What is Apostille?
An Apostille is derived from French meaning Certification. It’s Pronounced as “Ah-poh-steel”.
An Apostille is simply a certification of Document issued by a legal or registered authority in a country. If a document is Apostilled it shows that the document is verified and is legal to use in the country to which it is Apostilled. For each country there is a different Apostille. List of countries where the Apostille is Accepted are known as Hague nation.
If you already have Apostille to some country (eg- Germany) and want to use that document in some other country ( eg Poland ) , You should again get Apostille to Poland you cannot use the same old German Apostille.
There are three main verification that needs to be done to get Apostille to documents.
- Notary from authorised Personnel.
- State Authorisation from concerned state department or secretariat or SDM Attetstation depending on the procedure
- MEA Apostille
There is one more step involved finally if the country you want to get apostille is not a Hague nation.
- Legalization from Embassy of the Country ( only if country is not in Hague Convention)
Since 2012 the documents received for apostille increased astronomically.
So the collection and distributed of the documents was given to us.
You have to go through us for apostille.
In 1961, countries collaborated together to create a system where documents that are issued in one country will be legal in other country without extra effort to make it legal. Members countries of this system, are collectively called as Hague Convention, adopted a document referred to as an Apostille that would be recognized by all member countries.
Since July 14, 2005, the India has been part of the 1961 Hague Convention according to the pact made in this convention the member countries do not need to legalize the document in any of the member countries to be legal, simple apostille will suffice.
When to get state authentication and MEA apostille?
Every document in India belongs to one of the 29 states or union territory, You need to get state authentication first.
First check whether your destination country belongs to Hague nation list or not.
If it’s not in the list or your travelling country is Austria or Italy you must get state attestation.
Or if your document belongs to Punjab, Haryana, and Goa you have to get state attestation regardless whether your destination country belongs to hague nation or not.
Getting state authentication is a highly time consuming and complex process, generally It will take 3-4 working weeks to complete.
When to get SDM authentication and MEA apostille?
If your travelling destination belongs to hague nation then you can go for SDM Authentication.
But if your documents belong to Punjab, Haryana, and Goa then the cost of SDM Authentication increases.
What all documents are required to get apostille?
Ministry of external affairs (MEA) only accepts original document to put apostille.
We need Your original or online verified document.
Additional to that we need Passport photocopy of the person, On whose name the document was issued.
How do I apply for MEA Apostille certificate?
You can register here and get your doubts cleared, SInce apostille can be a little bit tricky it’s always good to talk to people with knowledge. Chat with us on onsite chat –>
Get all the information regarding the process.
Following are the details an Apostille contains:
- Name of country from which the document was issued.
- Name of the Person to whom document is issued.
- Name of person signing the document.
- Designation of the singed person.
- Place of certification date of certification.
- Number of certificate.
- Seal or stamp of authority issuing certificate.
- Signature of authority issuing certificate.
