Apostille:

An apostille is a form of authentication that seeks to simplify the process of legalizing and authenticating public documents so that they can be recognized internationally in foreign countries that are members of the 1961 Hague Convention Treaty, India is a member of the Hague Convention of October 5, 1961, abolishing the requirement of legalization of foreign public documents. Apostille is acceptable in 98 member-countries of the Convention. Apostille is done for personal documents like birth/death/marriage certificates, Affidavits, Power of Attorney, etc. and educational documents like degree, diploma, matriculation and secondary level certificates etc.

Procedure

All original documents requiring Attestation or Apostille should be first authenticated by the designated authorities of the State from where the document has been issued. The Ministry of External Affairs legalises the documents on the basis of the signature of the designated signing authorities of the State Government/Chambers of Commerce; hence it does not take responsibility of the contents of the documents. In case of personal documents, Home/General Administration Department of the concerned State Government are the designated authorities. In case of educational documents, the documents should first be authenticated by the Education Department of the concerned State Government. Commercial Documents are to be pre-authenticated by the respective Chambers of Commerce. The details of the Regional Authentication Centres (RACs) in the States from where the documents should first be authenticated are given below.As a result to outsourcing of receipt and delivery of documents for attestation/apostille with effect from July 2012, no document from individuals is accepted at the Ministry of External Affairs Counter at CPV Division, Patiala House Annexe, New Delhi. Normal Attestation is done for all the countries who are not the member of Hague Convention and where apostille is not accepted.