Attestation - All You Need to Know About It Is Here!


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In the modern world, it is very easy to fake anything and everything. From feelings to graduation degrees, everything can be copied or fakes easily. But some of the procedures like that for traveling abroad or admitting into a school or college require authentic documents. But how do the authorities check the authenticity of any document when it can be easily be duplicated? Well, the authenticity of any document can be checked through attestation.


What Is Attestation?

Attestation is the process for scrutinizing the authenticity of a document by corroborating every detail given on it and then manifesting it authentic with the sign and stamp of verifying personnel on it. Legalization of a document to the required level is obligatory so that it could be accepted easily in any foreign country. In India, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is the government authority for the attestation of public documents.

This is the exact definition of this term but it might be a lot to process in the beginning.

Attesting a document, in simple words, means that on the photocopy of your document, there should be a sign of a journal officer or a notary official. If in the case of a self-attested copy, you should sign the photocopy yourself. Hence, Attestation is just a legal term to exemplify to the fact that a person swears word or asseverates the fact of something.


Why Is Attestation Necessary?

Attestation is the proof of the authenticity of your document. So it is required for different purposes which can be natural or extraneous to the respective nation. 

Attestation can be done for legal or non-legal reasons. The legal reasons can be the accommodation of significant proof. Some non-legal reasons can be opening a financial balance, getting a visa, or showing up a business far off spots among the others. 

Speaking of visas, people travel to different countries for various reasons like educational, personal or business-related reasons. Before applying for a visa, you need to pay a visit to the embassy of the country you’re traveling to to get your documents verified and attested. If you fail to do so, the application for a visa will also be rejected. 


Types of Attestation

  1. State attestation: 

First of all, all the documents need to be attested by the authorities of the issuing state.  Human resource development (HRD), Home Department and the chamber of commerce are the state authorities responsible for attesting educational, personal and commercial documents respectively.

This is the first step for attaining an Embassy Attestation of your documents.

Based on the type of certificate, appropriate state attestation is needed in this case. For instance, in case you are travelling for educational purposes, you need to get your certificates attested from the State Education Department. In the case of personal certificates, General Administration Department of the involving state should attest the document earlier to attestation by the Ministry of External Affairs.

 

  1. MEA Attestation: 

MEA is the highest body for document attestation in India. It attests the document after sate authentication. This is the second stage.

Read more about the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA)

    

  1. Embassy attestation: 

This is the final step of attestation done after MEA attestation. After embassy attestation, your document will become valid in that particular country. This is mandatory for visa applications. 

 

How Are Educational Documents Attested?

All the educational documents and certificates are attested by the country which issued these. In the case of India, attestation of degree certificate is done by concerned HRD or MEA and also by the concerned embassy of the country you’ll be travelling to. It can be done even if the person whose certificate is attested is not present in the country. 

The following documents are required for Educational Certificate Attestation:

  • Original Certificate

  • Passport Copy

  • Visa Copy

  • Passport Size Photograph-2

  • Authorization Letter

 

How Are Personal Documents Attested?

There are various personal documents that you need to get attested when travelling across countries for personal reasons like a vacation, marriage, etc. These documents include birth certificate, death certificate, marriage certificate, employment/experience certificate, single status certificate, medical certificate, etc. These documents need to be attested by authorized officials for confirming the credibility of the documents that are issued by respective authorized authority. 

The following documents are required for attestation:

  • Original Certificate

  • Passport Copy

  • Visa Copy

  • Passport Size Photograph-2

Authorization Letter

 

Conclusion

Attestation is necessary for proving the authenticity and credibility of your documents. It is required in a broad range of applications, from Kindergarten application to filing a visa. There is no shortcut to this and all the steps need to be followed duly to avoid any hassle in the near future.

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Written By -  Neha Kundu

Edited By - Kashish Chadha