UK apostille route determination and coordination

Apostille of UK Company Documents

An apostille may be required when a UK company document is to be presented outside the United Kingdom, but international use does not by itself establish that an apostille is necessary. The receiving person or authority should identify the document, form and authentication it will accept.

Coddan prepares and coordinates the appropriate apostille route. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Legalisation Office decides whether the document is eligible and issues the apostille. A notary, solicitor, Companies House or another public official may need to act first, depending on the document and the signature, seal or stamp that is to be authenticated.

See what to tell Coddan I am not sure which document treatment is required

Recipient before instrument

Start with the authority that will receive the document

Before an apostille application is prepared, establish exactly what the recipient has requested. The same company document may be accepted as an ordinary copy in one transaction, require a Companies House-certified version in another, or need a notarial act followed by an apostille in a third.

Ask the recipient to confirm, where possible:

the precise document and the fact or corporate act it is intended to evidence;
whether an original, official certificate, certified copy or privately prepared document is required;
whether the document must be signed or certified by a particular person or institution;
whether a paper apostille or e-Apostille is acceptable;
whether one apostille may cover the submitted material or separate treatment is expected;
whether a translation or any further embassy or consular procedure is required; and
any validity period, issue-date condition, delivery method or local filing rule.

If written instructions are unavailable, say so. Coddan can determine the safest available route within the agreed scope without asking you to choose a legalisation instrument unaided.

Scope of the certificate

What an apostille authenticates—and what it does not

An apostille is an official certificate issued by the FCDO Legalisation Office. Within its proper scope, it authenticates the relevant signature, the capacity in which the signatory acted and, where applicable, the identity of the seal or stamp on the public document.

An apostille does not establish that every statement in the underlying document is true, current or commercially effective. It does not confirm that a director was properly authorised merely because a signature has been authenticated. It does not correct a Companies House filing, reconcile an internal statutory register, validate a resolution or restore a dissolved company.

The apostille also does not compel the intended recipient to accept the document. The recipient may impose requirements concerning the document’s age, wording, issuing source, language, signature, paper or electronic form, or further treatment.

Shortest appropriate route

Does this document actually require an apostille?

The correct route depends on the destination, the receiving authority and the document. The appropriate outcome may be an apostille, a different authentication route, or no additional formality.

No additional treatment

If the recipient accepts the existing document, an apostille should not be added merely because the document will be used abroad.

Apostille under the Convention route

If the document is to be produced in a jurisdiction where the Apostille Convention applies to the relevant relationship and the recipient requires authentication, the UK apostille may be the appropriate final authentication step.

Apostille followed by another procedure

Some recipients or destination procedures may require an apostille and then a separate embassy, consular or other institutional stage. This must be established rather than assumed.

Another route instead

A document may require an official Companies House product, a notarial act, certified translation, embassy or consular processing without an apostille, or another destination-specific procedure.

Document and authenticating signature

The document must reach the FCDO in an eligible form

The Legalisation Office can legalise certain UK public documents. Some documents are eligible because they were issued by a public registry, court, government department or other recognised public authority. Other company documents may first need to be certified or executed before a UK public official whose signature can be checked.

The relevant question is not simply whether the document is “official”. It is which signature, seal, stamp or capacity the apostille is intended to authenticate and whether the FCDO can verify it.

Companies House products

A company certificate or certified copy may provide the public-official signature required for later legalisation. An ordinary register download is not automatically equivalent to that official product.

Notarial acts

A private company document, copy, signature or statement may need an appropriate notarial act before the FCDO can consider the notary’s signature and seal. Notarisation is a distinct professional act, not part of the apostille itself.

Solicitor-certified material

Some documents may be eligible after certification by a UK solicitor, but suitability depends on the document, the requested act, FCDO eligibility and the recipient’s instructions. Coddan does not assume that solicitor certification is interchangeable with notarisation.

Privately prepared company documents

Powers of attorney, resolutions, certificates, declarations, minutes and other private documents may require evidence of identity, authority, execution or corporate status before an appropriate public official can act.

