The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly known as the Foreign Office or FCO was created in 1968 and is a British government department responsible for the promotion of the interests of the United Kingdom overseas.The UK does not require any documents to be legalised for use within the UK. The Legalisation Office of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is the only authority to issue apostilles in the UK. Legalisation is the official confirmation that a signature, seal or stamp on a UK public document is genuine. Legalisation is usually required by foreign authorities before they will allow a UK document to be used for official purposes within their country.
Postal ApplicationsMembers of the public and businesses can choose to pay an apostille fee of £30 and include an SAE or pay additional charges for a courier – check FCO website for current costs, application forms and expected response times.
Express Collection Service
The FCO also operates an express service from centrepoint in London to pre-registered companies and notaries of which Edward Young is one. The cost of this service is £75 and expected turnaround is 90 minutes plus prevalent queue times. If we have control of the document by 12pm noon, we can guarantee same day return, otherwise turnaround is 24 hours. |