Apostille explained: the complete guide
What an apostille certifies, who issues it, which documents qualify, how long it takes, and where the translation fits.
What an apostille is, which UK documents need one, how long each step takes, which comes first, and what the main destination countries require. Plus guides for marriage, residence, work and study abroad.
Taking a UK document abroad follows a fixed sequence: an apostille from the FCDO on the original, then a translation into the destination language that includes the apostille, and, if the destination insists, legalisation of the translation itself. Get the order wrong and you pay twice. Most of the difficulty is not the apostille but what surrounds it: which documents need notarising first, how recent the destination wants them, and whether it accepts a UK translation or wants its own sworn translator.
Start with the complete guide, which covers all of this on one page. The shorter guides that follow go into the documents and situations people ask about most.
Official Translations: certified translations from £29.95 per page, delivered within 24 hours, accepted by the Home Office, UKVI, and UK courts.
Before ordering anything, ask the receiving authority in writing how recent the document must be and whether it accepts a UK translation. Those two answers decide the sequence and save most of the cost of getting it wrong.