Apostille for Singapore Company Documents

ACRA documents: e-Apostille or paper

The Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) is a statutory board, so its information products are Singapore public documents. The Singapore Academy of Law (SAL) can apostille them without a notary.

The Business Profile is the document foreign parties ask for most. Bought on BizFile for SGD 5.50, it shows the UEN, company name, registration date, status, registered address, activities, share capital, shareholders and officers. Abroad it is often treated as the Singapore equivalent of an extract from the commercial register.

Business Certificates (certificate confirming incorporation or registration) confirm the company's legal existence from its incorporation date.

You now have two routes:

• e-Apostille. Since 2025, SAL's legalisation portal accepts ACRA Business Profiles and Business Certificates in OpenAttestation format issued from 4 March 2023. You upload the file, SAL verifies it against ACRA's records, and the e-Apostille is emailed, usually within minutes, for SGD 10.70. ACRA documents make up about half of all documents SAL legalises, so this is the fastest route for most companies.
• Paper apostille. The printed document is taken to SAL's counter at The Adelphi and returned with a paper apostille, also SGD 10.70. SAL requires a printout of a digitally issued document, and SAL does not print for you.

The deciding question is what the receiver will accept. A printout of an e-Apostille has no legal effect, so the foreign registry or bank must accept the digital file itself. Some banks and online registries do; many land registries, notaries and consulates still expect paper. Our digital certificate apostille guide explains how the receiver can verify an e-Apostille.

Board and shareholder resolutions

A resolution is written and signed by the company, not by the government, so it is a private document. A Singapore notary must act before SAL will authenticate it. There are two usual ways:

1. 1Director signs before the notary. One or more directors sign the resolution, or a certified extract of it, in the notary's presence. The notary checks each signatory's ID against the ACRA Business Profile, which shows who holds office. This is the cleanest route for foreign registries.
2. 2Certified copy of an already signed resolution. Where the resolution was signed earlier (for example by written means across several directors), a director or the company secretary certifies a copy as true and signs that certificate before the notary.

Foreign authorities typically want resolutions that:

• authorise the opening of a subsidiary, branch or bank account;
• appoint named individuals as directors or legal representatives abroad;
• approve a power of attorney to a local agent; or
• approve the share subscription or capital injection.

Draft to the receiver's template where one exists. If the resolution approves a POA, the POA itself is signed and notarised as described on our power of attorney apostille page.

Constitution, incorporation and good standing certificates

Constitution. The company constitution (older companies may still call it the memorandum and articles) is available on BizFile for 30 days after incorporation and afterwards by purchase. For foreign use, the common route is a copy certified as true by a director or the company secretary, notarised and then apostilled. Long constitutions carry page-based certified-copy fees, so ask whether the receiver will accept a certified extract of the relevant clauses.

Certificate of incorporation. ACRA's certificate confirming incorporation is a public document and goes to SAL directly, or by e-Apostille if it is an eligible OpenAttestation certificate.

Certificate of good standing. ACRA sells a certificate of good standing confirming that a company is live. As an ACRA-issued document, it can go to SAL directly if every page carries ACRA's endorsement, QR code, authentication number and date of purchase. SAL's e-Apostille currently names only Business Profiles and Business Certificates, so a certificate of good standing takes the paper route unless SAL confirms otherwise. Many receivers accept a recent Business Profile showing "Live" status instead.

Receivers usually want these issued recently, commonly within the last one to six months, so buy them fresh from BizFile rather than reusing old files.

Certificate of incumbency and signing authority

Many foreign banks and registries ask for a "certificate of incumbency". Singapore has no government certificate by that name. Two approaches usually work:

• The ACRA Business Profile. It lists directors, secretary and shareholders and is often accepted as the incumbency evidence, apostilled directly.
• A company-issued certificate of incumbency. Signed by a director or the company secretary, listing officers, shareholders and authorised signatories, sometimes with specimen signatures. This is a private document: it is signed before a notary and then goes to SAL.

One Singapore bank's account-opening checklist, for example, asks for a certificate of incumbency or Business Profile issued within one year for any corporate shareholder. Check the receiver's age limit before ordering.

Company document apostille price and time

Our all-in prices include the government fees shown. Embassy legalisation for non-Hague countries such as the UAE and Malaysia (from SGD 69 per document plus the embassy's own fee) and translations (from SGD 20 per page) are extra. Companies sending 10 or more documents a month get 10% off our fees, or 15% off from 25 documents. See the full table on our apostille price page and check your country on the apostille countries list.

Timing: an e-Apostille arrives in minutes. A full paper pack, with a director signing at our Suntec office, typically takes 1–2 working days. When several directors must sign at your office, use our doorstep apostille service.