Job Discussion Forums

[Mattdp87]

Hi,

I have a query with regards to getting documents certified and legalized.

I'm booked onto a month long in-class TESOL in Ho Chi Minh in November. My flight is booked and my VOA and savings are in order.

However one thing that is causing me a headache is the process of certifying and legalizing my documents(i.e. Degree, CRB check).

In the initial email from the head of my course he stated I would need:

* qualifications & police check (original documents) - certified as being original;
* copies of qualifications & police check - certified as being true copies of the original documents;

However, as I understand it certification is simply the process of getting the documents signed by somebody back home(which is the UK for me) i.e. a solicitor. The documents then need to be legalized which as I understand it in the UK is the process of having an Apostille attached to them. Please tell me if I have misunderstood this.

When I queried my course head on this, this was the response I got:

Given that Vietnam is not a signatory to UN Conventions related to having an apostille placed on a document, the answer should be - it's not necessary. Having said this, I am aware of an occasion or two where Vietnamese authorities have questioned the authenticity of documents that were certified only. If it was me, I would go with certified & if there was an issue, I'd discuss my documentation with my Embassy.

So do I just head out with certified documents and hope for the best? Also, have I understood the process correctly or is there something I am missing out?

Lastly, I've heard from certain sources that only copies need to be certified and certain other sources that both copies and the originals need to be certified? I'm unsure about this, somebody just scrawling on a BA/BSC degree original sounds very sketchy to me?

Thanks for any help anyone is able to give,

Matt.

[Spelunker]

It seems it involves the same stress as China, seriously, go and teach in an Asian country like Taiwan where you do not have to deal with this stress, or somewhere like South Korea where they will pay you for it. Good luck, sp

[skarper]

I may well be wrong here but by the time you have a job that will process a WP your CRB will be out of date and you will need police check in Vietnam.

Beware of TESOL certs - [except the Trinity TESOL cert]. What you want to be doing is a CELTA.

But there are other threads on this topic.

[BenE]

Simple answer:

You will need verification from the UK embassy for your documents to 'certify' it is a true copy.

Book an appointment. There's a cheap criminal record check you can order from the UK. It's called something like a 'subject access request'
Think that's supposed to be enough. Anything from the UK needs a stamp from the embassy in Vietnam and then another stamp from the Vietnam legal office. The UK consulate in HCMC (or embassy in Hanoi) charge quite a lot so don't lose the bit of paper with it on.