Apostille for a Ukrainian Police Certificate and Certified Translation

If you have been asked to provide a police certificate with an apostille, the process depends on who issued the document. The confirmed guidance on gov.uk describes the apostille service of the FCDO Legalisation Office, which handles documents from the United Kingdom. What follows covers only that service and the details checked against gov.uk on 22 October 2026.

What an apostille is

An apostille is an official certificate with a stamp that the FCDO Legalisation Office attaches to a UK public document. Before attaching it, the office checks the signature or seal on the document against the records it holds. Once that check is done, the document is counted as legalised.

Which documents can be legalised

A document is legalised when it was issued by a UK public official, or when it has been certified by one — for example, by a UK notary or a solicitor. The examples given on gov.uk include a power of attorney, a contract, and a copy of a qualification certificate. So the starting point for any paperwork is whether the document falls into one of these categories.

Two types of apostille, both applied for online

• Paper-based apostille: applied for online, then sent by post, or handed in in person if you are a registered business.
• e-Apostille: applied for online, for a PDF that has been signed electronically by a UK notary or solicitor.

One point worth checking before you apply: the receiving authority may want a paper-based apostille even in cases where an e-Apostille exists, so confirm what they accept first.

Documents that cannot get an e-Apostille

An e-Apostille is not available for:

• birth, death, marriage, civil partnership and adoption certificates, or other General Register Office documents;
• ACRO police certificates (England and Wales);
• DBS certificates (England and Wales);
• disclosure certificates (Scotland and Northern Ireland);
• fingerprint certificates.

This matters for police checks: a police certificate is among the document types for which only the paper-based route is available.

Fees per document

Courier costs apply to paper-based apostilles. If a document cannot be legalised, there is no refund.

Processing times

A note on this page

The details above come from gov.uk guidance on getting a document legalised, checked on 22 October 2026, and they describe the UK service run by the FCDO Legalisation Office. The guidance on that page covers documents issued by UK public officials or certified by such officials. For anything about a document issued outside the UK — including how and where it would be legalised — the gov.uk page on legalisation does not provide rules, so check the requirements directly with the authority that asked you for the certificate and, where relevant, with the FCDO Legalisation Office before arranging anything.