International Schooling understands that students and families may require their academic documents to be apostilled, authenticated, notarised, or legalised for use in another country.
Such documents may be required for purposes including:
To support our students and graduates, International Schooling may facilitate the submission of eligible school-issued documents for apostille/legalisation through the appropriate authorities in Singapore.
International Schooling acts only as a facilitator for this service. The School does not issue, approve, authenticate, legalise, or affix an Apostille to any document.
The final process, requirements, acceptance, processing time, and issuance are determined by the relevant Singapore authorities and, where applicable, the authorities of the country in which the document will be used.
Singapore is a Contracting Party to the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, commonly known as the Apostille Convention.
The Convention entered into force for Singapore on 16 September 2021.
The Singapore Academy of Law (SAL) is Singapore’s designated Competent Authority for the apostillation/legalisation of Singapore documents intended for use overseas.
Accordingly, Apostille Certificates in Singapore are issued/authenticated through:
The Ministry of Law, Singapore (MinLaw) oversees Singapore’s legal framework relating to the Apostille Convention, while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore (MFA) officially identifies SAL as Singapore’s designated Competent Authority for apostillation/legalisation of documents for overseas use.
International Schooling provides apostille/document legalisation assistance as a facilitation service for eligible students and graduates.
Where applicable, the School’s role may include:
International Schooling is not the Apostille-issuing authority.
The School therefore has no authority to direct, influence, expedite, guarantee, or override a decision or processing timeline established by SAL, a Notary Public, embassy, consulate, ministry, government department, courier provider, or any other third party involved in the process.
Apostille/legalisation may be requested for eligible school-issued academic documents, subject to the requirements applicable at the time of application.
These may include, where applicable:
Not every document is automatically eligible for apostille.
Eligibility is subject to the document type, format, issuing entity, notarisation requirements, SAL requirements, Singapore law, and the requirements of the receiving country or institution.
International Schooling cannot guarantee that every document requested by a parent/student can be apostilled.
Depending upon the nature of the document, a document may first need to be notarised by a Singapore Notary Public before it can proceed for authentication/apostillation by the Singapore Academy of Law.
For private documents, SAL’s published procedures generally require notarisation before authentication/apostillation.
Accordingly, the complete process may involve:
School Document → Singapore Notary Public, where required → Singapore Academy of Law (SAL) → Apostille/Legalisation → Additional Destination-Country Procedures, if required
The exact process may vary depending on the document and the country where the document will ultimately be submitted.
Parents and students must understand that International Schooling cannot guarantee any specific processing or completion time for an Apostille request.
Processing timelines are determined entirely by the concerned Singapore authorities and/or other third parties involved in the process.
Timelines may be affected by:
Any estimated timeline communicated by International Schooling is provided for guidance only and must not be interpreted as a guaranteed completion date.
Parents/students should therefore never make university, visa, immigration, travel, employment, or other time-sensitive commitments solely on the basis of an estimated Apostille completion date provided by the School.
International Schooling cannot guarantee expedited, priority, emergency, or same-day processing.
Even where a parent/student communicates an urgent deadline, International Schooling cannot require SAL, a Notary Public, embassy, consulate, government authority, courier company, or other third party to accelerate its process.
The School will make reasonable efforts to facilitate an application efficiently but cannot guarantee completion before a student’s personal, university, immigration, visa, employment, or other deadline.
Before requesting Apostille services, the parent/student is responsible for confirming with the organisation or authority receiving the document whether:
The receiving country, university, government authority, employer, embassy, immigration authority, or other recipient determines its own document requirements.
International Schooling cannot determine or guarantee the requirements of every authority in every country.
An Apostille authenticates the origin of the relevant public/notarial document in accordance with the applicable Apostille process.
An Apostille does not constitute a guarantee of academic recognition, equivalency, university admission, immigration approval, employment eligibility, professional licensing, or acceptance by any particular institution or government authority.
The decision to accept a document remains solely with the receiving institution or authority.
International Schooling shall not be responsible for a document being rejected or requiring additional procedures after apostillation.
For documents intended for use in a country that is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, an Apostille may generally replace the traditional legalisation process, subject to the requirements of the receiving authority.
