As one of the major global players in the world of Apostille and Document Legalisation, we are specialists in offering convenient, bespoke legalisation services to our clients across Asia and indeed around the world. We work with all manner of private and corporate clients, which means that we are experienced in working with a wide range of private and corporate documentation, so we always know exactly what we’re dealing with. Our elite in-house team of lawyers will give you the confidence to know that your legalisation process is being handled perfectly every step of the way, giving you as smooth a process as is possible.
We have offices strategically placed across the world, allowing us to build and maintain strong governmental and consular relationships which keep the entire process running efficiently for all parties involved.
While we are able to work and have experience working, with clients from across Asia and the Middle East, the majority of our work takes place with clients based in China, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and India. We are also heavily involved with clients in Israel in the Middle East, as well as strong working links with Iranian and Turkish clients. Alongside these working relationships, we have regularly provided Apostille and Document Legalisation services to clients in Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar. The legalisation processes in many of the countries of Asia are particularly complicated, which is why many of our clients realise the value in having the support and proactivity of a specialist team of professionals, as we can work closely with you to ensure you are receiving exactly the right services for your needs.
What is Apostille? How it works for Asian Countries and Middle East
In 1961, the “Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents” was drafted, in a bid to create a simpler method for authenticating documents to be used in other countries. This is otherwise known as Apostille.
Put simply, Apostille is a legal certification that makes a document from one country valid in another country, as long as both countries have signed up to the Hague Convention.
If one of the countries involved is not signed up to the Convention, then that can make things trickier. You will often come across this scenario when it comes to Asian countries, as most of them are not a party to the agreement. In fact, the Asian countries we work in most frequently, like China, Vietnam, and Thailand, are not signed up to the Convention, which means we need to know the right legalisation process to put your documents through. As the process differs for every country, this can be a particularly difficult, costly, and confusing time for those who choose to do it alone. That’s why we’re here.
What services can we provide for legalisation of documents used in Asia?
Our in-house team of specialists has years and years of experience in working in the Apostille and Document Legalisation sphere. You will find that there is nothing that we can’t explain to you about the Apostille process or other consular legalisation processes that documents may need to go through. We pride ourselves strongly on our working relationships, both with clients and with global consulates and government agencies – these have been built on the foundation that we absolutely know what we’re talking about. We are experts in this field.
All official documentation from a particular country requires either Apostille certification or a different legalisation process to be followed in order for it to be recognised in a foreign state. The main documentation we deal with in Asia regularly includes:
- Vital documents – Birth, Marriage, and Death certificates
- Documents for the purchase and/or sale of property
- Education records – particularly for those moving into tertiary education in a foreign country
- Criminal Record and Background checks
- Immigration paperwork like visas and identification documents
- Business documentation – for example, documents needed for opening new branches in foreign countries, or completing business negotiations with other companies
- Personal and corporate financial documentation
- Health records – for use in a variety of cases, including insurance and work-related needs
We also operate our own legalised translation service – certifiedtranslations.ie – which allows us to provide not only high-quality professional translations in a wide range of Asian languages but also to make sure those documents then go through the correct legalisation process so that they can be officially recognised. This is a particularly useful service to have when dealing with Asian documents, as it is imperative that we get the original document certified, but also that the translation of that document is certified as legitimate. Having this team in our offices lets us get down to work at once, without having to worry about unforeseen delays from exterior translators, and we are also able to be precisely sure of the accuracy of your translation and its suitability for legalisation.
Apostille Legalisation for Asia and Middle East
If you are unfamiliar with the process of document legalisation, whether in the form of Apostille or Consular Legalisation, the whole set-up can seem very daunting. There are many pitfalls that you can unwittingly fall into if you do not have a practiced, experienced hand to guide you along the way. We work closely with all of our private and corporate clients to ascertain exactly what service they need, including laying out the path to official recognition for the documents, dependent on which countries the process applies to. Our strong network of consular relationships allows us to immediately begin to put your process into action and offers a swift resolution for you. You can rest assured that, come to the end of your process, you will have documents that are fully and officially translated, and officially recognised in your required country, allowing you to enter into your dealings with complete certainty of success.
