Advisory on Apostille

Attestation/Apostile of Documents and Implementation of the ‘Apostille’ Convention

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 105 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. Any document Apostilled in one member country is acceptable in all the other 104 member-countries, signatory to the referred convention of 1961 thus greatly simplifying the process of attestation by making it needless to get the documents attested in each or for each of the countries separately. (Countries under Hague Convention is available at the following link)

2. Normal Attestation:

This is done for all the countries which are not a member of Hague Convention and where Apostille is not accepted.(Countries which are not a member of Hague Convention is available at the following link)

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 thefollowing 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



Step 3. Receipt of apostilled/Attested documents from Outsource agencies.




Important Note:

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 five 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 five 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 five 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