Attestations

Attestation in India - The Definitive Guide

Documents of all types require proofing of some kind. This could be required at different places in different manners. Issuing a paper is easy and anyone would do it but some necessarily need credibility, the best example for proving this point would be a currency note. A piece of paper has such high significance just because of the print on it. Any kind of paper earns genuineness with a stamp and /or signature on it.

Document attestation is simply the authentication of documents that is mandatory for various purposes. Attestation in India can be of various types, at times for local use it requires self-attestation while at other times, it is mandated from the highest authority like central government. Attestation of documents shall provide a document certain immunity to be accepted in different parts of the nation or abroad. This type of certificate attestation can be for local use or at times for the national or international cause.

What is attestation?

Attestation meaning can be interpreted as a demonstration of proof of something. It is more of a legal term that deals with the lawfulness of evidence, a statement or a document or certificate. It is provided in forms of stamps and signature when one believes in the authenticity of the entity. An attestation of any document or paperwork will let the demandant know that the copy of the original document is credible and can be trusted. It is a formality by the law helping the legitimacy of the material.

What is certificate attestation?

The process to attest certificates from authority is called as certificate attestation . It is obtaining necessary seal or signature from the concerned officials on your certificate to ratify its credibility. There are more than one authorities and formalities present in this process. Each of these authorities provides a stamp of their own on the back side of the document. This process is generally followed for a degree certificate, birth certificate, marriage certificate, medical certificate, and other certificate attestation courses. It can be done any type of certificate i.e. personal, educational, commercial.


Personal


Educational


Commercial

What does ‘attestation of documents’ mean?

Attestation of documents means legalization of significant documents so as to make them admissible to the authority that demands them. Document attestation is carried out for three different types of documents, namely, personal, educational and commercial. All these documents are classified on the basis of the information they possess. Sometimes the authentication of documents needs to be done by multiple authorities to prove the genuinity of the document.

Why is attestation required?

Depending on the need, there is a discrete set of individuals who have the power to attest documents. In some cases, self-attestation is enough while for others, certificate attestation from the government officials is obligatory. Attesting documents for visa, authorized departments that comprise the process are the Notary, State, Ministry of External Affairs and the Embassy of the respective country. However, document certification for UAE attestation, Qatar attestation, Saudi attestation, and other Gulf countries mandates an additional verification from the country of destination called Ministry Of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) attestation. This is done in the country that is to be visited by the officials available at the government organization.

Apostille Attestation

It is a process which is carried by MEA out for the countries that a part of the Apostille Hague Convention. When the authentication is confirmed, an apostille sticker on the document is given. Generally, there is no need for any additional foreign verification for apostille.

Embassy Attestation

It is performed by the officials of the respective country the documents are being attested for. For instance, the embassy of UAE performs the UAE embassy attestation process. It is performed by the officials from the country of destination in the country of harbor.

MEA Attestation

MEA or Ministry of External Affairs attestation is the last level of authentication from the home government after which an MEA stamp or sticker is applied on the document. MEA is the central department that deals with the foreign matters of the country and elects a minister every half a decade.

HRD Attestation

HRD or Human Resource Department is the state organization that solely attests the educational documents and certificates. It is another important procedure to demonstrate the authenticity of your academic history to your employer or the university you next being admitted to. University verification is compulsory for this part of the attestation.

Home Department Attestations

Home Department is exclusive to attests personal documents and the officials are the only ones allowed to attest personal documents, this includes marriage certificate, death certificate.

Mantralaya Attestation

Mantralaya is the state government organization determinate to the states of India. It is one of the steps that is carried out for the authentication of personal and educational documents.

SDM Attestation

The Sub-Divisional Magistrate is an alternative for the Home Department and in rare cases, for HRD as well. However, some authorities strictly mandate HRD attestation for educational documents. Sub-Divisional Magistrate is independent of the main state government and performs separately.

GAD Attestation

Some states have specialized departments exclusive to that particular state which perform document legalization along with other state businesses. Certificate attestation in Hyderabad secretariat is an exclusive department coming under GAD.

Chamber of Commerce Attestation

Chamber of Commerce is an organization of the local businessmen and authentication from this organization is the initial step for the commercial document attestation. Commercial documents are proof that your entrepreneurship is legitimate and hence, commercial document legalization helps in proving the same.

Notary Attestation

Attestation by a notary is carried out before all other processes comprising the authentication of documents. It is obtained from the local notary, mostly in the form of a signature. It is the most basic requirement of any law related legalization process.

MOFA Attestation

Ministry Of Foreign Affairs or MOFA attestation is a part of the document attestation process that is the final step of attestation performed after the embassy attestation carried out for the Gulf countries like Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, and others. MOFA attestation is applied for the foreign documents and the documents issued in that particular Gulf country.

NORKA Attestation

Non-Resident Keralites Affairs or NORKA Attestation is the HRD attestation process that is performed by the state of Kerala to attest the educational documents. NORKA was established in order to aid the non-residential Keralites ensuring safe migration.