Apostille

 

In India where ever copy of document is required to be submitted to any department then it requires to be authenticated or attested. Now most of the attestation is self attested except in few cases it requires to be attested by certain named official/ persons.

When we are required to submit a document out of the country then such attestation is not accepted but documents are required to be apostilled. Apostille is a french word meaning certification.117 countries are a signatory to the UN Hauge convention of 1961 which mandates that all member countries will accept the document if they are apostilled. India, USA, UK etc are signatory to this convention. Each country does its own certification and in India it is done by MEA or its regional centers with online application. A few private agencies also get it done on commission basis.One needs to log in to E-sanad website of Govt and apply. After that original are checked and apostille done by MEA by internationally accepted serially number stamps. Once done it is accepted as authentic by all member countries. For non member countries normal attestation is done by MEA. An apostilled document is treated as a legalized document for all practical purposes.

Apostille authenticates the seals, signature of official on public documents, the capacity in which the person signing the document acted and the stamp.

Same procedure applies to documents of other countries to be accepted in India to be done by respective country.

Please do get your documents/ certificates/ court orders, etc apostilled before taking them abroad or submitting them for any purpose whatsoever.