Get an Apostille for your visa documents

The apostille for your criminial background check or other E2 Visa documents to teach English in Korea is fairly easy to get and could take a day to a few weeks to get depending on which country you are from. Some of you might not have heard of this term and I know I hadn’t until Korean immigration said it was required, back in December 2007 when they made all those changes to the Korean visa process and started asking for a criminal background check along with a notary and an apostille. Most can’t pronounce it, let alone know what it is, but basically an apostille is a certificate issued by a designated authority in a country where a treaty called the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement for Legalization of Foreign Public Documents applies.

Pardon? Basically this shiny gold seal on a certificate issued in most countries (not Canada) that certifies it as a copy of the original and all of the countries participating in this Hague Convention thingy recognize it. Therefore all of those countries including South Korea will recognize your degree or criminal background check with a notary and an apositlle as a legal copy of the original.

Anyways this certificate really isn’t that hard to get and in most cases doesn’t cost much or take too long either, except the UK (Sorry mates)

You can either take your original documents along with the notarized copy from a solicitor (lawyer) or notary public to the apostille office or mail it to the relevant office. Depending on where you are sending it you should have it back in less than a week to about 2 weeks in the UK. Always include a prepaid express envelope so you can be sure you’ll get it back as fast as you can.

complete list of US apostille offices in United States

Apostille in UK – Foreign and Commonwealth Office FCO

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is the best option for getting an apostille in the UK and it is faster and cheaper than other apostille services. It costs ￡27 per document and ￡6 for return postage.

The FCO does not issue apostilles for Irish citizens. However, you can still find a notary public in Ireland for your documents and that elusive apostille in Ireland

Apostille in Australia (Click to go straight to the source)

An Apostille may be obtained from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade state or territory offices in Adelaide, Hobart, Darwin, Perth and Brisbane and the Australian Passport Offices in Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Newcastle.

It should even be possible to have the AFP send your National Police Check to get an apostille if you pay postage and ring them up to arrange that.

You’ll also need to have in notarized first. Find a Notary Public – And more Notaries in WA

Apostille in New Zealand

An Apostille in New Zealand costs $40 and $15.00 for each additional copy. Must be the original document.

Apostille in South Africa

You can take your criminal check and other documents in person or send them by courier and be ready to pay the return service. If you are mailing them then be sure to include a prepaid envelope.