Birth certificate issued in india needs to get apostille to use it in Foreign country.Apostille is only given by Ministry of external affairs (MEA).Basically there are 2 kinds of apostille. Choosing the right one, will save you time and money. A correct apostille will prevent rejection from the embassy of the country you are travelling.
Below are the situations where you need apostille birth certificate .
- Travelling on work VISA
- Travelling on dependent Visa(wife or husband)
- For kids schooling in foreign country (Schools need birth certificate of your kids to get them admitted in school).
- Student visa (Universities & consulate need this to verify your age)
How to get birth certificate apostille?
There are two ways of getting apostille to any certificate.
- State authentication + MEA apostille
- SDM authentication + MEA apostille
When to get state authentication and MEA Birth certificate apostille?
Every document in India belongs to one of the 29 states or union territory, You need to get state authentication first.
First check whether your destination country belongs to Hague nation list or not.
If it’s not in the list or your travelling country is Austria or Italy you must get state attestation.
Or if your document belongs to Punjab, Haryana, and Goa you have to get state attestation regardless whether your destination country belongs to hague nation or not.
Getting state authentication is a highly time consuming and complex process, generally It will take 3-4 working weeks to complete.
When to get SDM authentication and MEA Birth certificate apostille?
If your travelling destination belongs to hague nation then you can go for SDM Authentication.
But if your documents belong to Punjab, Haryana, and Goa then the cost of SDM Authentication increases.
