Legalization Service

Q1) What is Legalization?

Legalization is the process of authenticating or certifying a legal document so a foreign country's legal system will recognize it as valid and with full legal effect.

Legalizing documents means that official (public) documents are affixed, sealed and signed either with an Apostille Certificate (where countries are party to The Hague Convention) or with a Certificate of Authentication (where countries are not party to The Hague Convention).

Ministry of External Affairs is the nodal Ministry for consular legalization and Apostille of documents for use in India and abroad. This service is being performed by the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi.

Q2) How to get Legalization Exact legalization procedure depends on the type of the certificate or document and destination country. To get embassy or consulate attestation the document has to be attested by Govt. of India. It has two separate departments to take care of certificate attestation procedures, Human Resource Development Department (HRD) and Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). Original Document in English Authorized Translation required in country required Request Letter for legalization to embassy Photocopy of Passport Document to be Notarized Document is attested by Chamber of Commerce Documents is authenticated /legalized by Embassy or consulate Legalized document is couriered to client Q3) Procedure for Legalization All original documents requiring attestation or Apostille should be first authenticated by the designated agencies in the State from where the document has been issued. Personal Documents: In case of personal documents, Home Department/General Administration Department is the designated authorities. Educational Documents: In case of educational documents, the documents should first be authenticated by the Education Department of the concerned State Government/Union Territory. The details of the Regional Authentication Centre (RACs) in the States/UTs from where the documents should first be authenticated are given below. The Ministry of External Affairs attests the documents on the basis of the signature of the designated signing authorities of the State Government/Union Territory/Chambers of Commerce; hence it does not take responsibility of the contents of the documents. Commercial Documents:  Commercial Documents are to be pre-authenticated by the respective Chambers of Commerce before these can be attested by the Ministry of External Affairs.

Q4) Most common types of documents submitted for Legalization Types of Legal Documents 1. Affidavit 2. Agency Agreements 3. Agreement/Certificate of Incorporation 4. Airway Bill 5. Any Other Documents of Legal Nature 6. Authorization of Agent 7. Bid or Tender Letters 8. Bill of Lading 9. Certificates of Free Sale 10. Commercial agreement 11. Commercial certificate 12. Employment Letter 13. Marriage/Divorce/Death certificate 14. Medical Report 15. Packing List 16. Power of Attorney 17. Purchase or sale agreement 18. Real Estate and Property Documents 19. Registration of Partnerships, Corporations, or Joint Ventures 20. Sole Distributorship 21. Sole Distributorship 22. To whom it may concern 23. Trade Marks Registration 24. Translations Documents