ATTESTATION AND EMBASSY LEGALIZATION OF DOCUMENTS IN INDIA

ATTESTATION AND EMBASSY LEGALIZATION OF DOCUMENTS IN INDIA

 INTRODUCTION

It was in the year 1961, when 120 countries signed The Hague Convention to make the   method of "legalizing" documents simpler for universal recognition. While Apostille is done for personal documents like birth, death, marriage certificates, Affidavits, Power of Attorney and educational documents like degree, diploma and secondary level certificates, attestation on the other hand is required for procedures like issuing a citizenship proof, enrolling into a university, or the other law-related affairs. A document Apostilled in one member country is acceptable in all other 120 member-countries of the convention. Countries that area not signatories of the convention are required to get the documents legalized first from their respective embassies. Attestation is legalization of documents at regional, state and at national and international levels. Attestation in India,is done by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the embassy of the respective countries as well. At Knowledgentia , we have an expert team for guiding process and channel relating to attestation and embassy legalisation ofdocuments.

India is a member of the Hague Convention of October 5, 1961 since 2005 and that abolished the requirement of legalization of foreign public documents. As a result of this, no further attestation or legalization of a document apostilled by a member country, is required for using such apostilled document in India. An apostilled document is therefore treated as legalized document for all purposes in India

TYPES OF ATTESTATION:-

Attestation done in India are of two types:

Apostille: Apostille is done for private documents like birth, death, marriage certificates, Affidavits, Power of Attorney, etc. and educational documents like degree, diploma, matriculation and secondary level certificates etc.

Normal Attestation: this is often done for all the countries which are not a member of Hague Convention and where Apostille isn't accepted.

ATTESTATION/LEGALIZATION BY THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS (MEA) AND THE EMBASSY OF THE RESPECTIVE COUNTRY

Procedure
The Attestation processes was solely done by the MEA previously, however, it had been decentralized to the Branch Secretariats and  the local RPOs from January 1st, 2019. From now on, the MEA only authenticates the documents once they are verified by the lower levels of government departments as mentioned below:-

·         Regional Level- Notary: This is the first stage of document authentication. A stamp and signature from the notary certifying  personal and educational documents is put for purpose of validating the document.

·         Board/University:  This is mandatory when before acquiring legalization from the HRD department.

·         Chamber of Commerce: All kinds of commercial documents are authenticated by the Chamber of Commerce.

·         HRD Department: HRD attestation is done for educational documents only.

·         SDM: Personal and academic documents are legalized by the SDM.

·         Central Level- MEA Attestation: The MEA attestation is done centrally by the concerned officials. It is done for  all three sorts of documents - personal, educational and commercial. An attestation stamp is provided and therefore the documents are then sent to the embassy of the respective country.

MEA Apostille: For apostille of documents, MEA is  the final step. An apostille sticker alongside the MEA stamp is affixed on the document.

 

Embassy: |
Personal, educational and commercial documents are attested by the embassy. Embassy attestation is done for non-apostille countries only. Many countries now require embassy attestation as well for the apostille.

 

APOSTILLE OF FOREIGN DOCUMENTS IN CASES WHERE THERE IS NO EMBASSY

In case there's no embassy for attestation of documents within the country where the documents have originated, then the documents have to be notarized from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the originating country and thereafter, the documents need to be sent to the country in which the embassy is situated and has the authority and jurisdiction to attest the documents.
After getting the notarized documents from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the originating country, then the documents need to be sent to the Embassy of the originating country for legalization. Thereafter, the documents need to be submitted to the embassy where it needs to be apostilled with applicable fees and Identity proof.

Knowledgentia Consultants has earned a name as one of the best litigation firm india and most client focused firm providing attestation and embassy legalisation of document services. We are your one-stop solution for all kinds of legal, compliance and supplemental matters concerning legalisation of documents. In case of any query regarding this matter you may email us at info@knowledgentia.com or visit our website -https://knowledgentia.com/.

 

PUBLISHED ON 19.11.2021 BY MS. APARNA JAIN, MS. HARINDER NARVAN,MS. AASHRIKA AHUJA AND MR. ISHAN BERRY