If the document was issued outside the United Kingdom, the UK Legalisation Office is not the issuing country’s apostille authority. The authentication route normally begins in the country from which that document emanates.

Format is part of the route

Paper apostille or e-Apostille?

The FCDO provides paper-based and electronic apostille routes. They are not merely two delivery methods for an identical submission. The document format, signature method, eligibility rules and the recipient’s acceptance determine which route is appropriate.

Paper-based apostille

The physical eligible document is submitted through the applicable route and the paper apostille is attached to it. This may be necessary where the recipient requires paper, the original must circulate physically or the document is not eligible for an e-Apostille.

Electronic apostille

An e-Apostille is issued electronically. Under the current FCDO route, the document is supplied as a PDF electronically signed by a UK notary or solicitor. Eligibility and recipient acceptance must be confirmed before relying on this route.

A paper document cannot be made suitable for the electronic route merely by scanning it. Equally, the existence of an e-Apostille service does not mean that every company document or every recipient accepts an electronic result.

Recognise the source

UK company documents that may enter an apostille route

The following families commonly raise an apostille question, but no category is automatically eligible in every form:

Companies House company certificates and certified copies;
certificates of incorporation and change of name in the form required by the recipient;
memorandum and articles of association, amended articles and filed resolutions;
powers of attorney and other company authorities;
board or member resolutions, minutes and written decisions;
certificates of incumbency and other privately prepared corporate certificates;
contracts, declarations and authorised-signatory documents;
internal statutory-register extracts and ownership or governance evidence;
translated company documents where the receiving procedure requires a certified translation; and
historic documents relating to an active, dissolved or restored company.

The exact document, issuer, date, signature and intended use must be examined. A public-register document, internal record and private certificate may describe related facts but require different authentication routes.

Readiness before authentication

Check the document before the apostille chain begins

An apostille should not be used to give an inaccurate, incomplete or unsuitable document an appearance of reliability. Before submission, the relevant source and corporate record should be checked.

Correct company and document

Confirm the company name and number, the precise document, its date and whether a later filing or name change affects its use.

Public-register readiness

Check whether the Companies House information is sufficiently current and accurate for the recipient’s purpose. Ordering or legalising a certificate does not correct the public register.

Internal-record readiness

Where the document depends on registers, minutes, resolutions or authority held by the company, confirm that those records support the proposed statement or act. Authentication does not reconstruct missing records or manufacture facts.

Signing and certification readiness

Do not sign, bind, alter or certify the document prematurely. A notary, solicitor, public registry or other issuer may require a particular execution or certification method.

Company-status readiness

A historic document may sometimes be retrieved for a dissolved company, but a dissolved company cannot be treated as if it were taking every new formal action. Investigation and preparation before restoration must remain separate from legally available formal action.

A controlled route

How Coddan coordinates the apostille process

Identify the exact document and its source

We establish whether the document comes from Companies House, another public body, a notary, solicitor, company or private preparer and identify the signature, seal or stamp relevant to authentication.
Confirm the recipient, destination and purpose

We review the available recipient instructions, intended use and destination so that an apostille is not ordered where no additional treatment or a different route is required.
Determine the acceptable form

We distinguish original from copy, public from private document, and paper apostille from e-Apostille. Any required issue, signature, certification, notarial or translation stage is identified.
Check eligibility and documentary readiness

We check the document’s condition and apparent route requirements. Inaccurate records, missing authority, unsuitable certification or company-status issues are separated for appropriate preliminary work.
Prepare and coordinate the FCDO submission

Coddan prepares and coordinates the applicable route within the agreed scope. The FCDO Legalisation Office assesses eligibility, verifies the relevant signature, seal or stamp and decides whether to issue the apostille.
Check the result and follow the justified onward route

The completed document is checked against the agreed scope and directed for delivery, certified translation, embassy or consular processing, or another confirmed stage where required. The recipient retains the final acceptance decision.

