How do I legalise my documents for Taiwan?
Taiwan is not a signatory to the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention, which abolished the requirement for legalisation of foreign public documents. Therefore, all UK-issued documents to be presented in Taiwan, for work, personal or legal matters, must be legalised by the Taiwan Embassy in London. This is in addition to the apostille certification by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in London. The legalisation process authenticates the documents and makes them acceptable internationally.
The Hague Apostille Convention of 1961 abolished the highly time-consuming chain authentication method that involved multi-layer verification of documents issued in one country before the documents were accepted in another country. The convention, signed by over 100 countries, replaced the lengthy process with the apostille certification, by a competent authority in the nation of origin of the document. However, if countries such as Taiwan, which have not signed the treaty, legalisation of documents is mandatory, in addition to the apostille certification.
If you intend to visit Taiwan for work, business or legal issues, all your UK-issued documents, including personal and educational certificates, need to be submitted for Taiwan Embassy legalisation.
The process of legalisation of documents for use in Taiwan involves several steps:
- Notarisation of certain documents by a Notary Public or registered solicitor.
- Apostille certification by the FCO, the government body with the sole authority to issue this certificate in the UK. The apostille certificate is required for personal certificates, such as birth, death and marriage certificates. ACRO criminal certificates also need to be apostilled.
- The last step is submitting the duly filled and signed legalisation form, along with photocopies of the documents to be legalised and of the passports of the applicant and the agent (Legalisations.org.uk). The form needs to be submitted to the Representative Office of Taiwan in London, along with the legalisation fee, payable in cash or cheque. (Please note that there is no full-fledged Taiwan Embassy in London due to the nation’s ongoing dispute with China.)
Legalisations.org.uk offers a wide range of services associated with the legalisation of UK-issued documents to be used in any other country across the world. Our experienced staff is well-versed with document legalisation and can take care of the entire process on your behalf.
We also offer translation services, where required, through a network of qualified translators, belonging to the Institute of Translators and Interpreters as well as the Institute of Linguists. Our years of experience ensures that all the legalisation related services are completed quickly and efficiently.
Please inform us of your document legalisation needs by filling our order form and send us your documents, along with an authority letter, to apply for Taiwan Embassy legalisation on your behalf. You will also need to fill and sign the legalisation application form, available at the Taiwan Consulate’s website.
Please see the process as below that we follow:
STEP 1
Send Us the
Original Document
STEP 2
We quality check
documents internally
STEP 3
The document is
solicitor certified and then
Apostilled 24 hours.
STEP 4
If required, we take the
document to the required
embassy for legalisation
STEP 5
Documents Returned
Back to you Domestically
or Internationally
Please use the dropdown menu’s for your document requirement. The pricing and document type will be generated after pressing the button below. Please note that to complete your order you will need to use the dropdown menus per document order. After the pricing table, you will then be taken to our order page. Following this you will be sent to our upload page to upload the documents which you can also complete later.
Service Inclusions:
- Solicitor Stamp
- FCO Submission and Collection
- Embassy Legalisations
- Precheck of documents
- Free Resubmissions
- Same Day Send Out
Start Legalisation Order
The button above will redirect you to our legalisation order form via our main RLS website. You will be able to select your service, your return address and method and make payment via it.
After making your order, we advise you contact our legalisation consultants by emailing your requirement to: applications@rapid-visas.co.uk.
IMPORTANT NOTES
Since Taiwan is not a signatory member of The Hague Apostille Convention of 1961, all UK-issued documents to be presented in Taiwan for work, business and legal matters need to be legalised. In addition, an apostille certificate is mandatory before legalisation by the Taiwan Embassy in London.
To ensure the smooth legalisation of your documents, some important points need to be kept in mind:
- The application form for legalisation needs to be downloaded from the Consulate’s website, filled in and signed by the document holder.
- Only the photocopies of the documents to be legalised need to be submitted.
