# Verify apostilles and choose document services

For people who receive apostilled documents or pay others to handle them: check a certificate, question a private service, plan multi-step files and know when to ask a lawyer.

- Level: Specialist
- Length: 75 minutes
- Exam questions: 11, pass mark 80%, up to 3 attempts
- Certificate: valid for 12 months

## What you will learn

- Check an apostille you receive: the issuing office, the certificate number and the register.
- Say what a valid apostille does not prove about a document or the person who hands it to you.
- Question a private apostille service in writing before you hand over an original.
- Plan a company or multi-step file with one owner, a checklist and full copies.
- Know when a question needs a qualified lawyer, and check that lawyer on the official register.

## Lessons

1. [Check an apostille you receive](https://apostilles.fyi/academy/verify-apostilles-and-document-services/check-an-apostille-you-receive.md) (18 minutes)
2. [Question a private service](https://apostilles.fyi/academy/verify-apostilles-and-document-services/question-a-private-service.md) (18 minutes)
3. [Plan company and multi-step files](https://apostilles.fyi/academy/verify-apostilles-and-document-services/plan-company-and-multi-step-files.md) (20 minutes)
4. [Know the limits and when to escalate](https://apostilles.fyi/academy/verify-apostilles-and-document-services/know-the-limits-and-escalate.md) (19 minutes)

## Questions

### Does the certificate let me verify documents for my employer?

No. It is a certificate of completion from this site and records that you passed the exam. It does not make you a document examiner, a notary or a legal adviser. Your organisation sets its own rules for accepting documents.

### Will this course teach me to spot a forged apostille?

No. It shows how to check a certificate with the office that issued it. If a certificate number does not verify, contact the issuing office.

### Does this site recommend private apostille services?

No. This site lists government offices only. It does not list or rank notaries, couriers or private services.

Also on the [web page](https://apostilles.fyi/academy/verify-apostilles-and-document-services).