Korean Job Discussion Forums

[drunkenfud]

Sorry, I can't find anything about this using search.

My understanding is that a notary public signs a copy to verify that it is a true copy of the original, and the apostille verifies that the notary public is indeed registered.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I have my original degree here with me in Korea. Can I get a copy notarised and apostilled here, or do I have to send my degree back to the UK and get it done there?

Many thanks in advance to anyone who can help.

[missty]

I went through this rigmarole too. The British Embassy told me that I could get the equivalent of an apostille which was around 50,000 won but they can't guarantee that immigration will accept it. I was working for smoe, and when I took it to them they said that this apostille wasn't acceptable. (It looked terrible though, and so I can see why).

So the short answer? No. Not that I know of. You have to send it home. But on the plus side it can be done really fast. I sent mine home, got it signed, to the FCO and back to Korea in two weeks.

[b-class rambler]

You can get the 'notarised' bit done here. The British Council in Seoul (near Gwanghwamun) will do that for you, as long as your degree is from a UK university. That will be accepted by the FCO in Milton Keynes for subsequent apostille purposes. IIRC, you need to apply for this service on the BC website and have to take in your original degree in person for their official signatory to verify before they'll hand over the notarised copies. It's not especially cheap, but it's fairly easy to arrange and they do let you have a decent number of notarised copies, handy if you're going to go through the same process more than once in the future.

There is no way around sending your notarised copy back to the UK for the apostille part, however. But at least you could get around having to send your original degree back to the UK.