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What is an Apostille?

The Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement for Legalization for Foreign Public Documents (FPD), the Apostille convention.
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The Apostille agreement is an International pact summarized by the Hague Conference on Private International Law. It specifies the modalities through which a document issued in one of the signatory Countries can be certified for legal purposes in all the other signatory Countries. Such a certification is called an Apostille (It is a French word, and its meaning is Certification). It is an international Certification equivalent to a Notarization in domestic law.

What is the Procedure?

In India, Apostille is affixed by the Competent Authorities designated by the Government of India which is party to the convention. A list of these authorities is maintained by the Hague Conference on Private International Law. Examples of designated authorities are Embassies, Ministries, Courts or Local Governments. For example, in India, the Ministry of External Affairs is the competent Authority to affix Apostille. To be eligible for an Apostille, a document must first be certified by an officer recognized by the authority (in India that is MEA) that will issue the Apostille. For example, in India if a Degree Certificate has been issued in Kolkata, then it will be Attested by the General Administrative Department (GAD) / Regional Attestation Department (RAC) or Home Department of it's respective state. After completion the first Attestation finally it will be Apostilled by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

What is the information included in an Apostille? In India, the Apostille itself is a printed form consisting of 11 standard fields. On the top is the text APOSTILLE, under which the text Convention de La Haye du 5 octobre 1961 (English: Hague Convention of 5 October 1961) is placed. The fields contains the following information,
Country: [INDIA]
This public document of the Type: [Name of the Document]
Is issued to: [Name of the Document Holder]
Has been signed by: [Name of the officer recognized by the MEA]
With the Seal / Stamp of: [Acting in the capacity of]
Certified by: [Acting in the capacity of]
On: [Date of Apostille] At: [Location of Apostille]
With Reference No: [Apostille Registration Number: 4 Alpha and 10 Numeric numbers]
Seal/stamp: [of the authority giving the Apostille] Signature: [Signature of authority giving the Apostille]
The Apostille sticker can be placed on the back side of the document itself.

Apostille for Kolkata issued Degree Certificate:

The Kolkata Issued Degree Certificate could be Apostilled from Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) after the attestation of the competent officer designated by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. The designated officer or signatory or the department could be changed from time to time as per the instruction of Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). The designated signatory may be the Section Officer, Deputy Commissioner, Commissioner, Magistrate, Sub Divisional Magistrate, Resident Commissioner, Chief Secretary, Joint Secretary, Assistant Secretary, Director, Deputy Director etc.
The Degree Certificate issued from Kolkata could also be Apostilled from Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) after the Attestation of Sub Divisional Magistrate, New Delhi. But it is an alternate, genuine and acceptable process for the Hague Conventional Countries across the globe. On the other hand some Countries are very specific as they require the state level attestation on the Kolkata issued Degree Certificate prior to the Apostille from Ministry of External Affairs. Some Hague Conventional Countries require the translation copy of the Apostilled Degree Certificate issued in Kolkata in their own languages. Also some Country requires the fresh / reissued Apostilled Degree Certificate of Kolkata. In that case the issuance of Kolkata based Degree Certificate and the Apostille will be within six months.
If you require to know more about the Kolkata based Degree Certificate Apostille or want to Apostille Degree Certificate issued in Kolkata,

please feel free to contact us anytime @ +91-22-65340783 or write us info@apostille.in we'll more than happy to help.