How to verify a UK apostille

How to verify a UK apostille through the FCDO Legalisation Office: where to find the apostille number and issue date, the GOV.UK check, and what to do if it fails.

Apostilla UK — a private company, not a government body.

We are not affiliated with FCDO Legalisation Office. The official document is issued directly by the government body: www.gov.uk/get-document-legalised. Our service is separate support (preparation, apostille, translation, delivery).

Why verify legalised documents

Verifying an apostille confirms one specific thing: that the apostille certificate attached to your document was genuinely issued by the FCDO Legalisation Office. That is what a recipient abroad actually cares about, because the apostille is what tells a recipient that the signature, seal or stamp on the underlying document is authentic.

The check matters in both directions. If you are submitting a document to a bank, a university, a registry or an employer overseas, a verification result protects you from a rejection later on grounds of a doubtful certificate. If you are the one receiving a legalised document, the check tells you whether the apostille in front of you corresponds to a real record before you rely on it. The check needs nothing more than the details printed on the certificate.

Where the apostille number and issue date are

Both details you need for verification are printed on the apostille certificate itself, so there is nothing to look up separately. The apostille number appears in the header area of the certificate, directly under the certificate title, and it is the reference the Legalisation Office uses to identify the record. The apostille issue date sits in the place and date of issue field among the certificate details, alongside the name of the issuing authority.

Copy both exactly as printed. The date format and any letter-digit combinations are the two most common sources of a failed lookup, so it is worth reading the values off the certificate rather than typing them from memory. If the document is an Electronic Apostille, the same details appear in the digital file.

Verify apostille online with FCDO

The official route is the verification service on GOV.UK, operated by the FCDO Legalisation Office. You enter the apostille number and the issue date, and the service returns the record held for that certificate. A matching result confirms the apostille exists in the register and shows what it was issued against.

The returned record typically includes the apostille number, the issue date and the type of document the apostille was attached to, which lets you compare it line by line with the certificate in your hands. If the document type or the date does not match what you are holding, treat that as a reason to pause and query the certificate rather than to submit it. The online check is the same one your recipient can run, which is why sharing the number and date is often enough to satisfy them.

Paper or electronic Apostille: does the check differ

Both certificate types are verifiable, and both trace back to the same register, but the practical route differs slightly.

For a Paper Apostille, the physical certificate remains the primary evidence, and the online check confirms it against the register. For an e-Apostille, the digital signature and the register entry together do that job, which is why more organisations now accept the electronic format.

E-Apostille service

The E-Apostille service is the FCDO’s electronic alternative to the paper certificate: the apostille is issued as a signed digital document rather than attached in paper form. Verification works against the same register, so a recipient can confirm the electronic apostille in the same way as a paper one, using the number and the issue date shown in the file.

The practical advantage shows up at the sharing stage. An electronic apostille can be forwarded by email, and each holder in the chain can re-verify it independently. If you are weighing the two formats for an upcoming application, the e-Apostille service page covers how the electronic version is issued and when recipients accept it.

Verification request form

The online check covers most situations, but there are cases where a written answer is needed: a recipient demands formal confirmation, the online lookup returns nothing, or the certificate is old and the details are unclear. In those situations a verification form request to the Legalisation Office is the route.

A request should include the apostille number, the issue date, a copy of the apostille certificate or the legalised document, and the order reference number from the original application if you have it. The order reference is not mandatory, but it helps the office trace the application behind the certificate.

When verification fails: apostille not found

A failed lookup is not automatically a forgery, and it often has a mundane cause. Work through it in order.

Situation: you enter the number and date on the GOV.UK page and no record appears.

Steps: first re-check the number for characters that look alike, such as 0 and O or 1 and I, and confirm the date is entered in the format the service expects. Then confirm you are checking the right certificate type, since a paper and an electronic apostille for the same document carry different references. If the lookup still fails, send the Legalisation Office a scan of the certificate through the verification route described above, quoting the number, the date and any order reference you hold.

Result: the office either locates the record manually and confirms the apostille, or tells you the certificate does not correspond to anything they issued. In the first case you get written confirmation you can pass to the recipient. In the second, the document should not be used until the problem is understood, because a recipient’s own check will fail in exactly the same way.

Verification for businesses and banks

Companies and financial institutions are probably the most frequent verifiers of UK apostilles, because compliance teams are required to confirm the provenance of corporate papers before filing them.

Situation: a bank abroad asks whether a Certificate of Incorporation obtained from Companies House was genuinely legalised before it will open an account for a UK company.

Steps: the person handling the file locates the apostille number and issue date on the certificate, runs the check on the GOV.UK verification page, and compares the returned record with the document. The result, or the number and date themselves, is then passed to the bank so their compliance team can repeat the check independently.

Result: the bank receives confirmation from a source it can check itself, rather than relying on a scan of unknown origin. The same pattern applies to other frequently legalised documents, such as ACRO police certificates used for visas and employment abroad: the apostille number is the anchor that lets any recipient confirm the certificate without contacting you again.

How other countries verify apostilles

The UK model, where anyone can check an apostille against a public register, is not the only approach, and it helps to know this when your recipient is a foreign authority used to a different routine. A few verified examples from other jurisdictions show the range.

