Hague Apostille Convention abolishes legalization of foreign documents requirement for use in any member Country once apositilised by Competent authority

The Hague Convention, as it is known in short, replaced the “Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents”, which was a tedious way of having to confirm documents between countries (both countries had to sign two different confirmations in the past. Also known as the Convention de La Haye du 5 Octobre 1961, or the Apostille Treaty, the Apostille Convention is an international treaty created by the Hague Conference on Private International Law.

Basically, it defines how a document issued in any of the member countries (signatory countries) can be certified for use among all the other member countries. Thus, if both South Africa and Japan belong to the Apostille Convention, then an apostille is used to confirm the document between the two countries. Within South Africa alone, an apostille would be the equivalent of a notarisation by a notary public.

Now, the Hague Apostille Convention, 1961, abolishes the requirement of legalization of foreign documents for use in any member country, once a document is apostilled (including e-Apostille) by a competent authority of the country where the document originates. Therefore, no further attestation or legalization by an Indian Mission/Post of an apostilled document is required for use in India, as India is a member of the Hague Apostille Convention.

The Ministry of External Affairs notification of November 18, 2020 stated that it has been brought to the notice of this Ministry that some institutes/organizations/establishments in India demand an apostilled document of a member country to be further attested by the Indian Mission/Post in that country. It is clarified that no further attestation or legalization of an apostilled document should be required in India as India is a member of the Hague Apostille Convention. An apostilled document should, therefore, be treated as legalized document in India by all concerned, in accordance with the international obligation under the Hague Apostille Convention.

The full text of the Hague Apostille Convention and list of its member countries are available at: https://www.hcch.net/en/instruments/conventions/specialised-sections/apostille

The Ministry of External Affairs has circulated guidelines to all State/UT Governments in India, academic institutions, etc., to remove any further requirement of legalization of an apostilled document for use in India. These guidelines are also uploaded on the website of Ministry of External Affairs.

The Hague Apostille is a certificate with international recognition based on the Convention of 1961:

The apostille is an international certification (comparable to a notarisation in domestic law)  between two countries, and is sufficient to certify a document’s validity. The apostille itself is a stamp or printed form consisting of standard fields.

The Ministry of External Affairs attests original documents//true copies of documents for use abroad. Attestation done by the Ministry of External Affairs is of two types:

1. Apostille:

India, since 2005, is a member of the Hague Convention of October 5, 1961 that abolished the requirement of legalization of foreign public documents. Apostille is acceptable in all member-countries of the Convention (For more info please visit the website: www.hcch.net).

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. As India is a member of the Hague Apostille Convention, 1961, no further attestation or legalization of a document apostilled by a member country, should be required for using such apostilled document in India. An apostilled document should, therefore, be treated as legalized document for all purposes in India by all concerned, in accordance with the international obligation under the Convention.(Countries under Hague Convention is available at the following link)

(No further requirement of attestation of apostilled documents)

(Enclosure: Issuing and Accepting Apostilles ) 

2. Normal Attestation:

This is done for all the countries which are not a member of Hague Convention and where Apostille is not accepted.

Procedure for Attestation/Apostille

A. E-sanad: A. E-sanad: e-Service for verification & attestation of documents of Indian Citizens. Detatils of e-Sanad can be obtained by following the following Link.

B. Attestation/apostille of documents not covered under E-sanad:

Step 1. Authentication of Documents

Applicant Regional Authentication Centres (RACs)
(Details of RACs is available at following link)

Step 2. Deposition of Documents with authorized Outsource Service Provider.

Details of Outsource Agency centers is available at following link Appendix G

Details of Jurisdiction of Branch Secretariat/RPos is available at following linkAppendix H

Legalisation of documents: The Ministry of External Affairs thereafter, legalises the documents on the basis of the signature of the designated signing authorities of the State Government/Union Territory/Chambers of Commerce. Hence it does not take responsibility of the contents of the documents.

Outsourcing of receipt and Delivery of Documents. As a result to outsourcing of receipt and delivery of documents for attestation/Apostille with effect from July 2012, no document is directly accepted from individuals at the Ministry of External Affairs Counter at CPV Division, Patiala House Annexe, New Delhi. The original document/true copy is to be submitted directly to any of the four outsourced service providers along with a photocopy of the document and a photocopy of the Passport of the applicant. It would be pertinent to point out that the Ministry does not legalize photocopies. Applicants are advised not to rely on unauthorised persons/touts for Apostille or Attestation services.

Decentralization of Attestation/ Apostille Services. W.e.f. January 01 2019, Attestation/Apostille services have been decentralized to Branch Secretariats/RPOs in 15 cities Ahemdabad, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Chennai, Chandigarh, Cochin, New Delhi, Guwahati,, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Panaji, Raipur and Thiruvanantapuram. The contact details of these RPOs and the collection centres of the four service providers in these 15 cities are as given above.NORKA ROOTS, a public sector company under the Department of Non-Resident Keralite Affairs, Government of Kerala is authorized to submit documents for Attestation/Apostille by RPO, Thiruvanantapuram .

Applicants are requested to approach their respective Branch Secretariats/RPOs as enumerated above through the four outsourced service providers for obtaining the requisite services of apostille/attestation as required.

Fees for Apostille and Normal Attestation

MEA: A fee of Rs 50 is payable for Apostille of document. (W.e.f 21 December 2016, payment by means of postal orders has been discontinued.) Normal Attestation is done free of cost.

Outsourced agencies: As the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is not accepting documents directly from the applicant/individual, all documents for the purpose of Attestation/Apostille by MEA are to be submitted and collected from the four designated outsourced agencies. The fee chargeable by the outsourced agencies per document for its collection and delivery for Apostille/normal attestation by MEA will be Rs. 90/- (Service Fee) and Rs 3 per page (Scanning Fee) .

For more information, suggestions or any grievance please contact:

Fax : 011- 49016638
Email : sooi@mea.gov.in, soatt1@mea.gov.inUseful Links

The details of process of apositilisation is as outlined on Ministry of External Affairs.

Image: Genunie Attestation Services