Apostille & Consulate Legalisation in the BVI

Apostille & Consulate Legalisation

Apostille (International Certification) - a simplified and standardized form that is used for the purpose of providing a certification of certain public documents relating to adoption, including notarized documents, that is used in countries that are in compliance with the provisions of the Hague Convention. This simplified form contains standardized numbered fields of certain common and essential types of information, which allows the data to be understood by all participating countries regardless of the official language of the issuing country. The completed apostille form certifies the authenticity of the signature on the documents, the capacity in which the person signing the documents has acted, and identifies the seal and/or stamp that the document bears. Documents needed for inter-country adoptions require the attachment of an apostille, rather than authentication forms, if the foreign country is a participant in the Hague Convention.

Apostille is a special certificate that is attached to another document being certified. The Apostille makes the certifiable document valid in all countries that are members of the 1961 Hague Convention (at present there are more than 80 members). The Apostille can not exist as a separate document; it is valid only together with the document to which it is attached. Coddan Offers Legalisation (Apostille) of Documents by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Foreign governments may request bearers of documents to have them authenticated (legalised) by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade or by embassies or missions overseas. The authentication verifies the identity of the signature and/or seal or stamp which the document bears. Please note that this process does not/not verify the contents of the document.

Legalisation procedures and administration continue to be a challenge to international business. Growth in international business is contributing to the confusion and surplus of different rules that need to be taken into account. Therefore, the process of legalisation can be a cause of unwanted and unwelcome delays.

Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents. Foreign countries, who are also party to the Convention, may request the bearer of a public document (as defined by the Hague Convention), to obtain an apostille from authorities of the country in which the document was issued.

An apostille involves the addition of a certificate, either stamped on the document itself or attached to the document. It certifies the country of origin of the document, the identity and capacity in which a document has been signed and the name of any authority which has affixed a seal or stamp to the document.

Some examples of public documents include documents issued by a Notary Public, Certificates of Incorporation, Birth, Death and Marriage Certificates.

The apostille enables the presenter to bypass further certification and immediately send or take the documents to the country of intended use. Only certain countries will accept the apostille.

A Certificate of Authentication only validates the signature of a notary public or certain local or state officers. The certificate of authentication does not validate the contents, completeness, or accuracy of the notarised or issued document. The authentication process includes matching signature and seal with the information on file.

A Power of Attorney is a document whereby one person confers on another the right to act on his or her behalf and in that respect the attorney can act just as though he or she were the donor of the power. Such a power can be used, for instance, to operate bank accounts or to sign documents or deeds.

The Apostille then will be embossed with the official seal. A fee per document will be payable. Once the process is completed, the document is then considered legalised in the countries: Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Bermuda, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Botswana, British Antarctic Territory, British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Cayman Islands, Comoros Islands, Croatia, Cyprus, Djibouti, Dominica, El Salvador, Falkland Islands, Fiji, Finland, France, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guernsey, Guyana, Hong Kong, Hungary, Isle of Man, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jersey, Kiribati, Latvia, Lesotho, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malawi, Malta, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritius, Mexico, Montserrat, Mozambique, Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, New Caledonia, Norway, Panama, Portugal, Reunion, Russian Federation, St. Christopher (Kitts) and Nevis, St. Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, St. Helena, St. Lucia, St. Pierre and Miquelon, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, San Marino, Republic of Seychelles, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Spain, Surinam, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tonga, Turkey, Turks and Caicos, United Kingdom, United States of America, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna.

We provide complete range of services for preparation of corporate and personal documents intended for foreign countries, incl. UK, BVI, Cyprus and other:

• prepare standard documents/sets of document for you or draft documents to suit your needs
• retrieve official/certified documents from appropriate federal and state agencies
• obtain Apostilles (for Hague Convention countries) or foreign certification (for non-Hague countries)
• for documents issued by federal agencies – obtain authentication at the federal level
• translate the documents into the target language
• have the documents authenticated by the Consulate or Embassy of the target county.

Consular officers in Convention countries are prohibited from placing a certification over the Convention apostille. Coddan specialises in the legalisation of overseas and UK corporate documents in the UK, BVI, Cyprus, USA and offshore. We can notarise and Apostillise any company documents. We can also Apostilles any other documents but they will need to be notarised by your local notary, as he will need to witness your signature before we can Apostilles the documents. Legalisation is the process of authenticating a signature, seal or stamp appearing on a document. The signatures or seals of British Public officials or an overseas Apostille appearing on a document will need to be authenticated and legalised before the documents can be accepted in an official capacity in a jurisdiction that is not party to the Hague Convention.

BVI Apostille Legalisation: Apostille Legalisation - £125.00 (BVI documents can be used overseas - 5-7 days)

Please contact us for more information. If you have any queries, please call us during business hours and speak to one of our highly trained incorporation specialists. You can call us by phone 800-081-1510 or + 44 (0) 207.935.5171, or make an initial consultation request.