People emigrate to live up their dreams. Lavished life and successful career tempt and prompt them to fly to abroad. Some intend to attain degree or diploma in specific field. At that time, they have to pass through ordeals of paper work and attestation. Every country has a set of norms for the citizens and foreigners. Apostille facility has eased the procedure of immigration. It removes all the glitches and provides effortless way to get stamps of the competent government or semi-government authorities.

What Single status certificate identifies?
Single Status Certificate certifies single social position of an individual. It implies the individual can be divorcee and unmarried.

Why it should be apostilled?
Iterating for being single is not enough. The government of any country requires authentic proof to verify the documents of the applicants. None country ever allows incoming of a foreigner without valid certificates. The government scrutinizes certificates. And then, it provides apostille.

Apostille convention was incepted in 1961 to facilitate certificate legalization. India inked its pact on 14 July, 2005. Thereafter, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) got authority to attest which is accepted in the member countries. Now, 112 countries have become its part. Thereby, residents and non-residents of India travel between the member-nations of Hague convention with attested documents hassle freely.

The reasons for getting attestation on certificates are:

• Intension to get married with the foreigner and settle there permanently.
• Attaining education in the foreign school, university or institution.

What’s the format of Apostille form?
When we apply for Single Status Certificate, its form is available with 11 fields. All the fields should be filled with correct details. On the top, APOSTILLE appears as its caption. Its subscript reads Convention de La Haye du 5 Octobre 1961.

Its Performa looks similar to below one:

Country: (…name of the applicant’s country….)
This public document of the type (…Single Status Certificate……..) is issue to (…..Name of the Applicant… ) has been signed by (…MEA recognized officer…….)with the seal/stamp of (…acting in the capacity of…) certified by (…acting in the capacity of…)on (…date of attestation…) at (…location of the attestation….)with Reference no. (… alphanumeric numbers….)
Seal/Stamp: (….authorized officer…)
Signature: (….signature of the authorized officer….)
Then, a square-shaped computerized stamp is glued on the back of the document.

What are the competent authorities to apostille single status certificate?
For preliminary attestation, the document is scrutinized and stamped by state/ union territory’s home department. This department verifies the personal documents. The next level attestation is observed by the MEA. For it, the following competent authorities verify:

• Section officer
• Deputy commissioner
• Commissioner
• Magistrate
• Sub-divisional magistrate
• Resident commissioner
• Chief secretary
• Joint secretary
• Assistant secretary
• Director
• Deputy director