Document checklists for legalisation and attestation

Most rejected legalisation applications are not rejected on the law. They are rejected because something small was missing, mismatched or the wrong generation of copy. This page is not a list you can print and tick — nobody should publish one of those, because requirements differ by mission, by document type and by what the receiving office in Bangladesh wants. It is a method for building the list that is correct for your application.

The short answer

Your checklist has two authors: your mission and the receiving office in Bangladesh. Get both lists before you assemble anything.
Print or save the mission’s published requirements on the day you apply — they change without announcement, and a copy with a date on it is your evidence of what you were told.
Names, dates and spellings must match across every document in the bundle. This is the single most common failure.
Never post the only original of anything.

Build the list from the two authorities

Start with the receiving office. Whoever will finally rely on the document — a sub-registry, a bank, a court, a university, an employer — decides what it needs. Have someone in Bangladesh ask them directly, and ask specifically about the legalisation route, since that is what changed in March 2025 and is still being answered inconsistently. See apostille vs embassy attestation.

Then go to your mission. Missions publish their own requirements for each service, and those requirements vary between missions covering different countries. The list from the mission covering where you live is the one that governs your appointment; a friend’s experience at a different mission is useful context and nothing more.

Where the two lists disagree, do not average them. Ask both again, and put the question in writing.

What typically travels with an application

Treat this as prompts for questions to ask, not as requirements we are stating:

The document itself, in the form the mission requires — original, certified copy, or notarised copy. Ask which. They are not interchangeable.
Any prior certification the route requires before the mission stage, such as notarisation or a preceding authentication step. Missing an earlier link in the chain is fatal at the last link.
Photo identity for the applicant, and often for the person named in the document if that is someone else.
Proof of the applicant’s status where you live, in some cases.
Photographs, where the service calls for them, to that mission’s specification.
Payment in the exact form accepted. This is where readers most often get turned away — see embassy appointments and fees.
A return envelope or courier arrangement where the mission handles documents by post.
A translation, where the document is not in an accepted language — see translating documents.

Get the details right before you leave the house

Names must match. Passport, national documents, the document being legalised and any older records should carry the same spelling and the same order of names. Diaspora families routinely have a father’s name spelled two ways across three documents, or a married name on one and a maiden name on another. If there is a mismatch, raise it in advance and ask what evidence reconciles it — do not hope nobody notices.

Copies are generational. A photocopy of a photocopy, a photograph of a screen, or a scan with a stamp cropped off all get refused. Copy from the original, at full page size, including every seal and every margin.

Scan everything at every stage. Before you post anything, scan the complete bundle — front and back of every page, every sticker, every stamp. If a courier loses the package, those scans determine how much of it you can rebuild.

Don’t staple, fold or trim unless told to. Some offices treat a removed staple as evidence a document has been tampered with.

Bring more than you think you need. An extra copy costs pennies; a second appointment costs another day off work.

Special cases worth flagging

A Power of Attorney is not a certificate — it is executed, not just copied, so how and where you sign is part of the checklist. That is covered on POA for a property sale and general powers of attorney.

Documents about children, marriage and inheritance often need supporting evidence linking the people named. Ask early; these bundles are the ones that grow.

Documents issued in a third country — not where you live and not Bangladesh — may have to be legalised where they were issued first. Confirm before you post them anywhere.

What we could not verify

The actual document list for any specific mission or service. They vary and change; we publish none.
Whether originals or certified copies are required for each document type.
Whether an apostille or embassy attestation is the correct route after March 2025.
Photograph specifications, form numbers and payment methods for any mission.
Processing times and fees. None appear on this site by design.

This page is general guidance, not legal advice, and following it is not a guarantee that an application will be accepted. Where property, inheritance or a court matter is involved, take advice from a lawyer in Bangladesh.