Legalisation - Posting Options

[teacherbrendan]

I had my degree from London legalised by the UK FCO before arriving in Thailand but was not told it needed to be done by the Thai embassy. Now I went chaeng wattana and they couldn’t help either so I have to post it to the embassy in London. So I went to DHL and they said they will post the document for the princely sum of 1300b which is bloody extortionate if you ask me.

 

But the main dilemma is that they will not send somebody to pick it up for return to Thailand. So I can get the document there but no idea how to get it back to Thailand. I have emailed the embassy but no response as of yet. Any advice?

[ubonjoe]

Do you have a friend or family member that could receive it from you and mail it to the embassy and send it to you after it is done.

Thai post is little less than DHL for sending it to the UK.

[teacherbrendan]

2 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

Do you have a friend or family member that could receive it from you and mail it to the embassy and send it to you after it is done.

Thai post is little less than DHL for sending it to the UK.

Yes that is always an option but will only lengthen the process. Is there no courier that I can use that will deliver to the embassy then arrange a collection. Seems mystifying that this is not an option.

[ubonjoe]

5 minutes ago, teacherbrendan said:

Is there no courier that I can use that will deliver to the embassy then arrange a collection. Seems mystifying that this is not an option.

There may be some that will allow you to prepay the return mailing costs with a prepaid envelope and/or a shipping ticket.

[taxout]

If you search Google for "legalisation services London" you'll get maybe a half-dozen companies that'll run the paperwork around for you and send it back. Not cheap of course but if there's other option . . .

[teacherbrendan]

27 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

There may be some that will allow you to prepay the return mailing costs with a prepaid envelope and/or a shipping ticket.

I’ve now asked ups, dhl and fedex and got the ‘can not’ reply.

[teacherbrendan]

23 minutes ago, taxout said:

If you search Google for "legalisation services London" you'll get maybe a half-dozen companies that'll run the paperwork around for you and send it back. Not cheap of course but if there's other option . . .

Thanks I’ve asked a company if they will do  it, what is the process, and how much.

[teacherbrendan]

The frustrating thing is that I asked the school before arriving about the process of obtaining visas etc. They neglected to tell me that after being legalised by the uk fco it would need to be done by the Thai embassy and then again in bangkok. It’s great to see that they are being much more proactive in keeping out undesirables but surely there is a much more streamlined process than this. If there isn’t then they really ought to make the process clear, from what I hear I’m not the only person in the same boat.

[taxout]

The underlying problem is that Thailand is not party to the treaty creating the apostille, which simplifies the legalisation procedure immensely. If you were using an official UK document in many other countries, the apostille would be sufficient, with no need to head to the embassy then the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

[teacherbrendan]

19 hours ago, taxout said:

The underlying problem is that Thailand is not party to the treaty creating the apostille, which simplifies the legalisation procedure immensely. If you were using an official UK document in many other countries, the apostille would be sufficient, with no need to head to the embassy then the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Yes it is all a bit ludicrous. No problem with proving authenticity but my degree has already been notarised by a British solicitor and legalised by the UK FCO. I imagined that would suffice. 

[teacherbrendan]

Just to make people aware I have used Westminster legalisation services. They are charging 105 pound to have the document legalised by the Thai embassy and dhl express back to Thailand. That’s on top of the 1100 baht dhl are looking to send it out. Quite pricey all round.

[OJAS]

22 hours ago, taxout said:

The underlying problem is that Thailand is not party to the treaty creating the apostille, which simplifies the legalisation procedure immensely. If you were using an official UK document in many other countries, the apostille would be sufficient, with no need to head to the embassy then the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

I do, however, find it curious that the UK appears to be alone among Western countries in experiencing difficulties with its legalisation procedures on this account. Or is the apostille to which you refer a specifically UK thing?

[OJAS]

On 10/2/2019 at 4:40 PM, taxout said:

The underlying problem is that Thailand is not party to the treaty creating the apostille, which simplifies the legalisation procedure immensely. If you were using an official UK document in many other countries, the apostille would be sufficient, with no need to head to the embassy then the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Since my previous reply to your posting, I have come across the following Wikipedia link which I found interesting reading (although, in common with everything published on Wikipedia, its accuracy must, of course, be treated with caution):-

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostille_Convention

 

There would appear to be considerable resistance to the apostille concept among countries in this part of the world for some reason – with the likes of Indonesia, Malaysia and even (perhaps surprisingly) Singapore being non-signatories to the convention, as well as Thailand. Indeed, Brunei would seem to be the only ASEAN member which has signed up to it!

 

However, there does remain the question as to why compliance with Thailand’s legalisation procedural requirements does appear to be particularly problematical in practice for Brits but not for nationals of other Western countries, who are presumably subject to the same procedures (unless I’ve missed any reports on here indicating otherwise). I am taking it that, other than in the UK’s case, it is possible for a document requiring legalisation to be posted to the relevant Bangkok embassy, who will then handle matters in direct consultation with their home country Royal Thai counterpart and the MFA here as necessary – whereupon the suitably legalised document will then be posted back to the applicant?