DEGREE
AUTHENTICATION

Woodcock Notary Public explains how it works and how we can help authenticate your degree.

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What is the process to authenticate my degree application?

Verification

Certification

Legalisation

Attestation is the process of authenticating a document from the country you are from, for use in another. This is done so that the country you wish to go to accepts it as genuine. In this case, we are discussing the attestation of UK degrees for use overseas.

Commonly authenticated educational documents include A level certificates, degree certificates, postgraduate diploma certificates, masters’ certificates, other diploma certificates, and Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) certificates.

Authentication of a UK degree certificate ensures that the education certificate is recognised outside of the UK. Employers and educational institutions want to know that your qualification is from a genuine UK institution and is reliable. This is also usually required for visa applications.

Our notary public will examine your degree and confirm with our seal that it is genuine. We will then send it to our legalisation service, to process your document(s). This guarantees that your document can be used overseas.

Your educational documents must be notarised and then apostilled at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) in London to prove that they are genuine. In most cases, this will be enough to prove its authenticity. However, in some cases, you will also need the document to be recognised at the embassy of the country where you wish to use it. We go into more depth about these processes below.

Read our dedicated webpage on the apostille and legalisation processes if you would like more information.

What is the process to authenticate my degree application?

The authentication of a degree certification with a notary public has three steps. We can assist you with the entire process.

1. Verification

The notary public will contact the records department of your university to confirm that they issued the document.

You will need to sign a consent letter allowing our notary team to access your information saved on your university’s records. Also, you will need to authorise the university to release your information to a third party, in accordance with the Data Protection Act.

2. Certification

The notary will then draft a notarial certificate confirming the authenticity of the original degree certificate. Once the original certificate is notarised, then the notarial certificate must be attached to the original copy of the document.

3. Legalisation

Legalisation may vary depending on the requirements of the destination country. In countries that are parties to the Hague Convention of 1961 (also known as the Apostille Convention), such as India, the document will need to be legalised by the FCDO. The FCDO will attach an apostille, which is a certificate affixed to the document with the notary’s certificate and seal. 125 countries currently accept apostilles.

However, for countries that are not parties to the Hague Convention, the process is different. The documents need to be legalised at the relevant Embassy in London, as well as at the FCDO. The documents may also need to be sent to the country itself to be further attested, which should be the final step before you can use them in your destination country.

If you are unsure whether the country you want to go to requires an apostille, or embassy attestation, then we are happy to help you. Get in touch with us today to use our services.