Notarisation and Legislation

Notarisation is the process where principally a notary public witnesses the signing of documents, or certifies that a document is a true copy of its original.

Legalisation, also known as consularisation, and an equivalent to apostillation, is the process where notarised documents are authenticated by various parties viz the Singapore Academy of Law, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and an Embassy, High Commission or Representative Office. Legalised documents bear an authentication stamp from the Embassy, High Commission or Representative Office of the country or region where the document will be presented for use.

When documents are to be used outside of Singapore, the laws of the receiving country may require that the document be notarised and legalised or apostilled. Singapore is not a contracting state to the Hague Convention of 5th October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents. Legalisation is the equivalent process to apostillation.

We notarise and legalise a range of documents including:

  • Powers of Attorney;
  • Agreements and Contracts;
  • Affidavits and Declarations;
  • Bills of Sale, Acceptances of Sale, Sea Protests, other shipping documents;
  • Compliance documents – financial statements, KYC/AML due diligence documents;
  • Documents to buy, sell, transfer or transmit +overseas property;
  • Documents for immigration, emigration and travel purposes – visas, work permits, ICA applications, APAC cards;
  • Certified True Copies of documents; and
  • Translated copies of documents.