Essentially, there are three distinct types of Police Clearance Certificate in the United Kingdom and their legalisation requirements vary.

The Subject Access Letter does not require the signature of a Notary to be legalised, as a signature from an officer of the Criminal Records Bureau will suffice.  The Foreign and Commonwealth office hold the signatures of the relevant officers on their database for future reference.

The Police Certificate for use in Immigration matters is relevant only for the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa and does not require additional legalisation or further certification of any kind, therefore a Notary will not be required.

In Scotland, however, the Criminal Records Bureau issue a document called Disclosure which must be certified by a Notary Public (or a practising Solicitor, Barrister, or certain types of Legal Executive) before they can be legalised.

Should you require further information concerning any aspect of Legalisation, Notary Services in London, or the Notarial process in general, please contact MD Pryke Notary Public LLP on 0207 6364422 or via the contact form on our website.

London Notary Public Matthew Pryke will shortly be undertaking a 191 mile Paris to London cycle ride.  This Notary Public in London is undertaking the charity ride in an effort to raise much needed funds for Crohn’s and Colitis in Childhood.  So far his London Notaries Public practice has helped to raise in excess of £30,000 which will provide fantastic support for this very important charity.  The event is kindly being sponsored by WPP and Hammonds LLP which has allowed all of the funds raised to go directly to the charity. Matthew Pryke would like to thank many of his notary clients who have been so very generous in making donations to this wonderful cause.  London Notary Public Matthew Pryke explains “Crohn’s and Colitis in Childhood is a wonderful charity and I am delighted that we have been able to assist in raising some much needed funds via our London Notary practice. Just the small matter of cycling the distance now! ”

Andy Goodman, who is organising the event on behalf of the charity explains “So far we have raised well in excess of £30,000, which is absolutely fantastic, but let’s see if we can take it a stage further.”  Matthew Pryke and a team of 33 riders will be leaving Paris on the morning of Friday 23rd July and travelling over 3 days back to London arriving in Hampton Court on Sunday afternoon.  Further articles will follow to provide progress reports on how Matthew and the rest of the team cope with this challenge.

Should you wish to make a donation please refer to http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/mattpryke or alternatively if you would like further information about this London Notary Public practice or Matthew Pryke please refer to the website www.mdpryke-notary.com.

Article 1 dealt with: The need for an Apostille Certificate, What a typical Apostille Certificate looks like, which countries accept them and the information they include.

Are all Apostille certificates the same?

No.  Although Apostille certificates were introduced by the Hague Convention of January 1965 to provide a standardised set of rules governing legalisation between member states, there are certain exceptions.

As of July 2010 the Legalisation office in Milton Keynes declares that all Apostilles issued for use in Russian child adoption cases must now be square as indicated below.

Square Apostille Certificate

For further information on the new Apostille Certificates pertaining to Russian child adoption cases, please contact London Notary Public Matthew Pryke through the usual channels.

Notary Public at One Portland Place W1

Notary Public Matthew Pryke, today unveils his newly refurbished offices at One Portland Place in London’s West End.

‘A Notary Public service based in the City of London attracts some very high profile business names,’ says Matthew.

‘With clients as diverse as Toni and Guy International, A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, and The Children’s Investment Fund, it is vital that our Notary Public premises in London reflect the high quality notarial service we provide.

‘We have extensively refitted the reception area for our London Notary clients, and although we provide a same day legalisation service and endeavour to deal with all notarial and apostille work with great efficiency, we hope that our clients will find their surroundings as comfortable as possible.

‘Notary Public in London clients passing our door looking for a same day apostille service will be able to see our offices clearly marked on the new plaque that reads “MD Pryke Notary Public”’

For further details regarding Notary Public in London Services please contact us via the usual channels or call directly on 0207 6364422.

‘A Notary must keep his clients informed of barrier to the swift legalisation of their documents’, says Matthew Pryke Notary Public LLP.

‘As a Notary in London, it has been brought to my attention that the Legalisation Office in Central London will cease the legalisation of documents at 3pm on Wednesday 10 February.  A Notary wishing to legalise documents will have to wait until Friday 12 February, before the legalisation office re-opens.

‘A Notary in London would normally continue their notary service by sending their notary matters to the legalisation office at Norfolk House in Milton Keynes, if the London Legalisation office is closed.

‘The Legalisation Office in Milton Keynes, however, will also be closed from 3pm on Thursday 11 February and reopen on Monday 15 February 2010.

‘A Notary in London thrives on a fast turnaround service, so clients wishing their Notary Public to legalise documents over this period may have to bring their Notary matters forward to ensure they experience no delays.

‘These changes are due to essential IT upgrades and I look forward to working with these Legalisation offices once their normal service is resumed on Monday 15 February.’

If you are a client concerned about how the closure of Legalisation offices will affect your Notary service please contact Matthew through the usual channels.

Notary in London Matthew Pryke today launches a campaign to encourage law firms and fellow Notary Publics to donate a small percentage of their fees to a designated charity partner.

Matthew Pryke Notary Public says, ‘It’s not about the size of the donation really.  It’s more a case of little and often.

‘Notary matters tend to generate relatively small amounts of revenue, often just a small fee to notarise a document.  By donating £10 for every notary transaction I was recently able to donate £2,600 through my notary business to my designated Charity partner Honeypot to provide respite care for children who act as carers to their family.

