Degree Certificate Apostille is a process of verifying the degree certificate for originality, authenticity and correctness. Degree certificate apostille indicate the document is genuine and given by the rightful authority. any degree certificate with apostille is considered as a genuine document for the use outside India.
Degree Certificate Apostille is a service offered by Ministry of external affairs India. Educational documents such as degree certificates Apostille is a mandatory process for anyone travelling to Hague countries under Employment / Student visa.
Degree certificate is a proof for completing your bachelor degree. Degree Certificate Apostille is required if you are trying to get the job outside the country or you are going abroad for education purpose.
Degree Certificate Apostille is a legalization process where your original degree will be attested by the Ministry of external affairs for the use in foreign country either for employement or for student. Degree Certificate apostille is a process of getting Attestation from MEA.
In the apostille degree certificate attestation, all the details that are vital are printed such as marks, course, years in which the course is completed, college, university, and all other essential educational information. When the certificate attestation in India is done then the other country comes to know that all the printed information is true and reliable.
Read through this article to know everything about apostille for degree certificate.
How to get Degree Certificate Apostille?
Degree certificate apostille is done in 3 steps
- Submission of Original documents
- Verification of degree certificate by University
- Apostille by MEA
How to get MEA Attestation or Apostille on Degree Certificates?
Apostille of Educational Documents by Ministry of External Affairs in India Can be done by Submitting the original Documents or True Copies of Original Documents Issued from the relevant School Boards / Universities.
What is apostille ?
Since you are born in India, you have received lot of documents from the government, private or public organizations. In the later stage if you want to move to other country then that country needs proof of your birth , qualifications, experience Etc.
The other country want to be sure that the documents that you have submitted are not a fraudulent documents. In order to confirm that the documents are genuine, you need to get Apostille from MEA. We will do the background check for authenticity of the documents and MEA will seal your documents for authenticity.
A square-shaped apostille sticker is pasted on the back of the certificate so that another country can find that easily. The sticker has a tracking number on it so that the country can check the authenticity of the attested degree effortlessly without any need for further verification.
When the attested degree documents are sealed and stamped by the Ministry of External Affairs then a person can show these documents to any of the Hague countries. The documents when attested are regarded as authentic and valid in other foreign countries.
Reasons for getting Apostille of Education Documents
- Higher Studies
- Working in the other country
- Requirement of the foreign country
- For Permanent Resident Visa
- For Business Purpose Visa
Documents required for degree certificate apostille?
Below are the documents that you need to submit to us in order to start the background check and get the apostille for your documents.
- Degree Certificate (Original document)
- Supporting documents such as passport photocopies (Front and Back pages)
- Aadhar card and License Photocopy
There are basically two types of degree certificate apostille
We Do the back ground check in two ways as mentioned below.
- State authentication then MEA apostille
- SDM authentication then MEA apostille
State Attestation for Degree Certificate
All the documents issued in India relates to some states in India.
In this method of apostille, the State government has to verify the document authenticity first.
State authentication will be done by the secretariat of the district in which the document is issued.
The apostille Marriage certificate is provided only after state verification is done.
There are many government bodies are involved in this process.
This process will take 30 working days to complete the whole process.
Check out here for State verification in detail.
SDM Authentication / Attestation for Degree Certificate
SDM is Sub divisional magistrate,
In this method of verification, your documents are checked for authenticity first and then SDM will certify your document for correctness and truthfulness.
Once the SDM seal is done then MEA will take this document for final check and puts the Apostille.
This is a faster root since not many government department are involved in the verification.
Most of the time the verification is done within 2-3 working days.
Which one is the best way for degree certificate apostille
Since there are 2 ways of doing an apostille choosing which one becomes very important.
Choosing the kind of apostille depends on the destination country you are travelling.
If your travelling destination is in Hague nation list then SDM is good for you. It takes less time and money.
But there are exception countries such as Austria and Italy, even though they are in Hague nation list, they require state attestation this is for only student VISA, For other VISA SDM is perfectly fine.
If the travel destination is not a Hague nation, then you must get state attestation. Once MEA apostille is done through State Attestation then document has to get Embassy attestation for the country which doesn’t belong to Hague nation.
No doubt SDM attestation is better than the State attestation due to less time. Although in case the traveling country has asked for the State Attestation then the applicant has to choose State Attestation only.
Time required for both type of Authentication / Attestation
State + MEA apostille requires more time since lot of government departments are involved in it.
Requires more than 30 working days and cost is also higher than SDM apostille.
On the other hand
SDM is a cost effective and very quick process. Required time depends on the package you choose on our website.
Can we directly submit the document to MEA for Apostille?
Before 2012 you could have submitted your documents directly to MEA but after 2012 the documents received for apostille escalated rapidly. MEA alone couldn’t handle this collection and distribution task.
So the collection and distribution of the documents was given to us.
Once you submit the documents to us, we will intern submit the documents on your behalf to MEA.
We take care of your documents as our own documents.
Some universities/ employers will also ask for apostille of transcript its better and advisable to get the transcript apostille.
People who are going to foreign under work or dependent visa, it is advisable to get apostille for marriage, birth and PCC initially. Once you are there in foreign and if you need apostille for these documents then courier costs will be way more.
Expenses a person has to pay for getting degree certificates apostilled?
There are a few charges that a person has to pay for the apostille degree certificate attestation. There are a few nominal payments that need to be done at various levels for getting an apostille stamp, the fees vary with the count(number) of documents and type of documents. So, a trustworthy apostille service can let you know better about the attestation of degree certificates.
For how much time does an apostille degree certificate valid?
The validity of an apostille degree certificate in India is valid for a period of 6 months. There are countries that accept an apostille degree certificate that is more than a year old. So, an apostille service can check the country and document to let you the accurate validity of a degree certificate apostille.
How do I apply for apostille?
You can apply here for apostille give all the details in the form.
- Registering online for apostille
- Sending the documents for office/visiting our office to deposit the document
- Online payment for apostille
- Receiving the tracking number for the documents
- Check updates online
- Get emails regarding the apostille status
- Receive/collect the documents after apostille
An Apostille contains following details:
- Name of country from which the document was issued.
- Name of the Person to whom document is issued.
- Name of person signing the document.
- Designation of the singed person.
- Place of certification date of certification.
- Number of certificate.
- Seal or stamp of authority issuing certificate.
- Signature of authority issuing certificate.
Steps involved in Apostille
Once you apply for Apostille, we will check the document for authenticity and will check the document with concerned departments for correctness.
If the document submitted to us is proper, we will process it further to SDM.
After SDM signs, the document will be processed through MEA for apostille. We will check the details of the apostille itself like your name, date and seals are present in the Apostille or not. If there is any correction required we will process the document again.
Safety and Security
As all the documents that need to be submitted for the degree certificate attestation in India are original. So, safety is the key parameter when choosing an apostille service provider. In case the documents are misplaced then it becomes difficult for the applicant to get the visa. Make sure that the apostille service you choose is trustworthy and reliable to handle your documents. Do not go for cheap apostille service just to save funds and risk your documents.
