Working out which documents need notarisation before apostille is the single most useful thing you can do before you start, because it decides your route, your cost and how long the job takes. The Singapore Academy of Law (SAL) can only verify signatures and seals it recognises. Government officials' signatures are on its records; yours, your employer's and a foreign university's are not. A notary public bridges that gap.
This guide sorts common Singapore documents into the two groups and flags the grey areas where people most often get stuck.
Public documents SAL can apostille directly
These are original documents issued by a Singapore public authority. You take the original, or an accepted digital printout, to SAL yourself or through a proxy; no notary is required.
| Group | Examples | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Civil status | ICA birth and death certificates; ROM and ROMM marriage certificates | Printouts of digital certificates are accepted if they are exact reproductions with a working QR code |
| Courts | Court orders, divorce judgments, grants of probate | Issued by the Singapore courts |
| Government | Documents from ministries and statutory boards | Police Certificate of Clearance (COC) from SPF included |
| Company registry | ACRA Business Profile and certificates | Business Profiles and Business Certificates in OpenAttestation format issued from 4 March 2023 can get an e-Apostille |
| Education | NUS, NTU, SMU, SIT, SUSS, SUTD, polytechnics, ITE, NIEC; MOE school certificates | MOE documents need MOE letterhead or endorsement; UniSIM needs SUSS endorsement; madrasah certificates need MUIS endorsement |
| Trade | Commercial documents endorsed by SCCI, SCCCI, SICCI, SICC, SMCCI or SMF | Chamber endorsement first |
SAL will still refuse a public original that is laminated, altered, faded, has a faulty QR code, or is not in English (or bilingual with English). For a laminated certificate, SAL may copy and apostille the copy instead.
Private documents that need a notary first
A private document is anything not issued by a Singapore public authority. SAL cannot verify the signature on it, so a Singapore notary public signs a notarial certificate first, and SAL then authenticates the notary.
- Documents you sign: powers of attorney, affidavits, statutory declarations, consent letters for a child's travel, declarations of single status.
- Company documents you create: board and shareholder resolutions, company constitutions (as a certified copy), letters of authorisation.
- Copies: certified true copies of passports, NRICs or any original you want to keep.
- Anything foreign or private: diplomas from private schools, certificates from overseas universities held in Singapore, translations.
For signed documents, the notary must witness the signature in person and check your identity, so bring your passport or NRIC. For copies, bring the original so the notary can compare it. The power of attorney apostille and passport copy apostille pages cover two of the most common cases.
Grey areas: copies, translations and foreign documents
Copies of public documents. A notarised copy of a public document is treated as a private document, because SAL then verifies the notary rather than the original issuer. That is why notarising is an option, useful when you want to keep your original or need several sets, but it is never required for a public original.
Translations. A translation is a private document even when the original is public. If a destination wants the translation apostilled, a notary usually certifies the translator's declaration first. Proof-read the names carefully before it is notarised; a misspelt surname cannot be fixed after the apostille.
Foreign documents. SAL cannot apostille a document issued in another country, even if you live in Singapore. A foreign birth certificate must be apostilled (or legalised, for a non-member) in its country of origin. A notarised copy made here certifies only the copy, not the foreign original, and many receiving offices will not accept that.
Digital certificates. Digital ICA and ROM certificates, ACRA documents and OpenCerts qualifications behave differently; our digital certificate apostille guide explains each.
A resident asked us to get a Russian birth certificate apostilled at SAL. That is not possible: a foreign public document can only be apostilled by the country that issued it, so the request has to go back to the Russian authorities.
Why the route changes the price
The public route involves only SAL's fee for a public document. The private route adds the notary's scheduled fees and SAL's higher fee for authenticating a notarised document, which is paid at the notary's office. So the same destination can cost very different amounts depending on which group your document falls into. With us, a public document starts from SGD 25 all-in (SAL's SGD 10.70 included), a notarised certified copy from SGD 185 and a notarised signature from SGD 215, notary and SAL fees included. Our apostille price page sets out both routes in full.
We are a private service provider and are not affiliated with the Singapore Academy of Law.
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Related services: birth certificate apostille · company documents apostille · degree certificate apostille
Last verified 29 September 2026. We are a private service provider and are not affiliated with the Singapore Academy of Law.