For countries or circumstances where the Apostille Convention does not apply, additional legalisation may be required through an embassy, consulate, ministry, or other authority.
Such additional legalisation is separate from the standard Apostille process and may involve additional:
Parents/students must confirm destination-country requirements before requesting the service.
The Apostille facilitation service may involve charges including, where applicable:
The applicable fee will be communicated to the parent/student based on the service requested.
Government and third-party charges are subject to change without notice to International Schooling.
Payment of an Apostille service fee does not constitute a guarantee that the relevant authority will issue an Apostille or that the receiving institution will accept the document.
Once a document has entered the Apostille/legalisation process or costs have been incurred with a Notary Public, SAL, courier, embassy, government authority, or another third party, the request may not be cancellable.
Government, authority, notarisation, authentication, courier, administrative, and other third-party charges already incurred may be non-refundable.
Where a request cannot be completed for reasons outside the control of International Schooling, any refund, if applicable, will be determined after deducting costs and charges already incurred or committed.
International Schooling cannot refund amounts that have already been paid to, charged by, or become payable to third-party service providers or authorities where those charges are non-refundable.
Once documents have been notarised, submitted, authenticated, or sent for Apostille, changes may not be possible.
If a parent/student subsequently requests:
the request may be treated as a new service request and additional fees and processing time may apply.
Where a document or corresponding notarised document has already completed the Apostille/legalisation process, a request to apostille the same document again will be subject to the rules and acceptance of the Singapore Academy of Law, the relevant Notary Public, and/or other competent authorities.
International Schooling cannot guarantee that a document that has already been apostilled can or will be apostilled again.
If the competent authority declines, restricts, or does not permit a repeat Apostille or requires a newly issued or newly notarised document, International Schooling must follow that decision.
Where a new document, new notarisation, or new application is required, it may constitute a separate request and additional charges may apply.
During processing, the Singapore authorities, Notary Public, receiving authority, or another relevant party may request additional information or documentation.
Parents/students agree to provide any required information promptly.
Failure or delay in providing requested documents may result in:
International Schooling shall not be responsible for delays caused by missing, incomplete, incorrect, inconsistent, or late information supplied by the parent/student.
Where physical documents are required, International Schooling may facilitate courier or postal delivery.
Once documents are handed over to a courier, postal operator, logistics provider, or other delivery service, transportation and delivery are subject to that provider’s terms and operational conditions.
International Schooling will reasonably assist with tracking or coordination but cannot guarantee a particular delivery date or accept responsibility for delays caused by customs, courier operations, incorrect addresses, destination-country restrictions, force majeure, or other circumstances outside the School’s reasonable control.
Parents/students must provide complete and accurate delivery details.
Apostille, notarisation, legalisation, embassy, and document-authentication procedures may be amended by the Singapore Government, Singapore Academy of Law, foreign governments, embassies, universities, immigration authorities, or other relevant bodies at any time.
International Schooling reserves the right to modify its Apostille facilitation process, documentation requirements, fees, and this Policy in response to such changes.
The requirements applicable at the time the application is processed will prevail.
By requesting the Apostille service, the parent/student expressly understands and accepts that International Schooling is only facilitating the process on behalf of the family.
International Schooling:
Any decision made by SAL, a Notary Public, embassy, consulate, government authority, university, immigration authority, or other receiving organisation is independent of International Schooling.
International Schooling will exercise reasonable care while facilitating Apostille requests.
However, to the extent permitted by applicable law, International Schooling shall not be held responsible for delays, rejection, non-issuance, additional requirements, changes in procedures, loss caused by third parties, or non-acceptance arising from circumstances outside the School’s reasonable control.
This includes circumstances involving:
By submitting and/or paying for an Apostille service request through International Schooling, the parent, guardian, student, or graduate confirms that they have read, understood, and accepted this Apostille & Document Legalisation Policy.
They further acknowledge that International Schooling is providing a facilitation service only and that the Apostille/legalisation process remains subject to the requirements, decisions, procedures, and timelines of the relevant Singapore and/or destination-country authorities.