Notarial and Legalisation
Our Practice Areas
When documents are to be used outside of Singapore, the laws of the receiving country often mandate that the documents be notarised and legalised or apostilled. Other terms used to describe legalisation are consularisation and authentication.
Singapore is not a member of the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, and legalisation of documents for use outside Singapore is usually a 4-stage process involving the notary, the Singapore Academy of Law, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of the Country where the document is to be used or received. Different embassies have adopted different variants of this practice, distinguishing between documents issued or certified by a Singapore government body and documents prepared and signed by individuals or companies whether these are notarised or not.
Singapore is not a member of the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, and legalisation of documents for use outside Singapore is usually a 4-stage process involving the notary, the Singapore Academy of Law, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of the Country where the document is to be used or received. Different embassies have adopted different variants of this practice, distinguishing between documents issued or certified by a Singapore government body and documents prepared and signed by individuals or companies whether these are notarised or not.