Any business looking to go global, will need to have all their ducks in a row.  Every decision you make, as you already know, cannot be a hasty, last minute one but must be one which has been well thought through.

Most often, I see businesses who are not aware that they will need a Notary Public along the way and by the time they realise, the whole process needs to pause until notarisation has taken place.  They then end up paying over the odds to see a Notary Public urgently and attracting the “urgency premium fee”.  Of course, this comes as a blow as the whole process has been delayed and you now have to pay for something that was not initially budgeted for.  Not to mention the stress of undergoing a process that you never even knew existed!

This can be easily avoided if you account for this in advance.  Most often the process is actually VERY easy!  Whether you’re opening a subsidiary abroad or simply contracting with a foreign company, chances are that foreign entity will want your documents notarised.  Why…because they don’t know you or the ways of your jurisdiction.  

In order to accept your documentation and enter into contractual obligations with you and your company, they will need to be sure that you and your documentation are genuine.  This is where we step in.  Notarising your documents in lay mans terms means “rubber stamping them” to say they are genuine, authentic documents which can be relied upon.

In practice, we will verify your documents sometimes behind the scenes by obtaining relevant information from Companies House or in the case of your personal (directors) verification by reviewing your ID’s.  Most documents can be notarised on the day if we have liaised with you prior and the instruction is fully understood and ratified by the foreign recipient.

Some foreign jurisdictions want a further form of verification in addition to Notarisation, known as an Apostille which is a further seal issued by the Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).  This is something your Notary can arrange and the documentation dispatched directly to you or anywhere else in the World via a guaranteed delivery courier.  Apostilles are generally quite fast and can be turned around within a week.

Some Countries, such as Thailand, UAE, Iraq and many others require a further form of verification known as Consular Legalisation.  This is where the documents require a third stamp from the Consulate of that foreign Country.  Again, this is something your Notary can arrange and the documents can again be couriered to any place in the World.  Consular Legalisation can be a longer process and can sometimes take up to 4 weeks, with UAE being the slowest.

To put things into perspective and show you why you need to “find a Notary fast” let me leave you with an interesting fact - whilst there are approximately 220,000 solicitors in England & Wales, there are only around 770 Notaries.  Notaries are therefore normally very busy and fitting in a client at the last minute can become tricky.