The applications of rapid technological advancements can be observed within every walk of life; with the passage of time and consistent technological development, the whole world is moving into a digital age. An evident application of technological advancement may be observed by the fact that almost every government and official documents are now being issued electronically. An extensive range of government organisations has incorporated the issuance of electronically printed documents over the recent past years. The most common government and official documents which are being currently issued electronically include HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) documents, court documents, business firms’ official documents and other relative documents. However, the relative government and official documents are required to be verified and legalised by the process of apostille legislation. The court documents are usually the most common electronically issued documents which are usually being issued with a black or red colour stamp on them containing the Judge’s signature and court seal. However, most of the court documents are now being issued with a digital court seal which also needs to be certified before legalising them through the relative apostille legislation process.
The legalisation process of electronically issued documents is now prominently known as Electronic Legalisation or E-Legalisation. The legalisation of electronically issued documents is in practice since 1st May 2018 according to which apostille legislation for the electronically issued documents can be affixed electronically. Apostille legislation of electronically issued documents is possible through online electronic legislations services. Nowadays, much electronic legislation (E-legislation) and online legislation services provide the facilities to get the electronically issued documents legalised by using their online apostille legislation services such as the FPS Foreign Affairs issues e-legislations and e-apostilles however it is only accessible by the accredited members of the FPS Foreign Affairs. An individual may get its electronically issued documents legalised by the online apostille legislation services by paying the specified amount charges of apostille legislation. The fees and amount charges being charged by the online apostille legislation services varies as almost every online apostille legislation service provider has its own specified apostille legislation charges however the standard apostille legislation charges of electronically issued documents is usually of 20 Euros.
The most general process of getting an electronically issued document legalised relates to the fact that a number of steps are being followed by the applicant of online apostille legislation services. First of all, the applicant uploads scanned copy of its electronically issued document which he needs to be legalised on the apostille legislation service provider’s website by entering its e-mail address and other required information. The online apostille legislation service providers go through the relative document and verify its authenticity. In case if the document is found unauthorised or has some authenticity issues, the applicant receives the message about unauthorisation of its relative document with instruction about how to resolve the relative issue. However, if the document is found authenticated and authorised within the verification process, then the applicant receives a request for electronic payment. After receiving the receipt of the payment, an electronic apostille (e-apostille) or e-legalisation is being issued to the applicant’s relative document by the online apostille legislate service. After the successful completion of all the relative processes, an applicant receives the message that your document has been successfully legalised and then the applicant may easily download its legalised document. However, some online apostille legislation services also provide the facility to send the applicant’s legalised document through courier service on the relative applicant’s specified residential address.
The online apostille legislation of electronically issued documents is applicable since May 2018 and since then the electronically issued documents can only be legalised through an online apostille legislation service and the manual apostille legislation is no longer applicable for electronically issued documents. The payments to the apostille legislation service of electronically issued documents are also made online and the applicant instantly receives its legalised document on its given email address after the successful completion of online apostille legislation processes. The relative online apostille legislation services are usually instant, and an applicant may receive its legalised document within 48 hours of submitting its application and also do not involve any additional costs charges apart from the specified fees amount charges.
