MEA Apostille

During the Hague Convention of 1961, the requirement of legalization of foreign public documents was abolished. India has been the member of this Convention since 2005. Apostille is done for personal documents (birth/death/marriage, affidavits etc.) and educational certificates. Documents attested in one country are acceptable in all the member countries who signed in this convention.

PROCEDURE

Step 1 – Authentication of Documents

The designated authorities of the State in your home country, must first verify all original documents which require Apostille from MEA (Ministry of External Affairs).

For Educational documents, The documents should be first attested by the Education Department /Human Resource Development (HRD) of the concerned State Government.

For Non-Educational documents, Home Department of the State Government has to undertake the primary authentication of the documents.

Commercial Documents, Documents has to be authenticated by the respective Chambers of Commerce.

Step 2 – Apostille of Documents

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) thereafter, on the basis of the signature of the designated authorities of State Government, affixes Apostille sticker on the back side of the original documents.

Countries That Accept Apostille

Albania Andorra
Antigua and Barbuda Argentina
Armenia Azerbaijan
Australia Austria
Bahamas Bahrain
Barbados Belarus
Belgium Belize
Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana
Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria
Burundi Cape Verde
Canada Colombia
Cook Islands Costa Rica
Croatia Cyprus
Czech Republic Denmark
Dominica, Commonwealth of Dominican Republic
Ecuador El Salvador
Estonia Fiji
Finland France
Georgia Germany
Greece Grenada
Honduras Hong Kong
Hungary Iceland
India Ireland
Israel Italy
Japan Kazakhstan
Korea, Republic of (South) Kyrgyzstan
Latvia Lesotho
Liberia Liechtenstein
Lithuania Luxembourg Macao
Macedonia, FYR of Malawi
Malta Marshall Islands
Mauritius Mexico
Moldova Monaco
Mongolia Montenegro
Namibia Netherlands
New Zealand Nicaragua
Niue Norway
Oman Panama
Paraguay Peru
Poland Portugal
Romania Russian Federation
Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Sao Tome and Principe
Samoa San Marino
Serbia Seychelles, Singapore
Slovakia Slovenia
South Africa Spain
Suriname Swaziland
Sweden Switzerland
Tonga Trinidad and Tobago
Turkey Ukraine
United Kingdom Uruguay
USA , U S Uzbekistan
Vanuatu Venezuela