I am often asked to authenticate police checks for use overseas. In the United Kingdom these can be obtained from the ACRO Criminal Records Office, from Disclosure Scotland and the Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS). Generally, for the purposes of authenticating and attesting such documents, the ACRO police certificates are easier to work with and you can ask for them to be signed in “wet ink”. In contrast the Disclosure Scotland documents are not signed and therefore more difficult to process.

See: www.acro.police.uk/Police-Certificates

Saudi Arabia has joined the 1961 Hague Convention Apostilles. Previously, to legalise documents for this country, an apostille, an Arab-British Chamber of Commerce stamp and Saudi consular legalisation were all needed. Now, joining about 121 other countries, only an apostille from the United Kingdom Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office will be needed. This will mean a significant saving in time and costs for documents going to Saudi Arabia.