- The form must be accompanied by a photocopy of the passport of the applicant as well as of the agent.
- The document holder needs to provide an authorisation letter to the agent, stating that the agent is acting on behalf of the document owner and can complete the process of legalisation. The letter needs to be authenticated and stamped by a notary public or registered solicitor. The notarised letter, confirming the genuineness of the applicant’s signature, must also mention the expiry date of the authorisation.
- For personal documents, such as a letter from the school and qualification certificates, notarisation is mandatory.
- Certain documents, such as the UK-issued birth, marriage, death or no impediment to marry certificates and the ACRO Criminal records cannot be certified by the Notary Public. These documents need to be apostilled. The Taiwan Embassy in London requires the apostille authority in the UK, the FCO, to certify these documents directly, with no notarisation.
- The legalisation charges are payable in cash or company cheque, payable to T.R.O. in the UK.
Another important aspect to remember is that the Taiwan Embassy in London has the authority to legalise documents that have been issued in Ghana, the Seychelles, Sierra Leone, the British Virgin Islands, The Turks and Caicos Islands and the Cayman Islands. The authority to legalise documents related to places like Cumbria and Scotland, located north of Durham, rests with The Taipei Representative Office in Edinburg.
The expert team at Legalisations.org.uk is well-versed with the legalisation process and the rules for the submission of documents for Taiwan Embassy legalisation. We take great care in handling all documents, submitting them to the authorities and collecting them after legalisation. We return all documents either personally, at our London office, or via courier.
Conclusion
All countries that have not signed The Hague Apostille Convention of 1961 require the legalisation of foreign public documents, in addition to apostille certification. Therefore, if you wish to apply for a work or business visa or need to present certain documents as proof of your identity, income, qualifications or work experience in Taipei, they need to be legalised by the Taiwan Embassy in London.
The competent authority for apostille certification in the UK is the Foreign and Commonwealth Office or the FCO. While many documents need to be apostilled directly by the FCO, some others might require authentication by a Notary Public or registered solicitor, before they can be submitted to the FCO.
The Taiwan Embassy legalisation forms can be downloaded from the consulate’s website. These forms need to be filled and signed by the applicant and submitted, along with photocopies of the documents and photocopies of the passports of the applicants and the agent. The Taiwan consulate’s rules also call for the submission of an authority letter for the agent to complete the process on your behalf. This letter required notarisation before its submission with the legalisation application form.
Legalisations.org.uk offers the full range of services associated with document legalisation. Our expert consultants are well versed with the process and the requirements of the Taiwan Embassy in London. We not only pre-check your documents for their content and format, but also get them notarised, if required, before their submission to the FCO for the apostille certification. We also submit your documents for Taiwan Embassy legalisation once you have issued an authority letter to us, authenticated by a notary public or solicitor. Our services ensure that you do not need to visit the Taiwan consulate personally.
You can get in touch with us through email at info@legalisations.org.uk or call us at +44 (0) 208 017 2216, for all your legalisation requirements and queries. You can also fill in the online order form and let us know about your legalisation requirements. We can complete the entire process in two business working days when you choose our express package and in six working days when you choose the standard package. We can also arrange for your documents to be returned via DHL or UPS international courier services if you do not reside in the UK at present.
The Most Common Documents We Legalise
Standard Personal Documents
- Birth, Marriage, Death Certificates
- HMRC letters
- ACPO, ACRO, Police Letters
- No Impediment Certificate
- Court Documents
Corporate Business Documents
- Incorporation Certificate
- Appointment Reports
- Mem & Arts
- Company Letters
- Companies House Certs
- Minutes & Resolutions
Educational Documents
- Degree, Masters, Diploma
- GCSE, CSE, O Level
- Professional Qualifications
- Training Certificates
- Transcripts & Reports
- School Letters
Frequently Asked Questions
The expert team at Legalisations.org.uk offers the full range of legalisation services for UK-issued documents. Our highly experienced agents have been assisting individuals as well as corporate clients in the attestation, ratification and verification of documents, including Taiwan Embassy legalisation.
