Global Apostille Canada / Destinations / United Kingdom
United Kingdom: apostille and legalization from Canada
Apostille only · no embassy stage
The United Kingdom is a party to the Apostille Convention, so a Canadian apostille is accepted directly. Nearly all of this traffic is regulated professions: a nurse or doctor registering with their UK council, an engineer or lawyer having Canadian qualifications recognised, or a skilled-worker visa that needs a police certificate. Those bodies publish a checklist, which makes the requirements unusually specific, and unusually easy to satisfy once you have them in writing.
The route your document takes
The Hague Apostille Convention applies to this destination (United Kingdom). A single apostille from the Canadian competent authority is enough, with no embassy stage.
- TranslationCertified translation into the language your destination requires. Depends on your document
- NotarizationA notary or commissioner certifies the copy, the signature or the translator's affidavit. Depends on your document
- ApostilleThe competent Canadian authority issues the apostille certificate. Always
- LegalizationEmbassy or consular stamp, for destinations outside the Hague Convention. Not required
This is a preliminary route, not a legal opinion. Convention membership and embassy requirements change; we confirm the exact chain for your file in writing before any work starts.
What people usually send
The documents we most often prepare for this destination. If yours is not here, it is almost certainly still something we handle.
- Degrees and transcripts for credential recognition
- Nursing, medical and engineering registration files
- Police clearance certificates for skilled-worker visas
- Birth and marriage certificates for settlement applications
- Certificates of good standing for company registration
Worth knowing
Many UK bodies require the underlying document to have been issued within the last three or six months. Check that limit before anything else: an apostille certifies the signature on a document, not its freshness, so it cannot make a stale certificate current. If yours is older you need a newly issued original, and that is worth starting first because it is usually the slowest part of the whole file.
Where is your document from?
The authority that issues the apostille depends on the province the document was issued in, not on where you live.
- Own apostille office
- Quebec, Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan
- Every other province and territory
- Global Affairs Canada, Ottawa