A Notary Public (or 'Notary') is a specialist lawyer. The principal role of a Notary is to 'attest the authenticity' of documents.

Certification simply means checking copies against the original documents. When a Notary 'certifies' documents they do not verify the documents are genuine. The Notary certifies a document by writing 'Certified to be a true copy of the original seen by me' on the document.

Verification means verifying the document with the issuing body or organisation. When a Notary 'notarises' documents they must verify the documents are genuine. The Notary verifies a document by writing 'The authenticity of the document and the facts contained therein were manually verified by me' on the document.

If documents require legalisation (an apostille) the documents must be verified (notarised). It is important to check with the receiving party if the documents need an apostille.

Attestation is the action of verifying the original documents are genuine - it involves more than certification. When a Notary 'attests the authenticity' of documents they must verify the documents are true and accurate.

The Notary attests (notarises) a document as genuine by fixing their notarial seal and writing 'Authenticity of the document and the accuracy of the facts contained therein were manually verified by me' on the document.

If documents have been attested (notarised) by a Notary it means that courts and other bodies overseas can accept them without having to make any further checks.

Legalisation means verifying the attester's (Notary's) seal and signature are genuine. In the United Kingdom the Government department responsible for legalisation is the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office ('the FCDO').

The FCDO attests (legalises) a document by fixing a certificate to the document; that certificate is known as an Apostille.

Legalisation is typically required by foreign authorities before they will accept notarised documents. It is important to check with the receiving party if the documents need to be legalised with an Apostille.

Before attesting the authenticity of academic documents the Notary must verify the qualification with the awarding body and the student's identity.

You will need to provide the following 2 documents:

1. Academic Certificate; and
2. Government issued ID (e.g. Passport or Photo Card Driving Licence).

When the awarding body has verified the qualification as genuine, the Notary Public attests (notarises) and issues the document on the same day.

The standard verification processing time is 2-3 business days. Verification processing times may vary between issuing bodies and the time of the year.

Our prices include all disbursements (academic verifications, apostille applications, domestic courier fees etc.) and VAT where applicable.

Breakdown of service charges are as follows:

- Verification (Notarisation) £95.00
- Paper certificates + £30.00
- Digital Apostilles + £70.00*
- Paper Apostilles + £150.00*

* Apostilles are issued using the FCDO 'Next-Day' service.

Standard pricing does not include overseas delivery - please refer to overseas delivery.

Over 90% of our clients are organisations based overseas. The final cost for overseas delivery is calculated at checkout.

Estimated delivery charges are as follows:

- European Union £30.00
- Switzerland £35.00
- United States £35.00
- Rest of the World £45.00

Our preferred courier companies are DHL, FedEx and UPS. The carrier used is location dependant.