As the global gate of opportunity is in an ever-broadening phase, people of one country are found allured to going to a foreign land and exploring more opportunities to grow – this could be in terms of educational purposes, commercial reasons, or even for the betterment of one’s career. As the volume of immigrants have surged and the authenticity of each of them has to be ensured in the most stringent and professional manner, processes like apostille or attestation are required. As foreign ministries of both the countries (native and foreign) are involved in all the exchanges of human resources, the procedure of apostille plays a significant role as it streamlines the authenticity checks at various levels and ensures genuineness of the immigrant and their purpose of arrival in the foreign land.
What is attestation?
I would put it this way – if you are someone who lives in India and has just completed graduation, and now you want to travel to Australia to pursue higher education. So, in order to get your visa application approved, you would be needing to get your educational documents (like graduation degree, birth certificate, marksheets, etc.) verified by certain authorities. This entire process of getting your educational documents authenticated is known as attestation. For this, the applicant has to submit their documents (original and xerox copy) to the concerned authorities who will carry out the stage-wise process of attestation.
Importance of Attestatio
As mentioned in the earlier section, for anyone to travel to a foreign country, the approval of their visa application is a must. And in order to head towards visa approval, carrying out the process of attestation is very crucial and mandatory. When the authorized people/officers will verify your documents, then only you can get a thumbs-up for the approval of your visa application.
In my opinion, you must submit a request for document/degree verification to a professional firm that handles attestation services. I have seen many of my known ones availing of the services from a professional company and getting their document attestation done in an efficient manner.
Stages of Attestation
Generally, there are four stages involved in the process of attestation:
- Stage 1 – Notary: In the first stage, the required documents are checked and verified by the local notary (from the same place where the documents were issued).
- Stage 2 – State Level: Once the local notary has verified the documents, the second stage of authentication is done at the state level, that is, by the HRD Department (Human Resource Development) – HRD will come into play if the documents you want to attest are related to academics. If the documents are personal, like a marriage certificate, then the documents will be going for attestation to the State Home Department or SDM (Sub-Divisional Magistrate).
- Stage 3 – MEA Stamp: After the document verification is done by the HRD/SDM, your documents will head towards the MEA (Ministry of External Affairs) for the centre level authentication. The MEA will be giving you a sign or stamp as the confirmation of document verification. This stage holds a very crucial place as, without this one, your documents cannot be directed towards the Embassy authentication.
- Stage 4 – Concerned Country’s Embassy: Just as your documents pass the level of MEA verification, they will be eligible for undergoing the final stage of attestation – Embassy verification. At this stage, the genuineness of your documents will be proven and stamped thus completing your entire attestation process.
All the types of attestation mentioned above are extremely core steps. Attestation is something that will let no question be raised on the authenticity of your documents. Also, without the process of document attestation, applying for a visa is a next-to-impossible thing. So, whichever country’s visa you seek, your documents have to be verified by that country’s embassy.
What is Apostille?
You can say that the apostille is like a global attestation that is recognized by 92 countries. Within these 92 countries, through the process of apostille, your documents will be legalized and can be used to apply for any of the 92 countries’ visas. You may wonder how an actual apostille sticker looks like? Well, it is a square-shaped sticker stamp that is generated by the computer. Every stamp has a unique ID enabling the authorities to check the authenticity online.
From where can you get your documents attested?
As many of my friends were looking for authentic attestation services in India, I decided to dig a bit deep and research the best firm. I happened to come across the portal of ND Universal and in my opinion, they are one of the most authentic sources for your document attestation services. Then I came to know that one of my relatives had availed attestation services(https://attestationguide.com/) from ND Universal, so I thought to cross-check my opinion. The relative said it was quite a nice experience at ND, their document attestation was carried out very smoothly and the work was completed in the promised amount of time. So, if you are looking for attestation services, I would suggest them for sure.
I tried to help out you folks by throwing light on the attestation processes and stages. Also, we discussed a legit source from where you can get your documents attested. I hope my research and this piece of information will help you guys and make your attestation journey smoother.
