The authorities in a foreign jurisdiction rely on a notarial certificate because they see notaries as people who can be trusted to make sure that documents and facts have been properly authenticated.
However, when the document is received in the foreign country, the foreign authorities have no idea whether my signature and seal are those of a Notary, and have no easy way of checking. The only way in which this can realistically be done is by a process known as legalisation. This is a process by which the Foreign and Commonwealth Office here is able to confirm that the signature and seal that appear on your document are mine and that I am a Notary. This involves sending my certificate to The Foreign and Commonwealth Office in Milton Keynes where they will legalise it by signing and sealing it. The fee currently payable to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for this is £28 and it will take at least 3 days for it to be returned to me. There is also a premium service which is a same day service, which only I can undertake, and which is more costly, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office fee being £69 and which usually requires the services of a courier to take the documents to the London office of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Many countries are parties to the Hague Convention which means that they will accept the Foreign and Commonwealth Office certification, then known as an Apostille, without any further steps being required.
However some countries require that, in addition to my notarial certificate being legalised by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, their embassy confirms that my signature and seal and/or the Foreign and Commonwealth Office legalisation is authentic, which they do by applying the seal of their own Embassy in this country and signature of an Embassy official.