In Ukraine, an apostille is placed through an electronic apostille registry, and verification is carried out on a specialised web resource maintained by the issuing authority. The logic is close to the FCDO model: a register entry behind each certificate, checked online rather than by phone.

In Kazakhstan, the rules on document verification include a fallback: where the data is missing from the digital system, a request is sent to the education institution concerned. So a Kazakh recipient used to education documents may expect a written institutional reply rather than a self-service lookup.

Applying for legalisation if you do not have an apostille yet

If you are reading this before the certificate exists, the sequence is simple. You apply for legalisation online through GOV.UK, providing the document that needs the apostille, the details of the application and payment. What you need to apply depends on the document type: some documents can be legalised as issued, while others first need certification by a solicitor or notary.

After you apply for a paper-based apostille, the Legalisation Office processes the application and returns the document with the certificate attached, and the number and date on it can then be verified. After an e-Apostille application, you receive the signed digital file instead, ready to forward. If anything in the application is unclear, help is available through the FCDO’s published guidance and contact routes, and the FCDO legalisation overview sets out the full process from document preparation to delivery.

Solicitor certification service

Solicitor certification sits one step before the apostille for certain document types. Where the FCDO cannot verify the signature on a document directly, a solicitor certifies it, and the apostille is then attached to the solicitor’s certificate rather than to the underlying document. Copies of original documents, such as a certified copy of a passport, typically follow this route.

For verification purposes this changes nothing about the final step: the apostille certificate issued over the solicitor’s certification carries its own number and issue date and is checked on GOV.UK in the usual way. What the check confirms is the chain, from the solicitor’s signature up to the FCDO’s seal.

Embassy attestation services

Embassy attestation applies where the destination country is not part of the Hague Apostille Convention, so an apostille alone is not enough. In that case the document is legalised by the FCDO first, and then attested by the embassy of the destination country in the UK.

Verification still has a role here. The FCDO stage of the chain produces an apostille certificate with a number and issue date, and confirming that stage protects you before the document goes on to the embassy. If your recipient has asked for attestation rather than an apostille, confirm the requirement with them or with the embassy before applying, because the two routes produce different paperwork.

This page is for general information only and is not legal advice. Apostilles for UK public documents are issued exclusively by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) Legalisation Office; this site is not affiliated with any government body. Please consult a qualified professional before making decisions.

FAQ

Use the official check on GOV.UK, run by the FCDO Legalisation Office. Enter the apostille number and the issue date from your certificate, and the service returns the record held for that apostille.

Yes. A paper apostille is checked by entering its number and issue date, while an electronic apostille is verified through the digital record behind the signed file. In both cases the source is the same Legalisation Office register.

You need the apostille certificate itself, the apostille number printed on it and the apostille issue date. For a manual request it also helps to have the order reference number from the original application and a copy of the legalised document.

Both appear on the face of the apostille certificate. The number sits in the header area under the certificate title, and the issue date is shown in the place and date of issue field among the certificate details.

Share the apostille number and issue date so the recipient can run the check on GOV.UK themselves, or send them the result of your own check. For written confirmation, a request can be sent to the Legalisation Office.

The Legalisation Office processes the application, attaches the paper apostille certificate to your document and returns it. The apostille number and issue date on the returned certificate can then be verified online by you or by the recipient.

You receive the apostille as a signed electronic file rather than a paper certificate. The recipient can verify it against the digital record, and it can be shared by email without any postal step.

First re-enter the number and date, checking for characters that look alike and for the date format. If the record still does not appear, contact the Legalisation Office with a scan of the certificate and ask them to check it manually.

Step by step

• Locate the apostille number. It is printed on the face of the apostille certificate, in the header area under the title of the certificate.
• Note the apostille issue date. The date appears in the place and date of issue field of the certificate. Copy it exactly, including the format.
• Confirm the certificate type. Check whether you hold a paper apostille attached to the document or an electronic apostille issued as a signed digital file.
• Run the online check. Enter the number and date on the GOV.UK verification page and compare the returned record with your certificate.
• Keep evidence of the check. Save or screenshot the result so the recipient can see what the verification returned, especially for a bank or registry.

How the process works

• Open the official verification page. Go to the verification service run by the FCDO Legalisation Office on GOV.UK.
• Find the details on your certificate. Locate the apostille number and the apostille issue date printed on the apostille certificate itself.
• Enter the details. Type in the apostille number and the issue date exactly as they appear, watching for easily confused characters.
• Read the result. The service returns the record held by the Legalisation Office: the number, the issue date and the type of document the apostille was attached to.
• Follow up if something does not match. If the apostille is not found or the details differ, contact the Legalisation Office with a copy of the certificate for a manual check.

Related pages

Which UK documents can be apostilled: certificates, degrees, company and court papers, e-Apostille rules, FCDO rejections and embassy attestation explained.

Which countries accept a UK apostille, which require embassy attestation, and country-by-country guides for UK documents used abroad.

Apostille meaning explained for UK documents: what the FCDO certificate looks like, which documents qualify, e-Apostille and when embassy legalisation.

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