Broadly, my minimum fee is £100 for individuals. This increases by the number of documents being produced or whether you need to sign on behalf of a company. This is because I have further checks to make and need to ascertain your position within the company and whether or not you have authorisation or capacity to sign a document that will bind that firm. In these circumstances it is the firm that is the client rather than the person signing the document.
We also need to consider disbursements. One will be the cost of a digital signature. I have recently updated my source of Qualified Electronic Signatures and at the time of writing (7th September 2026) is £9.
When you are having documents notarised they often need verification, which is done through a third party who charge a fee. The best example of this are degrees. Universities are moving towards utilising platforms such as Gradintelligence and HEAR which are fast and free for graduates to send links or digitally signed documents to employers and third parties. Those that predate or are not using these systems are often chargeable and range between £10-50 on average
On the subject of degrees, the place the document is being sent is also important. AHPRA in Australia want a copy stamped with their specific wording (I have Australia stamps!), UAE will only accept the notarisation directly on a copy too. However, when using them in Qatar, we actually need three documents, all notarised separately, and each needs an apostille and embassy legalisation.
The biggest disbursements are almost always legalisation. You can arrange this yourself, but if you want me to do this, my arrangement fee is £25 plus disbursements. The apostilles start at £45 and are only issued by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, they often take longer to obtain going directly that going via an agent. I cannot be the agent, as I cannot lodge the documents at the time they require and I use a reputable one: CDN Consular Services Ltd.
When it comes to completion times, again when we need to contact third parties for verification, we are reliant on their replies. Paid for services often provide timescales for response when order them, especially companies like HEDD (degree verifications). When it comes to private companies or schools, these often vary and can be almost instant to weeks. This is often more difficult to ascertain as they don’t normally provide this information at the point of request.
As touched on briefly above, legalisation is often ascertainable, the FCDO advise the current timescales in their website before order and the agent I use offers a next working day plus postage turnaround. Their experience means that they can also anticipate the number of days consular legalisation will take. These are all postal services, and I use Royal Mail Special Delivery 1pm, to ensure that the document(s) is cared for and fully trackable. Only occasionally are they not delivered when they are supposed to be.
If you have any questions, or would like a quote specific to you, please do not hesitate to contact me.