The FCDO’s legalisation service in London is to be closed on December 29th 2023. There will not be a replacement service in London and so the possibility of obtaining apostilles on an urgent basis will disappear completely, to be replaced by an apostille service that will normally take two working days, offered through the FCDO’s offices outside Milton Keynes.
Vanner Perez Notaries, together with our colleagues elsewhere in the profession, have made representations to the FCDO and the Government in order to try and have this decision reversed or delayed. At present, however, we are not hopeful of this and so we are taking steps to prepare for using the new service starting in January 2024. This will mean our courier making daily trips to Milton Keynes to submit and collect documents. The cost is likely to alter as a result of this change, but we are working hard to make sure that our clients do not have to pay more. We will aim to communicate this to you as soon as we have clarity on exactly how the service will operate.
The FCDO have suggested that e-Apostilles will replace some of the paper apostilles and we are ready to assist our clients with this, though in many cases the current ‘paper apostilles’ are the only kind that will be appropriate.
If you have any questions at this stage please don’t hesitate to speak to your usual contact at Vanner Perez Notaries.