Vital Consular: Your International Legalisation Office

Do you have documents that need legalising? Looking for a legalisation office to guide you through the process? Look no further!

We’re Vital Consular – the document legalisation company. If you’ve just found out that you need to have your documents legalised for use abroad and you’re scratching your head wondering how you do it, we’re here for you. You can think of us as your own personal legalisation office.

What is document legalisation?

Document legalisation (sometimes known as attestation) is when you take documents that were issued in one country and prepare them for use in another. It’s basically a guard against fraud – it’s a way that foreign countries can be sure the documents they’re dealing with are legitimate.

The process is based around getting something called an Apostille from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). It’s a little certificate that’s attached to the back of your documents to prove their authenticity. Think of an Apostille as the UK authorities’ stamp of approval – if it’s got an Apostille, it’s the real deal.

Are there different types of legalisation?

Yep – the document legalisation process varies massively. Sometimes you’ll only need an Apostille applied to your document, other times you might need to go through a lengthy legalisation process.

It depends on the countries involved and whether they’re a member of something called the Hague Apostille Convention. If they are, the legalisation process is a lot more simple – at most, it’ll require solicitor certification and an Apostille.

If a country isn’t a member of the Hague Apostille Convention, then the process has an extra step. You’ll likely need certification, an Apostille and and Embassy stamp.

Keep in mind that in certain circumstances you’ll also need your document translated – maybe even twice. That can add even more steps to the process, complicating things further.

Different documents have different requirements for different countries. If you aren’t sure what you need to do with your documents, get in touch and we’ll be able to help you – we can offer you advice. Or, if you’d prefer, we can just do it for you. That’s a lot easier, isn’t it?

Can I legalise my own documents?

You could do your document legalisation yourself, but it’s a bit like swimming through shark infested water because you don’t want to pay for the ferry. Ok, I wouldn’t go that far, but it is going to take you longer and there’s a reasonable chance it’ll end badly.

The FCDO don’t allow in person submissions from the public, so to legalise your own documents you’ll need to post them. The FCDO postal service takes around 2 weeks to process your document. But you might not have 2 weeks to spare.

We can get your documents legalised with 24 hours of receiving them. We’re a registered service provider at the FCDO, so we can take your documents direct to the FCDO’s in person business counter for same-day legalisation. Why spend two weeks waiting when we can do it for you in 24 hours?

The FCDO (and the majority of Embassies) are easily accessible from our London legalisation office (known as the London Hub), so we’re in the perfect position to get your documents legalised. Anytime you’re in London and need documents legalising, come pop in! We’re just a short walk from Blackfriars, and we’re a really friendly bunch.

What services does your legalisation office provide?

Whatever documents you need legalising for whichever country, we can take care of it for you. We’re legalisation experts with legalisation offices across the globe. We’ve got over a decade’s worth of experience dealing with documents from all across the world and countless satisfied customers.

Why risk doing your own document legalisation when you can just get us to do it for you? With our 100% Acceptance Guarantee, you don’t need to worry about anything. If you need a legalisation office, you need Vital Consular.