APOSTILLES
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An Apostille is the legalisation of public documents. It is a certificate issued by competent authority of the State (such as Deputy Governor), which certifies the authenticity of the signature, the capacity in which the person signing the document has acted and, where appropriate, the identity of the seal or stamp which it bears.
LEGALIZATION BY APOSTILLE
By virtue and extension from the United Kingdom, The BVI is a contracting party to the Hague Convention (the “Convention”) and may rely on Apostilles as a form of legalization. Two steps are required: The document must first be notarized by a BVI notary public (unless the document is an original from the Financial Services Commission, Civil Registry, Inland Revenue, or other official Government office; and an apostille must be affixed to the document, confirming the authenticity of the signature of the BVI notary public or the BVI government official. The apostille is usually done by the Deputy Governor’s office. In certain cases, DenJen Notary document may be able to have your documents apostilled within 24 hours. Documents delivered during the afternoon will likely be available for collection the next day.