Commercial clarity

What determines cost and timing

The scope depends on the confirmed route rather than a universal apostille package. Relevant components may include:

Coddan’s work in determining, preparing and coordinating the route;
obtaining an eligible Companies House or other official document;
notarial or solicitor work required before submission;
the applicable FCDO charge for each document submitted;
certified translation or further embassy, consular or chamber charges;
postage, courier, collection, return and international-delivery requirements;
exceptional investigation, correction, document preparation or resubmission work;
urgency, where a verified route is actually available; and
Value Added Tax treatment where applicable.

External authorities and professionals set their own charges, requirements and processing decisions. A written scope should distinguish Coddan’s work from official, professional and delivery charges. No priority, registered-business or urgent route is promised unless its current availability and Coddan’s access have been verified for the instruction.

Separate acts

Notarisation is not automatically required before an apostille

Some public documents already contain a signature, seal or stamp that the FCDO can consider. Other documents need a notarial or permitted professional act first. Adding notarisation where it is unnecessary can lengthen the route; omitting a required act can make the submission unsuitable.

Where notarisation is required, Coddan provides the service through its in-house and associated notaries. The appointed individual notary performs and controls the notarial act. The FCDO then independently determines whether the resulting document is eligible for an apostille.

If the required notarial act has not been established:

Continue to Notarisation of UK Company Documents

Do not add stages by habit

An apostille is not automatically followed by embassy or consular legalisation

The Apostille Convention was designed to replace traditional diplomatic or consular legalisation between Contracting Parties for documents within its scope. A further mission stage should therefore be included only when the applicable destination framework or receiving authority requires it.

Where the Apostille Convention does not apply, where a document falls outside its scope, or where the recipient identifies an additional procedure, the route may involve an embassy, consulate, chamber or another authority. Those institutions control their own acts, documentation and decisions.

If current instructions require mission processing:

Continue to Embassy and Consular Legalisation

Confirmed sequences

When an apostille is one stage of a longer route

A confirmed instruction may require an official document, notarial act, apostille, certified translation and further destination procedure in a particular order. Page 5 owns the apostille decision and coordination stage; it does not turn every request into a managed bundle.

Where several verified stages must be coordinated, the written scope should identify the documents, sequence, responsible professionals and institutions, external charges, dependencies, delivery arrangements and matters that remain reserved.

Complete Document Certification and Legalisation Service

Authentication is not correction

Deal with an unsuitable record before relying on it

Companies House information

If a filed fact or document is inaccurate, incomplete, disputed or historically inconsistent, the appropriate filing, replacement or correction route must be identified. An apostille authenticates within its limited scope; it does not amend the register.

RP01 replacement filings Planned RP04 correction page

Internal records and governance

Internal statutory registers, minutes, resolutions, objects and authority documents must be investigated and corrected through their proper corporate route. Missing facts must never be manufactured to make a document suitable for authentication.

Company Records and Statutory Registers Articles, Objects, Resolutions and Governance Work

Dissolved companies

Certification, notarisation and legalisation do not restore a company. Before restoration, work must be confined to investigation, retrieval, reconstruction, reconciliation and preparation. Administrative restoration and restoration by court order remain separate routes, and formal action may occur only where legally available.

Company Restoration

Responsibility remains divided

Who performs each part of the route

Coddan determines the appropriate documentary route within the agreed scope and prepares and coordinates the verified apostille route.
Companies House issues and certifies its official products and controls their availability, content and issue.
The appointed notary independently performs and controls any required notarial act.
A solicitor controls any permitted solicitor certification undertaken within that professional’s scope.
The FCDO Legalisation Office determines eligibility, verifies the relevant signature, seal or stamp and issues or refuses the apostille.
The translator prepares and certifies any required translation.
An embassy, consulate or chamber controls its own later official or institutional procedure.
A courier or postal provider controls carriage, tracking and delivery within its service terms.
The receiving authority decides whether the resulting document meets its requirements.

Coddan does not issue an apostille, make another institution’s decision or guarantee acceptance, processing or delivery time.

