Apostille service for 9+ documents. Cheapest option?

aberamanboy

Evening All

I need to get a bunch of documents apostilled (birth certificates, DBS certificate etc.). It looks like there will be at least nine items, all of which need a separate apostille (a group apostille is not permitted). Looking at the .GOV site for this, it seems to be £30 per document plus a minimal courier charge to return everything (£5 /1.5kg).

So, at least £270. Not a massive sum but add cost of obtaining these documents, notaries etc. and things are starting to add up to an amount worth picking at to reduce cost!

Obviously, this is a money saving forum, so here I am drawing on your collective knowledge and experience. Cheaper options for apostille services? Any ideas?

Thanks!

bouicca21

Slightly puzzled. Birth certificates are by definition certified.  Why would one need additional certification?

breaking_free

Because the apostille certifies the documents for international use, whereas notarisation (for example) only certifies that a document is a legitimate copy of an original. The OP must be applying for an overseas position.

bouicca21

I understand the international dimension.  What puzzles me is that birth and other similar certificates are certified documents, certified by GRO on behalf of the UK government.  The process for checking and issuing them is far more rigorous than getting an apostille.  I just wonder if all the documents OP is talking about actually need an apostille or maybe just some of them, which would obviously be cheaper.

aberamanboy

bouicca21 said:

Slightly puzzled. Birth certificates are by definition certified.  Why would one need additional certification?

breaking_free said:

Because the apostille certifies the documents for international use, whereas notarisation (for example) only certifies that a document is a legitimate copy of an original. The OP must be applying for an overseas position.

bouicca21 said:

I understand the international dimension.  What puzzles me is that birth and other similar certificates are certified documents, certified by GRO on behalf of the UK government.  The process for checking and issuing them is far more rigorous than getting an apostille.  I just wonder if all the documents OP is talking about actually need an apostille or maybe just some of them, which would obviously be cheaper.

Evening.....

Thanks for your replies. To clear this up without going into unnecessary detail, the foreign embassy with whom I am corresponding has helpfully listed all documents I need to send them and specified which ones need to be apostilled. End result is a stack of documents that need to be obtained then sent off to an apostille before submitting to the embassy (some of which also need to be authenticated by a public notary prior to the apostille)....... All of which is somewhat irrelevant in the context of my original question which was in relation to reducing cost. 

TBagpuss

I don't think there is a cheaper option - an Apostille is a government certification so it needs to be done using the government process.

It's sometimes worth checking whether its a translation issue or a difference in local terminology - for instance, an American 'notarized document' is usually a UK 'certified copy', which is much cheaper and easier to organise than an actual Notary, but Apostille is generally pretty speciic so it's unlikely that an alternative will be acceptable., unfortunately.