
- Major credit/debit cards accepted worldwide
- Secure global payment gateway integration
- Instant invoice and receipt generation
Receive the Apostilled Document
The apostilled original is couriered back to you, with a scanned copy sent as soon as it is returned from the FCDO.
- Apostille attached to the document
- Scanned copy by email
- Tracked courier return
What an apostille order costs
Every apostille order is quoted individually, because the notary fee, the FCDO fee, the service level and the courier all vary by document and destination. The quote itemises each of those lines before you pay. The translation itself starts from £40 for a single document, and longer documents are priced from £0.09 per word into English after the first 400 words.
Certified for
Most frequently requested languages we translate
These are the languages our clients ask for most often, but they are only a fraction of what we cover. We translate 200+ language pairs, so if yours is not listed, just ask.
Frequently asked questions
DHCTranslations arranges FCDO legalisation for UK documents with our Express Service (6–7 working days) or Urgent Service (3–4 working days), including notarisation and certified translation where needed. We submit to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and courier the apostilled original back to you.
Our Express Service takes 6–7 working days and our Urgent Service takes 3–4 working days, plus courier time, and where a document needs notarising first that step must finish before the apostille clock starts. Submitting the document yourself usually takes up to 25 working days before postage. Timings are confirmed in your quote rather than guaranteed.
Not the foreign original. The FCDO cannot legalise one; what it can legalise is a translation that has been notarised here, because that makes it a UK document. Check that the receiving authority accepts that route before ordering.
Yes. A certified translation can be notarised by a UK notary and then sent to the FCDO for an apostille. This is the usual route when a foreign document has to be used in a country that demands legalisation, and the apostille covers the notarised translation rather than the foreign original.
Court documents sealed with a wet ink court seal, public registry certificates such as birth, marriage and death certificates, and documents from government departments signed by an official. Documents certified by a UK notary can also be legalised, including powers of attorney, contracts, qualification certificates, passport or driving licence copies and translated documents.
No. Scans or photographs are enough for the translation and most notarial work. The notarised document itself must travel to the FCDO for the apostille, and we manage that submission and the return courier. Where a notary needs to see an original, we tell you before anything is posted.
Every apostille order is quoted individually, because the notary fee, the FCDO fee, the service level and the courier all vary by document and destination. Send the pages and tell us the destination country, and the quote will show each of those lines separately.
That depends on the destination. An apostille works between countries in the Hague Apostille Convention; where the destination is not a member, the document usually needs consular legalisation through that country's embassy instead. Either way, the paper the FCDO can act on is a UK document or our translation once a UK notary has certified it. Check what the receiving authority requires before ordering.
A notary confirms the identity of the person signing and attaches their own signature and seal. An apostille is issued by the FCDO and confirms that the notary's or public official's signature and seal are genuine. Many overseas authorities that ask for legalisation want both steps.
Yes. We can translate, certify, notarise, submit to the FCDO and courier the apostilled document back in one order. Tell us the destination country at the start so the whole chain matches what the receiving authority expects.
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