Two things decide what your document needs. The destination country decides whether an FCDO apostille is enough or whether an embassy step follows it. The document, and again the destination, decide whether it has to be certified before the FCDO will touch it at all. Both are set out below with the prices, so you can work out your own case before you contact anyone.
We reply within the hour on working days
No obligation. Fixed price confirmed in writing before you send anything.
Nearly every mistake we see comes from answering the second question before the first, or from assuming the answer carries over from a different country.
If yes, the FCDO apostille is the entire job. There is no embassy stage, and anyone quoting you for one is quoting for work that does not exist. If no, the document needs the apostille first and then attestation at that country’s embassy or consulate in London. This is a property of the country alone — it has nothing to do with what your document is.
The FCDO apostilles a signature, not a piece of paper. A UK birth certificate carries a registrar’s seal it already recognises, so it goes straight through at £79. A university degree or a company document does not, so a solicitor or a notary has to certify it first, and that is what moves the price to £95 or £225. Which of the two is required is decided by the destination country, not by the document type.
A document that has already been apostilled does not need doing again, and an apostille does not expire. Some authorities ask for one issued within the last three or six months, which is their own policy rather than a rule of the Convention. If you are told your apostille is “too old”, ask who is requiring that before paying for a replacement.
Prices are per document and all-inclusive: our fee, the £40 FCDO fee, certification where it is needed, and tracked return delivery. Standard turnaround is 72 hours; next-day means same-day FCDO submission, released the following working day.
| Document | Certification needed first | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK birth certificate | None — direct to the FCDO | £79 std / £135 next day | Original required. A GRO-issued copy is fine; a hospital or commemorative certificate is not. |
| UK marriage certificate | None — direct to the FCDO | £79 std / £135 next day | Original required. |
| UK death certificate | None — direct to the FCDO | £79 std / £135 next day | Original required. |
| Certificate of No Impediment (CNI) | None — direct to the FCDO | £79 std / £135 next day | Original required. Usually time-sensitive, so the next-day tier is often worth it. |
| ACRO police certificate | None — direct to the FCDO | £95 | Original required. Faster than a DBS because it skips the certification step. |
| DBS certificate | Solicitor | £95 | Adds about a day. Not accepted by Spain in any form — use an ACRO instead. |
| Decree absolute / final order | Solicitor, or notary for Spain | £95 / £225 Spain | A PDF is acceptable — the copy is certified and the FCDO apostilles the certification, so you keep the sealed original. A decree nisi can never be apostilled. |
| Degree certificate or transcript | Solicitor | £95 | Some destinations and some universities require a notary instead; ask before you send. |
| Companies House document | Solicitor copy, or certified by Companies House | £95 / quoted | A free website download carries no certification and cannot be apostilled. Spain requires the Companies House-certified copy. |
| Power of attorney | Notary | £225 | Drafted and sworn before a notary public. We can arrange the notary UK-wide. |
| Same person declaration | Notary, drafted and sworn | £295 all in | For name mismatches across documents. About a week. Details. |
| Medical, employment or bank letter | Solicitor or notary, set by destination | £95 / £225 | Always quoted, because the destination decides which is acceptable. |
| GRO replacement certificate | None once issued — direct to the FCDO | £145 bundle | Where the original is lost. GRO fee plus apostille, about 5–7 working days. Details. |
Where a document has to be certified, the price depends on whether the destination accepts a solicitor (£20, so £95 all in) or insists on a notary (£150, so £225 all in). We do not publish a flat price for those because sending the wrong one means paying twice. Ask and we will confirm before you spend anything.
Membership of the Hague Apostille Convention is what decides this, and it changes — Vietnam joined on 11 September 2026 and China in 2023. These are the routes we run most often.
| Destination | Route | From | What catches people out | Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spain | Apostille only | £95 | Strictest on certification: ACRO only for police checks, notary for a decree absolute, Companies House-certified company copies. | Details |
| Greece | Apostille only | £95 | Solicitor certification accepted for decree absolute and degrees. | Details |
| Bulgaria | Apostille only | £95 | Birth and marriage certificates go direct. | Details |
| Philippines | Apostille only | £95 | Common for dual citizenship and marriage paperwork. | Details |
| South Korea | Apostille only | £95 | Common for E-2 visa and marriage paperwork. | Details |
| Vietnam | Apostille only since 11 Sept 2026 | £79–95 | The embassy stage was abolished when Vietnam joined the Convention. Anything published earlier is out of date. | Details |
| China (mainland) | Apostille only | £79–95 | Consular legalisation no longer applies. Notarisation is still needed for powers of attorney and declarations. | Details |
| United Arab Emirates | Apostille + UAE Embassy | from £185 | Personal and commercial documents priced separately. Around two weeks end to end. | Details |
| Kuwait | Apostille + Embassy | from £144 | Commercial documents also need the Arab-British Chamber of Commerce. | Details |
| Thailand | Apostille + Royal Thai Embassy | from £159 | Thai translation usually required by the receiving authority. | Details |
| Egypt | Apostille + Consulate | quoted | Degrees route via the Cultural Bureau, which adds a stage. | Details |
| Taiwan | Apostille + TRO London | from £157 | Taipei Representative Office also requires an authorisation letter certified by a solicitor or notary; we prepare it. | Details |
If your destination is not listed, it is almost certainly apostille-only — most of the world is now in the Convention. Tell us the country and we will confirm.
These are the ones that come back to us as rejected documents, and none of them is obvious from the FCDO’s own guidance.
For a police check going to Spain, it has to be an ACRO. A DBS will be refused even if notarised and apostilled. Apply to ACRO from the start — it is also the cheaper route, because an ACRO goes straight to the FCDO without certification.
People assume the reverse of both. A decree nisi is not a final order, so there is nothing to legalise. A decree absolute does not need to be the sealed original, because a solicitor certifies the copy and the FCDO apostilles that certification. You keep your original.
The free PDF from the Companies House website carries no certification, so there is no signature for the FCDO to act on. A solicitor-certified copy at £95 works for China, the UAE and most countries. Spain requires a copy certified by Companies House itself, which we obtain and quote.
The same degree certificate may need a £20 solicitor for one country and a £150 notary for another. There is no general rule by document type, which is why any agent publishing one flat price for certified documents is guessing on your behalf.
Vietnam joined the Convention on that date and the embassy stage disappeared. Most articles, agent websites and AI-generated answers still describe the old two-stage process and the old price of around £196. The accession is recorded by the Hague Conference on Private International Law, the Convention’s depositary.
Mandarin Management Limited, trading as Legalisation.Services, is named on the FCDO’s published list of next-day legalisation service providers, with this website recorded against it. We are not part of the FCDO or any government authority. Requirements and fees are set by the issuing authorities and change without much notice — we verify current requirements before every submission. Prices on this page were last confirmed on 19 September 2026.
Send us the document and the destination country. We will tell you which route applies and what it costs before you commit to anything.
We use cookies to measure how people find us and which enquiries come from our ads. Nothing is stored until you choose. See our terms.