Connected work only when revealed

Company work that may need to precede authentication

The apostille enquiry may reveal a separate company task. These links identify the relevant professional route without transferring that work into Page 5.

Controlled apostille enquiry

Give us the facts—without choosing the legal procedure yourself

Provide as much as you know. You do not need to decide whether the document is eligible, whether notarisation is required, which apostille form is appropriate or whether translation or consular treatment is also needed. If any point is uncertain, say “Not known”.

What to tell Coddan so we can identify the appropriate apostille route

When you contact Coddan, include as much of the following information as is available. The purpose is to identify the document, relevant signature or certification, recipient and required final form—not to test whether you already understand the apostille route.

The companyThe UK company name and company number, where applicable.
The document and its sourceThe exact document, its date, who issued, signed, certified or prepared it, and whether it already exists.
Its present formWhether an original, official copy, certified copy, ordinary copy, paper document or electronic document is available.
Signature or certificationThe signature, seal, stamp or official capacity appearing on the document, including whether a notary, solicitor, Companies House official or another person signed or certified it.
Recipient, purpose and destinationThe person, organisation or authority that will receive it, the intended purpose or transaction, and the country or territory where it will be used.
Written requirementsAny recipient instructions, checklist, sample wording or stated authentication requirement.
Paper or electronic apostilleWhether a paper apostille or electronic apostille has been specified and whether the recipient has confirmed that it will accept an electronically signed document and electronic apostille.
Possible earlier or later stagesWhether notarisation, certified translation, embassy or consular legalisation has also been mentioned, without trying to determine the correct sequence yourself.
Language requirementsThe document language, the required language and any stated translator or certified-translation requirement.
Required final formWhether the recipient requires paper or electronic form, an original, a particular signature, seal, certificate wording or another official feature.
Timing and deliveryThe deadline and the place or person to whom the completed document must be delivered.
Document, record or status concernsWhether any filing, company record, authority, signature, certification, status or document may be inaccurate, incomplete, disputed or historic, and whether the company is dissolved, being restored or has been restored.

If something is not known, say “Not known”. Coddan can identify what needs to be checked before preparing and coordinating the application. You are not expected to determine eligibility, the correct apostille form or the order of any justified earlier or later stage.

Send the information above using Coddan’s normal contact details shown on this website. Coddan can then identify the apparent route, check document readiness and explain any necessary preliminary or onward stage. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office retains the decision on eligibility and issues the apostille.

Questions about UK apostilles

Apostille of UK company documents: questions and answers

Does every UK company document used abroad need an apostille?

No. The receiving person or authority determines what documentary form it will accept. Some uses require an apostille, some require a different procedure and some require no additional formality. Provide the recipient’s instructions so the shortest appropriate route can be identified.

What does an apostille prove?

It authenticates the relevant signature, the capacity in which the signatory acted and, where appropriate, the seal or stamp on the public document. It does not prove that every statement in the underlying document is true or that the transaction has legal or commercial effect.

Who issues a UK apostille?

The FCDO Legalisation Office issues or refuses the apostille after assessing eligibility and checking the relevant signature, stamp or seal. Coddan prepares and coordinates the appropriate route but does not issue the apostille.

Is notarisation always required before an apostille?

No. Some official UK documents may already be in a form the FCDO can consider, while private documents or copies may need certification or a notarial act first. The document, signature to be authenticated and recipient’s instructions determine the route. Use Notarisation of UK Company Documents where a notarial act must be arranged.

Can an ordinary Companies House download be apostilled?

Do not assume so. For later FCDO legalisation, a Companies House document may need the original signature of a British public official, obtained through the appropriate certified-copy or certificate route. First identify whether the recipient needs a particular filing or certified company facts.

What is the difference between a paper apostille and an e-Apostille?

A paper apostille is attached to the physical eligible document. An e-Apostille is issued electronically through the FCDO’s eligible electronic route and requires an appropriately electronically signed PDF. Not every document is eligible and not every recipient accepts the electronic form, so the route must be confirmed before submission.

