The Hague Convention of October 1961 Abolished the Requirement of Legalization of foreign public documents. The Apostille Treaty is an international treaty drafted by the Hague Conference on Private International Law. Any document Apostilled in one member country is acceptable in all other member countries who are signatories to the Hague Convention. Apostille is affixed by competent authorities designated by the government of a country which is party to the convention. Apostille is done for personal documents like Birth, Marriage, Death Certificates, Affidavits, Educational documents like Degrees, Diplomas, Secondary level Certificates etc.
Apostille stamp is a square shaped computer generated sticker, pasted on reverse of the Original Documents by the MEA, India. MEA Apostille Stamp is a unique sticker having a unique identification number, through which any member country of The Hague convention can check its authenticity online. Under normal circumstances, once the document has been Apostilled by MEA, it does not need to be attested any more from the concerned foreign embassy.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government of India has outsourced its Attestation and certificate Apostille work with effect from March 1, 2012. MEA is the sole authorized body having the authority to issue Apostille and authenticate the documents originated in India for use in foreign country. Superb Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. is one of the authorized outsourced companies for collection and delivery of documents on behalf of MEA to carry out further procedure of Apostille Attestation. As a result of Outsourcing, collection and delivery of documents are not accepted from individual applicants by CPV Division of the Ministry of External Affairs at Patiala House, New Delhi. All applicants are required to submit and collect their documents through the outsourced companies.
The Certificate Apostille is a process of legalization documents. This process sticks an apostille sticker on the required certificate from the Ministry of External Affairs as proof of authenticity. To get the visa the document verification process is acceptable by the members of the Hague convention. It is only verified by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is a Central government's department that deals with external matters. This is the only department that is entitled to legalize or Certificate Apostille in Delhi.
Documents Apostille Stamp is a square-shaped sticker generated from a computer and pasted on reverse of the documents you wanted to apostille. This stamp is provided by the Ministery of External Affairs, Government of India. An apostille is a kind of attestation by which a document is legalized. It is a defined format that is acceptable in all nations that comes under the Hague Convention. So, in Document Apostille, a unique computer-generated stamp has a unique identification number. With this unique identification code, the member of the Hague Convention checks the authenticity of the document online. As soon as the document is apostille it does not require any attestation further from the designated embassy.
The Degree Certificate Apostille is a document legalization process that verifies the authenticity of the same. This document is valid internationally in the members of Hague Convention countries. It is an alternative to legalization by the Hague Convention of October 5, 1961. So, the apostille is the process of documents/certificate legalization which is done on the educational, personal and commercial. Certificate Apostille can only be done on the documents issued in their own country. It is only valid for the countries which are part of the Hague Convention. Apostille is the most recognized process which is valid in more than 106 countries.
We are operating MEA Apostille Support Service Centres for collection and delivery of documents at following locations:-
Apart from the above service centres we also have Branches in different states to facilitate the collection and delivery services of documents from all over the India. We are present in New Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Bangalore, Pune, Maharashtra, Hyderabad, Kochi, Trivandrum and Dubai- UAE.
India became member of the Hague Convention in 2005 which abolished the requirement of legalization of public documents. In India, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) undertakes both, Apostille attestation and general attestation of documents. The procedure is as follows-
All original documents/certificates requiring MEA to issue Apostille must be first authenticated by the designated authorities of the State/Union Territory from where the document is issued. Indian Apostille can only be issued by MEA when the respective relevant state authority has attested a particular document. A list of the Regional Authentication Centers and the designated authorities can be seen on the MEA website http://www.mea.gov.in/
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) attests /legalizes the documents only after these have been authenticated with the signature and seal/stamp of the designated authorities of the State Government/Union Territory/Chambers of Commerce from where the documents have been issued. The MEA legalizes the certificate/documents on the basis of the signature of the designated authorities; hence it does not take responsibility of the contents of the documents.
Education Department of the concerned State Government/Union Territory (HRD/GAD)/NORKA + Apostille from MEA
State Home Department/GAD/SDM of the concerned State Government/Union Territory + Apostille from MEA
Respective Chamber of Commerce + Apostille from MEA
Only Original documents duly authenticated by the designated authorities of the concerned State Governments are Apostilled by the Ministry of External Affairs. Apostille sticker is issued on the reverse side of the original document. The applicants need to submit the following documents:
(a) Original document to be Apostilled;
(b) One clear photocopy of the document;
(c) One clear photocopy of the passport;
(d) Our service charges as given below:
Service Fee | |
Type of Documents | Charges for each documents |
Apostille ( Govt. Fee) | Rs.50/- for each Apostille Sticker |
Service Fee (SEPL) | Rs.84/- per document (same fee for all types of documents educational, personal or commercial) |
Scanning Fee(SEPL) | Rs.3/- per page |
Documents can be deposited in our “Collection & Delivery” counters between 0900 hrs and 1800 hrs from Monday to Saturday excluding holidays.
However, in case the document is found fake or the authentication forged, the same will be seized by the Ministry of External Affairs. The Ministry may also initiate appropriate legal action against the applicant. The service charge paid to us or Apostille fee paid to the Ministry of External Affairs cannot be returned in any circumstances.
It is relevant to mention that the MEA does not issue Apostille on the photocopies of documents. Applicants are advised not to rely on unauthorized persons for Apostille attestation services.
Documents can be deposited and collected back either in person or through an authorized representative. Documents will be returned only on production of receipt for payment of service charge.
Following are the countries that have signed The Hague Convention 1961 and are members of it. As they are signatory to the Convention, documents to be used in these countries do not require general attestation and MEA can issue Apostille to the documents which are acceptable by member countries:-