We can take you through a few questions to help make sure your digital documents:

• are eligible for the e-Apostille service
• will be accepted by the overseas recipient
• are correctly prepared and electronically signed by a UK notary or solicitor

We cannot give a refund if the intended recipient rejects a legalised document.

The e-Apostille service excludes a small number of document types. To legalise the following documents, use the paper-based service instead.

Excluded documents

• All General Register Office (GRO) documents, including birth, death, marriage, civil partnership and adoption certificates
• ACRO police certificates for England and Wales
• Disclosure Barring Service (DBS) certificates for England and Wales
• Disclosure certificates for Scotland or Northern Ireland
• Fingerprint certificates
• Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) membership certificate.

Why these documents are excluded

The organisations that issue these documents do not currently allow electronic copies to be legalised. For example, some of the documents include physical features and therefore must be viewed in their original format.

Contact and ask the intended overseas recipient exactly what they need from you and if they will:

• accept digital documents with e-Apostille certificates
• require a separate e-Apostille for each document (if legalising more than one)
• accept documents electronically signed by a UK notary or solicitor, or only by a notary

Make sure they understand e-Apostilles are only valid in digital form as they contain unique electronic signatures.

Why you need to check

Under international agreement countries that are signed up to the Apostille Convention (opens in new tab) should equally accept e-Apostilles.

However, there are circumstances in which an intended recipient could reject an e-Apostille. For example, they could do this if they do not accept a digital version of the document the e-Apostille is attached to.

To use the e-Apostille service, your documents must be:

• prepared as PDF files
• certified and electronically signed by a UK notary or solicitor using an Advanced Electronic(digital) Signature (AES) or Qualified Electronic (digital) Signature (QES)

If you are submitting more than one document

1. Prepare each document that requires its own e-Apostille certificate as a separate PDF file
2. If you include multiple documents in the same PDF file you will get a single e-Apostille that applies to, and must be shared together with, all of the Documents in that PDF.
3. There is a fee for each e-Apostille issued.