How to legalise a document
Legalisation is the official confirmation that a signature, seal or stamp on a document is genuine. But having a document legalised doesn’t mean that its contents are accurate, and it does not carry any sort of official approval by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office.
From 1st October 2001 Estonia joined the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 therefore legalisation procedures have changed. All the documents issued in the UK and which will be used in Estonia must now bear an apostille. Documents can be legalised only by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Legalisation Office. Contact details of the Legalisation Office are as follows:
By telephone: 10am-12pm and 2pm-3pm By fax: By post or in person: |
The documents can be legalised by sending them to the address above (by courier or registered mail). A cheque or a completed payment form if paying by credit card (form is available on the website of the FCO Legalisation Office), a letter stating the name and postal address of the sender and the country in which the document is to be used must be enclosed. Please check with the Legalisation Office before you send the document whether it needs to bear a signature or a stamp of an UK solicitor or notary.
Documents are usually processed within 10 working days from the date of receiving the document. Please contact the Legalisation Office for fee information.
