Stage 3 · Lesson 4 of 6

Apostille or embassy legalisation

An is a single certificate, issued by your own government, that every member of the Hague accepts without further stamps. As of 2026, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Germany, the UK, Ireland, Japan, South Korea and Singapore are all members.

If your destination is not a member, you need legalisation instead: your attests the document, then the destination's embassy in your country stamps it, and sometimes the destination's own foreign ministry stamps it again after you arrive.

The UAE and Qatar were not members as of October 2026, so they use legalisation. Check the status table and the destination embassy's page, because countries keep joining.

Common trappaying an agent for your destination no longer needs.

A question to check yourself, an AI practice session and 2 cheat sheet entries come when you add the roadmap to your account. Add it

Resources for this stage

Start with

GuidePaid
HEC degree attestation, IBCC and MOFA apostille (Pakistan)
Higher Education Commission (HEC), Pakistan · Government fees per document
How Pakistani degrees are attested by HEC, IBCC and the Foreign Office, step by step

Practise

Notion
Track each document, the office that handles it, its status and its expiry date

Keep handy

UK Skilled Worker visa (GOV.UK)
The documents a Skilled Worker application asks for, including English evidence
Ireland employment permits (Critical Skills and General)
What Irish permit applications ask about your qualifications

Also worth your time

Apostille Convention status table (opens in a new tab)Read
Check whether your home country and destination are members, and since when
Sefism 1:1 MentorshipGo deeper
Ask someone who did the attestation chain recently what slowed them down