What is attestation? it is a kind of confirmation that your documents are legal and authentic. Attestation on your legal documents is crucial to moving to a foreign country.
Attestation is a cumbersome process that involves many micro and macro steps. This blog covers everything you should know about what attestation is, what is an attestation of documents, and what the attestation process is.
What is Attestation?
The meaning of the attestation word is evidence or proof that something is genuine. Attestation is placed on your document in the form of a sign, stamp, or seal when you travel to a foreign country for education, employment, business, etc.
Attestation is the process of scrutinizing the authenticity of a document by corroborating every detail given on it and then manifesting it authentic with the sign and stamp of verifying personnel on it.
Attestation is obligatory to use the document easily in any foreign country. In India, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is the government authority to place an attestation stamp on your educational, personal, and commercial documents.
When you apply for a visa, you need to elaborate to the immigration department and the embassy about your purpose of moving to a foreign country. You need some documents to prove that you are a genuine person and eligible to move from your country to a foreign country.
The procedures like visa processing, interview with the immigration department, document attestation, police clearance certificate, and medical tests are crucial and followed by the authorities of your native and destination country.
Without a work, study, or business visa and attested documents, you cannot settle in a foreign country for education, employment, or business. But, you do not need to attest to your legal documents for a tourist visa.
How Many Types of Attestation are There?
1. State Level Attestation
There are three categories in documents attested by the authorities of the issuing state – educational, personal, and commercial. Human resource development (HRD), the Home Department, and the chamber of commerce are the state authorities responsible for attesting educational, non-educational, and commercial documents, respectively.
2. MEA Attestation
Once the State departments carefully scrutinize the document and confirm its authenticity with its attestation, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the highest body for document attestation in India, attests to your certificate and manifests it bonafide to use abroad.
3. Embassy Attestation
This attestation on your certificate is an obligatory task accomplished by the embassy of the country where you are moving to fulfill your study abroad dream or to do a job in a foreign country.
Read More: Types of Attestation
Why is an Attestation Required?
A stamp of attestation on your legal documents confirms their authenticity and proves that you are a genuine person and can move abroad.
Here are the reasons why you need to attest to your documents.
- To apply for a visa.
- To visit the UAE for a job, you need a work visa and attested educational and personal documents from the UAE embassy in India.
- Without attestation, you may face obstacles to visa processing.
- Attestation on educational documents is compulsory to study abroad.
- Attestation on your police clearance certification and medical certificates is mandatory for visa stamping.
Chances of visa rejection are high when you submit your document without attestation to the embassy for a visa.
Read More: UAE Embassy Attestation
Who can Attest Documents?
Attestation on your document is a stamp and sign provided by the concerned state government department, and the Ministry of External Affairs of the country issued the certificate.
Once the State and MEA place attestations on your documents, the embassy of the country where you will go to fulfill your dreams. In the case of UAE or any other Gulf country, with embassy attestation, a MOFA attestation is also mandatory.
Is Attestation Done on Original Documents?
Attestation is a sign and stamp placed on the backside of your original document that confirms it is bonafide. If you have placed a lamination paper on your certificate to keep it safe, remove it before submitting your certificate to the government authorities for attestation.
What is the Difference Between Attestation and Verification?
Attestation is a verification done to check the authenticity of your documents. Attested documents confirm that they are successfully verified by the authorities who provide attestations.
When you apply for a certificate attestation, the agency will verify your certificate from their side to process the attestation procedure. The agency will review if your certificate is original and accurate to submit to the government authorities and embassy for attestation.
What is the Difference Between a True Copy and an Attested Copy?
A true copy is a photocopy of your original document that does not confirm the genuineness of the primary document. In rare cases, you can submit your true copy to the authorities for attestation.
When the government authorities and your destination country embassy place attestations on your true copy, it is known as an attested copy.
How to Get Document Attestation?
The authorities that provide attestation on your documents accept applications from the MEA-approved agency, Superb Enterprise Pvt Ltd (SEPL).
Superb Enterprise Pvt.Ltd (SEPL) is one of the officially approved companies of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to complete the attestation process for the applicant.
We have been delivering the best affordable attestation services since 2008. We provide a document translation service to make a translated copy of your document in the native language of your destination country to make the attestation procedure convenient and fast.
You can visit our office or courier your document to our service center for attestation services.
