An apostille is an official document that is issued in countries that observe apostille stamp as a means of legalization. These documents are often required when you are planning to move out of the country for employment or educational purposes. Once the document has been apostilled, it then becomes legally acceptable in all the states that are a part of The Hague Convention.
The convention came in to effect on 5th October 1961. Since then, the apostille group has grown on to become 100 member states that accept apostille certificare as a form of document legalization.
There are three types of certificates that are eligible for Apostille Documents in India. These include:
– Birth certificate
– Marriage certificate
– Degree certificate
When do you need apostille stamp?
All the documents that require to be apostilled must follow a three stage process of validation before they are accepted in a different country. These documents can be required for number of reasons from employment to education. Other than personal documents, companies planning to set up new branches overseas are also required to get their documents apostilled and legalized.
Depending on the purpose of the docyment, the apostille can be either issued on copies or original documents. However, important documents such as birth, marriage, and death certificate require original in order to gain apostille. Copies of this document remains unusable because the signature on the document will not be considered as original.
How it is done
The special apostille seal is granted to documents after they have been thoroughly verified by concerned authorities. Members who are part of The Hague Convention have agreed to abolish need for legalization of public documents between member states. However, for the apostille to be applicable, both the origin and the destination country should be members of the convention.
Indian documents are put through two stages of verification that includes attesting them in the state of origin and then forwarding the documents to Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) before passing it on to the embassy for further validation. The entire process is lengthy as well as cumbersome and often requires professional help to speed things up.
Reasons you may need embassy legalization
Embassy legalization is usually required by states that are not part of the convention. However, apart from legalization, these states may also ask for apostille stamp before they place their own signs and stamps. Embassy legalization is usually required for people who are either applying for work or educational permit abroad.
Hire an Apostille Service Provider
As has been mentioned before, the process itself is incredibly lengthy and in absence of right contact, it may be time consuming too. However, you can avoid being stuck in the long delays caused due to red-tapism by hiring the right service provider. Experienced professionals know how to safely and quickly get your documents apostilled and have them hand-delivered in record time frame!
