An e-apostille is a digital certificate that authenticates UK documents for international use. It serves the same purpose as a traditional paper apostille but is issued electronically as a PDF file, making the process faster and more convenient. However, not all documents are eligible for an e-apostille.

All documents that can have the e-apostille must be digitally signed by a solicitor or notary with an enhanced digital signature. This is a secure digital signature that has been verified by a digital signature service. It is not just a scan of a signed document or a basic PDF that is not secure.

In addition, the solicitor or notary must have registered their enhanced digital signature with the FCDO Legalisation Office.

It is important to note, there are some documents that a solicitor should not certify and the e-apostille should not be applied for. Let’s discuss this further.

Documents must be checked or verified before they can be certified. They must then be digitally signed by a UK solicitor or notary public with a recognised digital signature. Once that is done they can be issued with an e-apostille. Examples include:

Academic Documents:

• Degrees, Masters, and PhD certificates
• PGCE or QTS certificates
• TEFL and TESOL certificates from recognised UK TEFL services
• Professional qualifications and membership certificates for recognised UK bodies
• Please note – verification of documents is required before they can be legalised.

Personal Documents:

• Employment documents and employment contracts
• NHS employment documents
• P60s and P45s
• Decree absolutes and final order divorce documents
• Driving licences from DVLA

Please note – verification of documents is required before they can be legalised. The solicitor may need to see the original document to make an e-apostille.

UK Company Documents:

• Certificate of Incorporation
• Incorporation documents from Companies House (IN01)
• Certificate of Company Name Change (and supporting NM01)
• Memorandum and Articles of Association
• Confirmation Statement (CS01)
• Address Change from Companies House (AD01)
• Company accounts downloaded from Companies House
• Share certificates that can be verified at Companies House
• HMRC documents that can be verified

Many documents can be easily verified at Companies House. If we cannot check the source of the document our solicitor cannot certify the document.

Certain documents cannot receive an e-apostille and require a traditional paper apostille. They are processed as original documents and should not be scanned or copied. These typically include:

• Birth, marriage, death, and civil partnership certificates from a registry office or the GRO central office
• Certificate of No Impediment (CNI) and no trace of marriage documents
• Background checks – ACRO police certificates, NPCC, and DBS certificates
• Medical certificates, health check documents, and fit-to-work documents ink-signed by a doctor
• Fingerprint documents
• Ink stamped court documents
• Notary or Solicitor documents signed in ink

These are examples of public and government documents that must have a paper apostille on the original document.