Legalisation of documents in Singapore

Legalisation is the authentication by the embassy or consulate, located in the country of the notary public, of the country in which the document is to be used. Legalisation simply means confirming that a signature, seal or stamp appearing on a document is genuine.

When documents are to be used outside of Singapore, the laws of the receiving country often mandate that the documents be notarised and legalised or apostilled.
Singapore is not a member of The Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, and legalisation of documents for use outside Singapore is usually a 4-stage process involving the notary, the Singapore Academy of Law, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of the Country where the document is to be used or received.

The following countries are not members of the Apostille Convention and any document requested by these countries will receive a certification. Please note that some of the countries listed below may require additional legalization by a Consulate or Embassy office:
Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Burma Myanmar, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, China, Congo Republic, Congo Democratic, Ivory Coast, Cuba, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Haiti, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Libya, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar Burma, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Qatar, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Taiwan, Tanzania, Togo, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, UAE (United Arab Emirates), Uganda, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Different embassies have adopted different variants of this practice, distinguishing between documents issued or certified by a Singapore government body and documents prepared and signed by individuals or companies whether these are notarised or not.
All official documents issued in the Republic of Singapore can be recognized in Russia only after Legalisation by Consular Office.
All documents issued by the Singapore Government Departments (eg. ACRA, IRAS, Registry of Marriage Certificates, Birth Certificates and Educational Certificates from local government schools) must be directly legalised by MFA in their original text (not in a "certified copy").
Computer-generated documents eg. IRAS, ACRA documents, must be certified by the issuing authority first before presenting to MFA for legalisation (please see examples of duly prepared ACRA documents – Bizfile first page, Bizfile last page, Memorandum and Articles of Association, Certificate of Incorporation, Certificate of Good Standing).

Non-government documents (private or company documents) must be first referred to a Notary Public (any law firm offering notarial services) for notarisationand then to the Singapore Academy of Law for certification before the documents can be presented at MFA for legalisation.

The processing time for Legalisation is about 3-5 working days (next day collection).

Connection Plus can offer smooth, fast and secure processing of document legalisation services.

Please note, that processing time of Legalisation & fees are depending on quantity and the document type obtained.