Document Attestation: Steps, Benefits, & Challenges

Attestation refers to the verification of or making documents legally acceptable. This is a crucial process for those who are settled abroad. This process is also called legalization, which is essential for employment, education, immigration, or any other legal purpose in the host country.

One should always remember that each country has its own rules and regulations related to this attestation process. Here, we are going to describe the procedure for document attestation. But first, let’s discover which documents should be legalized.

Key Documents That Require Attestation

These are categorized into three. Let’s find them out below:

1. Educational Certificates: Degrees, diplomas, transcripts, and certificates that your educational institutions have issued as proofs of your academic records, which can be asked to present for further education and employment abroad.
2. Personal Documents: Documents like birth certificates, marriage certificates, CENOMAR, non-availability of birth certificates, and affidavits are often presented before immigration authorities to discover the date of birth and marital status.
3. Commercial Documents: Like the aforesaid documents, commercial documents like power of attorney, certificates of incorporation, and financial documents can be required by non-residents or residents who are doing or likely to do business abroad.

These are some papers that one may have to get legalized by the responsible authorities.

Let’s move on to comprehend the process to follow for attestation in India.

Document Attestation Process for NRIs

There are multiple levels of attestation in India. You should know about them to avoid any hassles.

Home Department Attestation:

This is the very first step of authentication, which is done in the very town, city, or village where your roots are.

Step 1: Notarization

Notarization is a document verification step that is conducted by a notary public in a court. The local notary public verifies the originality and validity of the presented documents and discovers the intention of the applicant. Once satisfied, he or she stamps the authenticity of the documents.

Step 2: State Attestation

The very next step is to visit the state’s home ministry or human resources department and get the requisite documents legalized. The competent officer examines the originality of the supporting documents and then attests to them if he or she is satisfied.

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA)

Now comes the verification from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) department.

Step 3: MEA Attestation

This is mostly required when you’re likely to visit abroad or have a purpose like marriage or study abroad. Before that, you have to pass through the aforementioned steps of attestation. For this step, you should always remember that an outsourcing consultant like Services2NRI can help you forward your request. It does not accept any requests from individuals or applicants. The outsourcing consultants forwarded the document. Thereby, this ministry is not responsible for the authenticity of the content in the documents, which were previously legalized. It’s role is to finally put its own stamp.

Step 4. Embassy or Consulate Attestation

The very next attestation is the embassy attestation. Mostly, it is required in the case of a change of status or background verification via the police clearance certificate of the applicant. He or she has to obtain this attestation from the country of origin.

These are various types of attestations that can help an individual legalize a document.

Tips for NRIs During Document Attestation

There are multiple ways to get your documents attested. If you are a bureaucrat, it won’t be a difficult task. But a layman faces the real challenge, as he or she does not have any information, nor does he or she know bureaucrats. In this case, hiring a consultant or legal advisor can be helpful. A few more tips can also make this journey easier. Let’s share with you.

1. Research the requirements.

Before taking any step, non-residents or any citizen should dive deeply online and ask friends or relatives about specific requirements. This can be concerned with the documents and supporting documents required for attestation

1. Plan Ahead

Avoid taking random steps. Start by brainstorming how long the attestation procedure is for a particular document. Then, make a plan and decide the right time to apply, especially when it is related to a case, marriage, employment, or study abroad.

3. Choose reliable attestation services.

Another step is to decide if you are going to handle everything yourself or hire a professional for attestation services. This decision can make this procedure more efficient and hassle-free.

4. Keep copies of documents.

The attestation procedure requires multiple copies of the original documents. So before going ahead, you should keep multiple copies of your original papers. This is how you can get rid of unforeseen circumstances wherein you require additional copies.

5. Stay updated on legal changes.

You should remember that laws and regulations regarding attestation change over time. So, you should keep yourself updated regarding the changes that recently happened in the rules to avoid hassles.

6. Authentication of Online Documents

Multiple things are involved in this process. So, you or NRIs must discover its online procedure. It can help in discovering the requirements of digital signatures, secure online platforms, and authentication methods.

Challenges and Solutions

In order to come across hassles, you must be aware of risks or challenges. Although there are just a few, they are there.

1. Language Barriers

Your language can prove a big roadblock, interrupting the entire process. So, you must get the documents translated into English, the official language of the country where you’re likely to go.

     2.Changing Regulations

A sudden change in regulations may hamper your way. So, keep your eyes on the latest laws and regulations to avoid difficulties or delays.

     3.Geographical Challenges

Remote locations can hamper or delay your application for attestation. So, you should hire a professional consultant if you come across this challenge.

Conclusion

Document attestation is a journey to legalize documents, which can serve multiple purposes like marriage abroad, study, employment, and business. In all cases, you must have attested documents to prove your citizenship and status. The aforementioned description and steps will help you get attestation services and come across challenges that can delay your application.