Many clients enjoy the fact that a percentage of the firm’s revenue is passed on to community charities.  I would encourage other notary practices and law firms to set up a similar arrangement with a charity partner like Honeypot.  It generates revenue for their business, supports the local community and can help the public understand that the legal profession is more public spirited than they might believe.’

Ronan Macmillan of Honeypot agrees.  ‘We are thrilled that Notary Public Matthew Pryke has pledged to donate £10 to Honeypot for every notary task he undertakes.

In addition to the £2,600 he has raised through his London Notary practice this year, last year he raised £32,000 by organising a trip to climb Kilimanjaro and we are delighted to have Matthew  as an official corporate sponsor.’

If you are a Notary, or know of a Notary Public who is interested in sponsoring Honeypot, please call Matthew Pryke Notary Public to discuss this further.

For more information on how Matthew Pryke Notary Public donates to Honeypot through his Notary business, please visit www.mdpryke-notary.com/londonnotarypubliccharity

Notary Public Legalisation Office Closure Details

Algeria Embassy: Closed 26 November to 1 December 2009

Iraq Embassy: Closed 27 November 2009 only

Kuwait Embassy: Closed 26 and 27 November 2009

Qatar: Closed 26 and 27 November 2009

Saudi Arabia Legalisation Office: Closed 26 November to 30 November 2009

Tunisia Legalisation Office: Closed 27 November 2009 only

UAE Legalisation Office: Closed: 26 November to 30 November 2009 and 2 December to 6 December 2009

Consequently London Notaries Public Practice MD Pryke Notary Public will continue to provide the usual same day notary public legalisation service once the various legalisation offices of the embassies are reopened for business as usual.

London Notaries Public practice owner Matthew Pryke explains “With various Arab state embassies and legalisation offices closed during the end of November and beginning of December we will not be able to process any legalisation matters and requirements for these countries during this period.  However from the second week in December and onwards my London Notaries Public Practice will continue to provide a same day service for all legalisation requirements.”

For further about the Notary Public legalisation requirements for Arab states and the need to obtain additional legalisation stamps or legalisation certificates from any embassy please do not hesitate to contact London Notaries Public Practice MD Pryke Notary Public at his London Notaries website www.mdpryke-notary.com or via email at matthew@mdpryke-notary.com.

Personal purpose Legalisation (per document) -  from £12 to £15

Business purpose Legalisation (per document) -  from £23 to £25

Please note that documents for China may require a notarised translation into Chinese.  Legalisation by the Chinese Consulate is expected to take 48 hours. The Chinese Consulate requires a photocopy of each notarised document to be legalised when the document is lodged. For an additional fee, legalisation may be completed sooner. The document to be legalised must first be certified (by way of Apostille) by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office where the legalisation fee for certification (by way of Apostille) is £69 per document.

London Notaries practice owner Matthew Pryke explains “The increase in legalisation fees charged by the Chinese Embassy is unlikely to be warmly received by any of our London notaries clients.  However our London notaries clients are able to enjoy affordable and fixed notarisation fees which notarisation fees have not been increased for more than 3 years.  In addition our notary public legalisation solutions guarantee an affordable and efficient legalisation service which provides our London notaries clients with the opportunity to ensure even the tightest of notarisation and legalisation deadlines are met.”

For further tips and guidance regarding leglations fees and legalisation services please refer to the following notaries public article http://www.mdpryke-notary.com/2009/10/notary-public-legalisation-fee-tips. Alternatively and for or further information regarding notarisation fees or to obtain a notary public legalisation quote please do not hesitate to contact this London Notaries practice at www.mdpryke-notary.com

London Notaries practice owner Matthew Pryke explains “We understand the Legalisation Office is closed for staff training on 26^th November.  This is unfortunate and as a consequence we will not be able to process legalisation requirements for our London Notaries clients until 27^th November 2009.  However from the 27^th November 2009 and onwards my London Notaries practice will continue to provide a same day service for any Apostille and other legalisation requirements.“ 

Matthew’s London Notaries practice provides a complete range of legalisation solutions and legalisation tips for its London Notary clients for further information please refer to the recent legalisation tips article http://www.mdpryke-notary.com/2009/10/notary-public%20legalisation-tips/

For further information about the Legalisation Office, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and a range of options to obtain an Apostille or other legalisation certificates and stamps please contact London Notary Matthew Pryke at his London Notaries practice website http://www.mdpryke-notary.com/.

London Notary Public Office Opening Times – 9:00 – 18:00

Notary Public Matthew Pryke suggests that all London clients attending his Notary Public offices in central London should consider using neighbouring tube stations close to the Notary Public office such as Bond Street, Regent’s Park, Great Portland Street, Warren Street and Tottenham Court Road.  M D Pryke’s central London Notary Public offices are ideally located near to many popular and easily accessible London Tube Stations.

Qualified Notary Public Matthew Pryke commenting on the closure of Oxford Circus tube station explained, “Whilst Oxford Circus tube is closed we would suggest to clients to consider alternative ways of accessing our Notary Public offices in London’s West End. As always our central London Notary Public offices will be open for Notary Public clients during this time.  For further information we suggest that Notary Public clients view the Transport for London website www.thetube.com“.

Notary Public Practice MD Pryke Notary Public is based at One Portland Place and is conveniently located in London’s West End.  Consequently should you require Notary Public services or to receive a quote for fees please contact MD Pryke Notary Public at www.mdpryke-notary.com.