South Africa
UK
How To Legalise Your TEFL Certificate
Join a global community of over 200,000 TEFL teachers working throughout the world! Enrol me!
Legislation in a small number of countries requires a teacher to authenticate their TEFL/TESOL certificate, degree certificate background check in order to issue a work visa. How to legalise your TEFL certificate takes a few steps.
All documents must be legalised in the country in which they were issued. This means that all worldwide students who studied The TEFL Academy’s TEFL course must get their certificate legalised in the UK.
We can arrange this entire process for you (remotely) with our legalisation partners.
Please contact: legalisations@theteflacademy.com (UK students may also use this service, or choose to legalise all of your own documents yourself using the same process set out below).
These are the documents you may need to legalise:
- TEFL Certificate
- Criminal Record Check (not always required)
- University Degree (not always required)
Getting a document to prove you don’t have a criminal record
You may need to apply to whatever organisation deals with this document in your country. Where you apply depends on where you live. You may be able to apply online, although in some countries you must attend in person. You will probably have to pay for this service.
Get your documents certified (also known as notarised)
When you have received your criminal record notification, take a copy of it and your other documents and keep the copies with the originals. Then take all the documents to be certified (notarised). This means the copies are signed and stamped as copies of a genuine document. In some countries, you can only have your documents notarised by a Notary Public (search Google for your nearest one). In other countries, a lawyer, bank, doctor or accountant can do this for you.
Have your documents legalised
Get your documents attested
Take all your legalised documents to the Embassy (for the country in which you wish to teach) or the consulate nearest to where you live. It may be an idea to phone the Embassy or consulate in your country to enquire if the documents can be sent by post or whether you have to present them personally. The process normally takes between 3 and 4 days. Once you’ve got the documents back you can then send them to your employer. If you can’t get to the Embassy in person, there are many companies that can provide this service remotely, search for “Embassy attestation” in your local area.
Remember employers will usually cover the cost of this entire process, so don’t forget to ask them when applying for jobs!
We can help to arrange this entire process for you (remotely) with our legalisation partners. Please contact: legalisations@theteflacademy.com
- Notarising
- Apostillisation
- Sending to Embassy for legalisation
- Returning TEFL/TESOL certificate back to the student
Read more: How To Apply For TEFL Jobs Abroad
Glossary of Terms
TEFL/TESOL Notarisation – this is the attestation by a Notary Public that the signature appearing on the document is true and genuine. This is usually completed in the country where the document originates. This may also be in the form of a certification which is made by a solicitor as to the signatures made on a document.
TEFL/TESOL Apostille – a Government Official in the country of origin has to declare the signature of the Notary Public or the Solicitor as true and genuine. Authentication declares that the Apostille is genuine prior to Legalisation. These are undertaken by a Home Office, e.g. the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, or Department of State.
Accreditation & Quality Assurance
The TEFL Academy was the world’s first TEFL course provider to receive official recognition from government regulated awarding bodies in both the USA and UK. This means when you graduate you’ll hold a globally recognised Level 3 (120hr) Certificate or Level 5 (168hr) Diploma, meaning you can find work anywhere and apply for jobs immediately.
