What Is Apostille Attestation?
What Does Apostille Mean?
The legitimacy of the signature, seal, and status of a particular official who has executed, issued, or certified a copy of a public document is confirmed by an apostille. An apostille allows a public document issued in one nation to be accepted as genuine in another. Consider it to be a set of guidelines that is globally recognized and accepted.
What Is Apostille Attestation?
Apostille is essentially a form of attestation that is accepted in 104 nations, and it is a recognized format that is formally acceptable throughout the majority of the West. The Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, pasted an apostille stamp, which is a square-shaped computer-generated sticker stamp, on the back of the document.
Any member nation of The Hague Convention may validate the legitimacy of this one-of-a-kind computer-generated stamp online using its unique identifying number. In most cases, the document only needs to be attested once by the relevant embassy once it has been apostilled.
Why Is Apostille Attestation Needed?
Getting your documents rejected is the last thing you want when settling down in another country. Apostille attestation is essential to avoid rejection of your visa documents.
An Apostille is a form of attestation in which documents are scanned and legalized in a format that is globally recognized. Apostille Attestation is done for personal documents such as birth, death, and marriage certificates.
It also applies to Power of Attorney and Affidavits. Apostille Attestation is the most popular to legalize educational documents like diplomas, degrees, and high school-level secondary certificates.
Apostille Attestation is a procedure by which any document that has been Apostilled in one member nation is accepted in all the other 104 member countries according to the Hague Convention. The Hague Convention is not just any other convention.
It is a viable multilateral agreement to safeguard intercountry adoptions, initially. It went on to establish international standards of practice as the United Nations signed the Hague Convention in 1994 It is recognized in 105 member countries. For example, this proves to be advantageous for a candidate seeking admission since it eliminates the need to independently obtain the documents’ attestations in each of the nations.
What Is The Difference Between Apostille And Attestation?
Apostille
An Apostille is essentially a certificate that seeks to authenticate a certain public record or document, for example, a marriage certificate, for use in countries that are listed by the Hague Convention.
An apostille certificate is a hard document issued separately that confirms the authenticity of documents. The process of acquiring an apostille is issued by the relevant authority in the nation where the document originates. Apostilles are only essential for public record documents such as birth or death certificates.
Attestation
Attestation, however, is a method that involves verification of the authenticity of a certain document that is in use in a foreign nation, which is not a member of the Hague Convention.
Attestation is often done on the original bearing certificate. Attestation is a process done by any embassy or consulate of the nation. For commercial documents like contracts or invoices, Attestations are necessary.
Types Of Apostille Documents
There are various types of documents for while apostilles are done. Some of them include:
- Birth Certificates
- Death Certificates
- Marriage Certificates
- Affidavits
- Power of Attorney
- High School degrees
- Diplomas
- Graduation Certificates
Benefits Of Apostille Attestation
Crucial Document that proves and authenticates your identity
If you desire to produce any of your documents in a foreign nation, you must be aware that apostilled certificates and documents are absolutely essential. Original documents are known to be rejected while traveling to some nations. Apostilles ascertain your proof of identity and authenticate it.
Prevents fraudulent practices
Apostilles are a measure of authentication and condemn those who resort to unfair means to get legalization in foreign countries.
International acceptance
Your personal documents are verified by the international forum by the apostille authenticating your papers and identifying your person.
Promotes Economic activity and development
Apostille and authentication make sure no illegal activity takes place hence filtering out any grounds for any criminal activity.
Easy and One-time
Your documents can only be apostilled once and the authentication for the same lasts for six months following an easy step procedure to obtain it.
Apostille Attestation: Procedure, Fees
Procedure for apostille attestation in India is carried out by e-Sanad, a website service for citizens of India.
- First, an applicant must log on to the e-Sanad website for an online application.
- He/she is required to pay the fees online via UPI transfer or net banking.
- The data is then made available to the Ministry of External Affairs and digitally verified and authenticated by the concerned Document Issuing Authority of India.
- The documents are circulated back to the Ministry of External Affairs where it gets verified again.
- The apostilled documents are then dispatched to applicants.
Apostille attestation done through e-Sanad is cost-efficient and charges Rs. 50/- whereas normal attestation is again done free of cost.
For documents that are not covered under e-Sanad, one is required to visit a Regional Authentication Centre that is nearest to him. After which, he/she is required to deposit the documents at an authorized outsourcing service provider.
The agency then hands it over to the Branch secretariat or RPOs for apostille verification. After the stipulated verification time, the outsourcing agency receives the documents back after which legalized documents are duly returned to the applicant.
For documents not covered under e-sanad, apostilles applications are submitted to outsourced agencies. Such agencies charge Rs. 84/- for collection, apostille attestation and delivery per page and Rs. 3/- per page for scanning.
How To Apply For Apostille?
The e-Sanad project is a platform for contactless and paperless document verification and apostille service for the citizens of India and foreign nationals who have obtained documents from the DIAs.
To apply for an apostille,
- One is required to visit the e-Sanad website navigate to the Apostille application section and follow the step procedures enumerated further.
- You must register with proof of identity and a link to upload your documents.
- Then pay the stipulated fee amount for the processing to take place.
After submitting the application, wait for the processing to start. Here, the DIAs will duly verify your document and will send it across to the Ministry of External Affairs. Your documents will be apostilled here.
the document will then be sent across speed post and will be made available online in a digital depository.
For documents that cannot be covered by e-Sanad, you must deposit your documents to be apostilled at the nearest Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) or RPO having paid the stipulated amount of fee after which the same set of procedure is followed and the apostilled document is returned back to the applicant via speed post and also made available online.
Is Apostille Necessary For Visa?
Yes! Apostilles of all your personal, commercial and educational documents are absolutely essential for the application of your visa anywhere in the world. The Ministry of External Affairs is the body responsible for getting your original documents Apostilled.
Visa applicants are required to submit three kinds of documents and in order to get favourable legalisation in foreign nations, an apostille certificate is absolutely necessary to identify your person and validate the documents.
In lieu of the Hague Convention, an apostille is an official affirmation of authentication. It means that the document is verified and is considered genuine.
It can be recognized and used in nations that have ratified the Hague Convention.
A Several visa consultants may help you out with the entire process starting with the apostille application to finalize your visa to save you from long hours of strenuous paperwork.
Apostille Sample
Frequently Asked Questions
How To Apostille A Document In India?
One has to go through several steps to authenticate one’s document. First, go to E-Sanad and check if your documents are registered under it. If not, Apostille procedure differs slightly.
What Are Benefits Of Apostille Attestation?
Apostille Attestations are easy once in 6 months authentications for your documents to verify your person in foreign nations. Apostille Attestations also condemn fraudulent practices. i
What Is The Validity Of Apostille Documents?
Apostille documents are proof of authentication and are done one at a time. Apostille Documents have a validity of 6 months after which they are to be renewed.
