Legalisation requirements for Kuwait
Document for use in Kuwait first needs to be legalised by way of FCDO Apostille and then submitted to the Consulate of Kuwait for further attestation.
Commercial documents such as Agreements, Certificates of Origin and Invoices may be required to be legalised via the London and the Arab-British Chambers of Commerce before submitting them to the Consulate for legalisation.
FEES
The consular fee is £15 per document (any type).
If further legalisation by the London and Arab-British Chambers of Commerce is required, the total fee is £74.70 per commercial document including the Chambers’ fees. Invoices and Certificates of Origin may have different fees depending on the value of the invoice.
PROCESSING TIME
The consular processing time is likely to be 1-2 working days.
For the legalisation via the London and Arab Chambers, the processing time is likely to be 7-10 working days.
IMPORTANT NOTES
For educational documents related to Kuwaiti citizens, the document holder must book an appointment with the Consulate and attend the consular section in person for submission. They no longer allow legalisation of educational documents for Kuwaiti nationals using agents.
If the legalisation via London and Arab Chambers is required, two copies of the document are required for submission to the London and Arab-British Chambers. Express service is not available by the Chambers.
The Consulate requires for commercial Powers of Attorney to be executed on company letterhead paper.
For certain commercial documents (e.g. invoice, Certificate of Origin) the consular fee may be a percentage of the sales price, which may potentially make the legalisation costly in given cases.
The Consulate accepts bundling more than one document under the same Apostille, EXCEPT for personal documents meant for visa application.
Personal documents meant for visa application: the medical certificate must include the test results as required in the visa instruction form; The UK Criminal Records must be issued after the Entry Visa is issued by the Kuwait Authorities, Entry Visa document issued by the General Department of Residency Affairs must be presented in original along with the notarised copy of applicant’s passport. Each document must be notarised, Apostilled and legalised separately.
For the legalisation of child’s birth certificate, the Consulate requires a copy of both parents’ passports and copy of their marriage certificate to be submitted along with the birth certificate.
For the legalisation of any private documents, the consulate requires the document holder(s)’ copy of passport on submission.
Documents in relation to a marriage or divorce involving Kuwaiti citizen must be approved by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kuwait. The Consulate in London will not be able to legalise it.
For the legalisation of pension documents, the Kuwait Consulate requires the approval from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kuwait and additional supporting documentation may be requested on submission.
Method of payment: cash or company cheque only.
Opening hours: 9:00 am to 1:00 pm (submission) and 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm (Collection) Monday to Friday
CONSULATE ADDRESS
2 Albert Gate, London SW1X 7JU