Can I scan a paper document and obtain an e-Apostille?

A scan alone does not satisfy the electronic-route requirements. The current FCDO route requires an eligible PDF electronically signed by a UK notary or solicitor. The professional must decide whether and how the relevant electronic act can properly be performed.

Does an apostille guarantee that the recipient will accept the document?

No. The apostille authenticates within its defined scope. The recipient may still apply rules about the document type, wording, date, language, paper or electronic form, signatory, authority or further procedure. Obtain written recipient instructions where possible.

Is embassy or consular legalisation always required after an apostille?

No. Further mission processing is not a universal consequence of obtaining an apostille. It should be included only where the destination framework or receiving authority requires it. If it is confirmed, continue to Embassy and Consular Legalisation.

Does an apostille replace a certified translation?

No. An apostille and a translation perform different jobs. Translation addresses language; it does not authenticate the underlying document. The recipient may require a translation of the document, the apostille or both, and may specify when the translation must be prepared.

Can an apostille correct inaccurate Companies House information?

No. The appropriate register filing, replacement or correction route must be identified separately. Authentication does not alter the public register or make inaccurate information correct.

Can an apostille validate internal company records or a director’s authority?

Not by itself. Internal registers, minutes, resolutions and authority evidence must support the document or act through their own corporate and evidential route. The apostille authenticates the relevant public signature, seal or stamp; it does not decide the underlying corporate facts.

Can a document relating to a dissolved company be apostilled?

The answer depends on the existing document, the act required and FCDO eligibility. A historic document may be capable of retrieval or authentication, but a dissolved company cannot be treated as if it can undertake every new corporate act. Apostille work does not restore the company; investigate the status and any restoration route separately.

Can the recipient verify that a UK apostille was issued?

The FCDO provides an official verification facility for apostilles issued by the Legalisation Office. Verification of the apostille does not independently validate the truth or effectiveness of the underlying company document.

What does Coddan need to determine the apostille route?

Provide the company name and number where applicable, exact document, issuer and date, recipient, destination, intended purpose, written instructions, required original or copy, paper or electronic preference, language requirement, deadline and any known record or company-status issue. “Not known” is acceptable where information is unavailable.

What determines the cost and timing?

The document, required preliminary certification or notarisation, paper or electronic route, number of documents, FCDO charge, translation or later institutional stages, delivery requirements, exceptional investigation and any correction or restoration work all affect scope. The FCDO and other institutions control their own eligibility, charges and processing decisions, so no outcome or completion time is guaranteed.

The appropriate next step

Prepare the document the recipient will actually accept

If an apostille has been expressly requested, provide the document and the recipient’s instructions before arranging signatures, certification or delivery. Coddan will determine the appropriate paper or eligible electronic route within scope and coordinate the verified stages. If the required treatment remains uncertain, return to the main route-determination page.

See what to tell Coddan Return to route determination

Apostille of UK Company Documents.

Choose the appropriate apostille route by confirming the recipient's requirements, checking document readiness and identifying any treatment required before or after the apostille.

When a UK company document is intended for use outside the UK, an apostille may be required but should not be assumed; Coddan helps establish the appropriate route before the document is submitted for legalisation.

Follow the apostille journey from confirming the recipient's requirements to preparing an eligible document and completing any required onward treatment.

Get UK Company Documents Apostilled, Official FCDO Legalisation

Start with the authority that will receive the document

What an apostille authenticates—and what it does not

Does this document actually require an apostille?

01No additional treatment

02Apostille under the Convention route

03Apostille followed by another procedure

04Another route instead

The document must reach the FCDO in an eligible form

01Companies House products

02Notarial acts

03Solicitor-certified material

04Privately prepared company documents

Paper apostille or e-Apostille?

01Paper-based apostille

02Electronic apostille

UK company documents that may enter an apostille route

Check the document before the apostille chain begins

01Correct company and document

02Public-register readiness

03Internal-record readiness

04Signing and certification readiness

05Company-status readiness