Korean Job Discussion Forums

[le-paul]

Hello.

Its been a few years since Ive done this so Im not sure if its still possible.

There used to be a guy in Milton Keynes who would apostile stamp your police check for a tenner - I'm assuming he was a solicitor.
It was a walk in service, you'd pay, get your stamp and be on the bus home within 30 mins.

Does anyone know if its still possible to get your stamp/verification this way?

I just messaged a solicitor and they quoted me 170 quid for a degree and a DBS...

Thanks in advance.

Best regards,

Paul

[Aine1979]

Are you sure that was an apostille and not just a notary stamp? Most solicitors are also notaries, and will stamp your form for anything from a few pounds upwards.

Once it's notarised you then have to send it off to the UK legislation office, which is a governmemt department, and as far as I understand not something you can have done by a solicitor.

It's a few years since I had it done, but I paid £20 to have 4 documents notarised and then I think it was £25 or £30 per document for the apostille.

[JohnML]

[le-paul]

Thanks both for answering.

I think I have been mixing them up.

Whatever he did though for that 10 pounds, was enough for Korean immigration to accept my degree and police check as having been apostiled. Thats why I'd made that assumption.

So now, if I understand correctly, I need to pay what the solicitor has asked for in terms of notary and apostile service one for a degree, and one for the police check.

Thank you both for helping.

Have a good one

[Aine1979]

You don't have to pay the solicitor for the apostille, it's much cheaper and just as quick to do it yourself once you have the documents notarised.

https://www.gov.uk/get-document-legalised

The apostille is £30 per document plus £5.50 shipping, so a max of £65.50 for your degree and CBC. A notary shouldn't charge you any more than £20 or so per document, and a lot will do it for less - mine charges £20 no matter how many documents you have notarised at any one time - it may be worth calling a few notaries in your area to see what they charge.

The £170 you were quoted includes a hefty surcharge for the solicitor's time.

[le-paul]

[Tomfoolery]

I went through all this only a couple of years ago. To get the apostille, you have to send a *photocopy* of your academic certificate(s) to the legalisation office in Milton Keynes, having first applied online and paid the £30 per document (also online). Each photocopy has to be 'certified as a true copy' by a solicitor. S/he will typically charge £5-£10 per document for this. Anything more is ridiculous. As for the Disclosure Scotland criminal record check, the procedure is that Disclosure Scotland put an extra stamp on it, which functions as the 'certification'. Once you've had that done, you can send it to Milton Keynes to get the apostille. However, Disclosure Scotland's 'security' procedures mean that they first mail it to you without the stamp. So you have to mail it back to them with your request for the stamp. Then they stamp it and mail it back to you.

It seems that Korean administrators believe that the apostilles prove that your degrees are genuine, and yet it states very clearly on the apostille that it proves only that HMG has vouched for the fact that the solicitor who verified the copy as a true copy is, indeed, a lawyer.

[Tomfoolery]

PS

Make sure that the solicitor includes all the info required when s/he certifies the copy or your degree(s). The gov.uk 'legalisation' webpage details what is necessary.

Also, make sure s/he signs it with her *real name*, not the law firm's company name. Amazingly, lawyers can sign with the name of their firm for some purposes, apparently. So if the firm's name is 'John Smith Solicitors', a lawyer working there may sometimes sign 'John Smith' even though his/her name is, say, 'Franci/es Jones'! This happened to me, so I had to start all over again. I don't think the lawyer in question had the first idea about apostilles - must have skipped that lecture at Law School

[chopstick]

I think the 10 quid must be for a notarisation. I got mine done across the road from the apostille place. It will definitely be more for the apostille.