Teaching abroad can be a valuable experience, whether you are looking to take a productive year out of your studies or usual career, gain in-classroom experience before embarking on a PGCE, or jump into a lifelong career of international English teaching – but as with any overseas move, preparations can get complicated. In most cases, your agency will guide you, ensuring that you have all of the necessary documentation in order to secure your placement and start your visa application. Documents such as degrees, TEFL certificates and identity documents need to be legalised through processes such as notarisation, apostille and embassy attestation.
Pardus Bloom regularly assists TEFL and other teaching abroad agencies with legalising their teachers’ documents for use abroad. One of the most important documents any EFL teacher needs before setting out on their journey is a TEFL or TESOL certificate. To use this qualification abroad, it needs to undergo legalisation processes such as notarisation and Hague apostille.
In recent years, the UK FCDO legalisation office (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) has put forward stricter requirements for TEFL certificates being submitted for legalisation by Hague apostille. This is primarily due to the lack of a centralised accrediting body for TEFL courses in the U.K. The FCDO will only accept TEFL certificates which meet the following criteria:
- It must be issued by a recognised awarding body (such as Ofqual) or institution (such as a college or university),
- The institution or body must be based in the U.K.,
- The institution or body must have U.K. contact details (address, phone number/fax – the FCDO makes it clear that a .co.uk email does not satisfy this requirement),
- There must be evidence on the certificate that the qualification itself is accredited – for instance, it is a diploma, degree, NQF level qualification, etc.
If the TEFL certificate meets these requirements, it can be legalised by the FCDO with an apostille of the Hague. However, it still needs to be notarised first by a notary public. For educational certificates, this can be done one of two ways:
- A notary or solicitor can certify a photocopy of the certificate as a ‘certified true copy of the original’, provided they have checked it against the original document.
- A notary or solicitor can verify the original document and its contents with the issuing institution. Sometimes this will involve appending a notarial certificate – a covering letter explaining how the document has been verified.
Both of these options produce a document which can be legalised by the FCDO with an apostille of the Hague; however, you may choose one or the other based on your intended use of the document and the requirements of the receiving party. In many cases, original, verified certificates are preferred, but when certified copies are acceptable, they can sometimes be quicker and easier to produce.
We can arrange for notarisation appointments both in-person and online via Zoom or WhatsApp. You would be required to show photo ID to the notary public as well as the original TEFL certificate if you are having a certified copy of the original notarised.
If you or your agency are not sure whether a TEFL qualification meets the aforementioned requirements, we would be happy to discuss it with you and provide advice based on our experience with these types of certificates. We can be reached by phone on 020 3839 9090 or by email at enquiries@pardusbloom.com.