When we receive your documents, we will first check them for their compliance with the rules and regulations of the FCO and the Taiwan Embassy in London. We will then get documents that need notarisation attested by our in-house solicitor. This will be followed by submitting the documents to the UK FCO office in Milton Keynes for the apostille certificate. Finally, we will submit the apostilled documents, with the legalisation application form, to the Taiwan Embassy.
Once the documents are legalised, we will collect them and return them securely to you via courier. You can also choose to pick up the documents from our London office.
Since our consultants are well-versed with the process, they can help ensure that your documents are in the right order and format, so that there is no delay or risk of rejection of any document. Therefore, there is no need for you to book appointments at or visit the FCO office or the Taiwan Embassy.
The total cost of Taiwan Embassy legalisation will depend on the number and type of documents to be legalised and how quickly you need them.
Legalisations.org.uk offers two types of service packages, the express package and the standard package. These packages include all aspects of the legalisation processes, including notarisation, apostille certification and Taiwan Embassy legalisation. Also included in these packages is the cost of pre-checking your documents and free resubmissions, if required. If some documents require translation into the official language of Taiwan, additional costs might be involved.
The standard package costs £95 + VAT and the turnaround time is 6 business days. The express package costs £135 + VAT and is completed within 2 business days.
The standard time for Taiwan Embassy legalisation is 5-6 business days, including apostille certification. The actual time for the completion of the process will depend on the nature and the state of your documents. We also need to consider the public holidays in the United Kingdom as well as Taiwan, since the Embassy will be closed on these days.
If you need to get your documents legalised by the Taiwan Embassy in London urgently, you can choose our premium package, which ensures that the entire process is completed within 3 working days. If you need to get your documents translated into Mandarin, additional time will be required for the translation.
If you are planning to apply for a Taiwan work visa, you will need to submit the following documents, along with your completed visa application form:
- A passport with validity of at least 6 months from the date of entry into Taiwan.
- Health certificate, issued within the last three months. The certificate, if issued by a non-Taiwanese hospital, needs to be legalised by the Taiwan Embassy in London.
- Taiwan work permit
- Documents related to your educational and professional qualifications.
- ACRO or a certificate from the police, stating that you have no criminal record.
Apart from these documents, please check with your prospective employer or business associate in Taipei if any other documents require Taiwan Embassy legalisation. Documents proving your identity also need to be legalised before their submission in Taiwan, for any kind of legal matter or to open a bank account.
Several countries require the translation of foreign public documents into their official language before they can be legalised or used. In the case of Taiwan, all documents that are in languages other than Mandarin or English need to be accompanied by a Chinese or English translated version. The rules also specify that the original language documents and the accompanying Chinese or English versions must be authenticated by the Taiwan Embassy in the country where the documents have originated. Since UK-issued documents are in English, no translation is required.
However, it is recommended to consult with your Taiwanese employer or business associate whether they require any documents to be translated into Mandarin. Please let us know of such translation needs and we will ensure the translation is completed by an experienced translator. The translated documents then need to be submitted to the UK FCO for apostille certification, followed by Taiwan Embassy legalisation.
The Taipei Representative office in London is the diplomatic mission of the Republic of China in the UK. It is not a full-fledged embassy, owing to the ongoing dispute between Taiwan and China. However, it is the highest level representation of the Republic of Taiwan in the United Kingdom. The address of the Taipei Representative Office in London is:
50 Grosvenor Gardens,
London SW1W 0EB
Located at a walking distance of two minutes from Victoria Station, the Taiwan Embassy in London is also easily accessible by bus, taxi and the London Underground. The Consulate is open from Monday to Friday, between 9:30 am and 12:30 pm.
When you contact Legalisations.org.uk for your legalisation requirements, we will take full responsibility of completing the whole process smoothly, and you will not need to visit the Taiwanese consulate.
