APOSTILLE Attestation

The Hague Conference on Private International Law abolished the requirement of repeated Legalization of foreign public documents by the governments of different countries. It specified the modalities through which a document issued in one of the signatory countries can be certified for legal purposes in all the other signatory states. Such a certification is called an Apostille. Apostille stickers are affixed by competent authorities designated by the government of a country which is party to the convention. The list of the countries joining the Apostille Treaty may be seen at Website www.hcch.net and is also reproduced below

India is a signatory to the Apostille convention; and has designated the same authorities for authentication of documents for Attestation as well as for Apostille. List of such designated authorities in India may be seen at the bottom of this page.

While no fee is levied by the Ministry of External Affairs for Attestation, there is a fee of Rs.50/- (Rupees Fifty only) per document for Apostille. The fee is required to be paid by means of Indian Postal Orders payable in favour of Pay & Accounts Officer, Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi. Service charge payable to us is the same for both Attestation and Apostille.

Only original documents duly authenticated by the designated authorities of the State Governments are Apostilled by the Ministry of External Affairs. Apostille is done on the reverse side of the original document. The applicants need to submit the following documents/fees

Original document to be attested or apostilled;
One clear photocopy of the document;
One clear photocopy of the passport;
Postal Order, if required; and Our service charge of Rs.18/- or Rs.22/-, as the case may be, per document.

Documents can be deposited in our “Collection & Delivery” counters between 0900 hrs and 1800 hrs from Monday to Saturday excluding holidays. Documents can be deposited and collected back either in person or through an authorized representative. Documents will be delivered/returned only on production of receipt for payment of service charge. However, in case the document is found, at any stage, to be fake or the authentication forged, the same will be seized by the Ministry of External Affairs. The Ministry may also initiate appropriate legal action against the applicant. The service charge paid to us or the Ministry of External Affairs cannot be returned in any circumstance.

1. Procedure
2. Regional Authentication Centres for Authentication of Educational Documents/General Documents
3. Authorized Signatories of MEA and Branch Secretariats

PROCEDURE:

All original documents requiring Attestation or Apostille by the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi, are required to be first authenticated/attested by the designated authorities/departments of the State Governments from where the documents were issued. A list of the Regional Authentication Centers and the designated authorities (as on July 8, 2013) may be seen at the Ministry’s website http://www.mea.gov.in/legalization-of-documents.htm and may also be seen at the bottom of this page.

Briefly, personal documents (like birth or death certificates, marriage or divorce certificates, affidavits, general power of attorney, marriageability certificates, work experience certificates, driving licenses etc) are required to be authenticated/attested by the Home Department / General Administration Department(GAD) of the issuing State.

For educational documents, the documents should be first authenticated by the Department of Education/Human Resource Development (HRD) of the concerned State Government/Union Territory. The authentication must be done with the name and designation seal as well as the seal of the Department.

Commercial Documents are to be pre-authenticated by the respective Chambers of Commerce before these can be attested by the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi. The rubber stamp of the respective Chamber of Commerce must be affixed on each document along with the name & designation of authorized signatory.

The Ministry of External Affairs attests the documents only after verifying the signature of the designated signing authorities of the State Government/Union Territory/Chambers of Commerce. Hence, it does not take responsibility for the contents of the documents.

The documents submitted by the outsourced agencies at New Delhi and by applicants at the four Branch Secretariats are returned after due authentication to the agencies or applicants, as the case may be, within three working days subject to completion of documentation, procedural formalities and usual checks