hi,

i have had some paper work sent over from thailand to the uk from my thai bank. (im in uk) i need to get it "legalised" ie: stamp from thai embassy to show that my signature is good. the embassy say cos im british i have to get a uk public official to witness sign stamp ect. for me. (no prob) then i need to send this off to the uk foreign and commonwealth office to sign and stamp ect. then the embassy can do its work.

problem is the commonwealth office says it can not legalise a foreign document! anyone dealt with this before???

im back on the case tommorrow what ever.

It seems your are talking about getting this legalisation (authentication) of your signature done by mail, in which case it does indeed get a bit complicated -- and expensive -- with each instance authenticating the signature of the previous instance. In other words, you erred when you asked the Commonwealth Office if they can "legalise" a Thai document. The correct question would have been if they can authenticate (legalise) the signature of the UK public official who will authenticate your signature.

It is simpler if you go personally to a Thai consulate, if that is not too inconvenient for you. It does not have to be the consular section of the Thai embassy but can be any consulate, ie any of the various honorary Thai consuls in the UK. There you have to identify yourself, eg with your passpoort, sign the document in the presence of the consular official, and you get the authentication of your signature directly from the consulate. At least this is how it worked when I went to get my signature on a document authenticated at a Thai consulate in Switzerland.

<br>It seems your are talking about getting this legalisation (authentication) of your signature done by mail, in which case it does indeed get a bit complicated -- and expensive -- with each instance authenticating the signature of the previous instance. In other words, you erred when you asked the Commonwealth Office if they can "legalise" a Thai document. The correct question would have been if they can authenticate (legalise) the signature of the UK public official who will authenticate your signature.<br><br>It is simpler if you go personally to a Thai consulate, if that is not too inconvenient for you. It does not have to be the consular section of the Thai embassy but can be any consulate, ie any of the various honorary Thai consuls in the UK. There you have to identify yourself, eg with your passpoort, sign the document in the presence of the consular official, and you get the authentication of your signature directly from the consulate. At least this is how it worked when I went to get my signature on a document authenticated at a Thai consulate in Switzerland.<br>

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thanks,<br>yes i went to the embassy in london yesterday and was told the rules have changed, got to get my signatures authenticated, then the embassy can do its bit. im waiting on an email responce from the commwealth office, but was told on the phone yesterday can not do.<br><br>looks like i might have to fly back for a day or so! gotta love it!<br>

If you are near an honorary consulate (Cardiff, Hull, Birmingham, Liverpool, Glasgow), have you talked with any of them? Some embassies have a habit of making things difficult because they really just don't want to it.