Prior to making enquiries to Singapore Notary Public Office, you should enquire carefully from your recipient on their exact requirements. If legalisation (or legalization) is required by a foreign embassy in Singapore (eg. China, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia), the onus is on you to check the legalisation requirements, procedures, timelines, and fees directly with each embassy prior to approaching us for Notarial services.

There are no set rules governing the requirements of different countries where the documents are to be used.

Charges for Notarial Services such as witnessing and issuing Notarial Certificate are prescribed by law and are not negotiable. Services outside what are prescribed by law will be charged at the Notary Public’s rates based on the nature of the request and complexity.

If your document is heading to a recipient of a Country which is a contracting party of the Apostille Convention, usually, no further checks are required, and you should be able to forward the notarised document to your recipient. Notwithstanding the above, we would advise you to check with your recipient on his requirements.

If your document is heading to a repicient of a Country which is a non-contracting party of the Apostille Convention, you need to further legalised it at the consulalar section of the mission (eg. Embassy) representing that Country. or example, if a document executed in Singapore before a Singapore Notary Public for use in China would be legalised (legalized) by the China Embassy in Singapore.

Non-government documents (foreign / private / company documents) must be first referred to a Singapore Notary Public for notarisation and then to the SAL for certification before presenting documents at SAL for legalisation.

Commercial documents such as Invoices, Bills of Sales, Certificates of Origin, Fumigation certificates, etc should be certified or seen by any of the four Chambers of Commerce (International, Chinese, Indian & Malay) or the Singapore Manufacturers’ Association before presenting to SLA for legalisation.

Our Notary Public reserves his right not to perform any Notarial act at his discretion.

With effect from 15 February 2017, it will be mandatory for all notaries public to issue a Notarial Certificate for each document attested by the notary public, or in
connection with which the notary public has administered an oath or affirmation, in exercise of the notary public’s powers and functions as a notary public. [Source: Singapore Academy of Law]

All documents notarised by a Notary Public MUST be bound by a Red Ribbon in the prescribed format. The document has to be COMPLETED with notary public’s
signature, stamp and SAL issued notarial seal. Notarial Certificates that do not comply with the requirements of SAL will not be accepted.