Any legal paper achieves its value upon getting a signature/stamp on it. Also called certificate attestation, it can be interpreted as the lawful evidence that is credible enough to be trusted by any authority, let’s say PSK (Passport Sewa Kendra) officials or consul.

A stamp or signature of an SDM officer on the marriage certificate, for instance, proves the legitimacy of the copy of the original document. It won’t be accepted or recognized until and unless it ratifies the authenticity by the competent authority.

In short, your birth certificate, marriage or degree certificate or any other one won’t be accepted if it does not have any stamp from the concerned authority or officials. Sometimes, a certificate or document may require a stamp or seal or signature by more than one authority.

Basically, the legalization of documents is classified into these:

1. Personal documents
2. Educational documents
3. Commercial documents

Reasons for Attesting Any Certificate:

Its reasons could be many, as serving a judicial purpose like opening a bank account or obtaining a visa. There may be a commercial proposition, like a business meeting or bringing a business at home, behind it. All in all, one can get a licence of being a genuine degree or certificate holder.

Who has authority to attest?

Well, the purpose defines which authority you are going to concern with for getting a seal of authenticity. Let’s say, you are going to join a multinational company in the USA. To verify your qualification, citizenship and commercial status, it is obligatory to get through attestation service by more than one department.

Mainly, the NRIs or aspiring NRIs require the stamp of legalization through:

• Notary attestation– A notary public in the court puts a stamp of verification on various affidavits, degree certificates and other ones in his presence.
• SDM attestation-Also called Sub-Divisional Magistrate, the SDM attestation is required in a few rare cases, like obtaining a CENOMAR/ marriage/ birth certificate from the local area. He is not subdued to the state government, as his portfolio is treated as a separate entity.
• Chamber of Commerce attestation-As its name suggests, this kind of attestation serves verification of commercial documents, like proof of legitimacy of entrepreneurship and licence.
• Home department/mantralaya attestation-It is meant for personal document attestation, like marriage certificate and death certificate.
• HRD attestation-Being governed by the central government, the human resource development ministry puts the stamp of originality on the educational certificates, like Mark Sheet, transcript and many other ones.
• Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) attestation- This stamp is the last one required for immigration. The MEA puts a sticker upon verifying all necessary documents sent.
• Embassy attestation-The consul of the foreign country (where the candidate aspires to go) conducts a face to face round with the candidate before awarding him/her with the embassy attestation on the immigration documents.
• (In few cases)Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) –It is one of the final verifications that are carried out upon passing through the embassy attestation. This is specifically meant to visit Gulf Countries, like UAE.
• Apostille attestation-It is no different from the MEA attestation. The applicant can apply for it if he is migrating to the countries in the Hague Convention. Not all countries are part of it.

How long does it take to apostille a document in India?

Generally, it takes a month to get your documents apostille or attested in India. There are a few registered agencies that can be contacted to serve the purpose. But, you should deeply research before contacting any agency.

Fee

About fee, only the registered agency or the concerned authority could avail the appropriate information.