Legalisation is the process by which the signature, seal or stamp of a notary on a document is authenticated by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office.

In order to use British documents overseas, you may be asked to have your documents legalised before they can be accepted by the foreign authorities concerned. Documents with Apostille should be recognized as legal without any further evidence in another member country.

In countries which are not signatories to the 1961 Hague Convention and do not recognize the apostille, a foreign public document must be legalized by the consular office of the country from which the documents are issued, in addition to the Apostille.

Below are a list of Countries which are party to the Hague Convention:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A
Albania
Argentina
Australia
Austria

B
Belarus
Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Brazil
Bulgaria

C
Canada
Chile
China, People's Republic of
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic

D
Denmark

E
Ecuador
Egypt
Estonia
European Community

F
Finland
France

G
Georgia
Germany
Greece

H
Hungary

I
Iceland
India
Ireland
Israel
Italy

J
Japan
Jordan

K
Korea, Republic of

L
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg

M
Malaysia
Malta
Mexico
Monaco
Montenegro
Morocco

N
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway

P
Panama
Paraguay
Peru
Poland
Portugal

R
Romania
Russian Federation

S
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
Spain
Sri Lanka
Suriname
Sweden
Switzerland

T
The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
Turkey

U
Ukraine
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
United States of America
Uruguay

V
Venezuela