Implementation of the ‘Apostille’ Convention

With India’s accession to the Hague Convention of October 5, 1961 abolishing the requirement of legalization of foreign public documents (www.hcch.net) Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs at CPV Division, Patiala House will start issuing Apostilles w.e.f. August 29, 2007. Apostille stickers will be issued on the documents –personal like birth, death, affidavits, power of attorneys, marriage etc and educational documents like degree, diplomas, matriculation and secondary level certificates. However, commercial documents are excluded from the purview of the Convention. Procedure: All documents should be first authenticated by the designated agencies in the State from where thedocument has been issued. In case of personal documents, Home Department/General Administration Department arethe designated authorities. In case of educational documents, State Governments have now opened Regional Authentication Centers (RACs) (see list) at various States from where the document should first be attested. Documents attested by these authorities then need to be presented to MEA for issue of Apostilles.