How to get Apostille Certificate?

In case you wish to travel to foreign countries, you will need a ton of documents like passport copies, birth certificates, judgements, notarial attestations of signatures or patents. But before using any such documents in a foreign country, it is necessary that all the documents that you provide are authenticated. Usually, the authentication of the documents is done by a process known as legalisation. Under this process, the officials of the country in which the documents were issued and the foreign embassy or the consulate of the country in which the documents are to be issued are responsible for the authentication of the documents. But this is a lengthy and slow process and is also costly, due to this a lot of countries have signed the Hague Convention as a result adopting the Apostille Convention. With the help of Apostille, the authentication of public documents which are used in foreign countries becomes quite easy and simple. In this blog, we will learn about the procedure to get a document authenticated by Apostille.

Apostille

A lot of  countries all around the globe have connected to a treaty which simplifies the process of authentication of those public documents that are used in foreign countries. This treaty was known as the Apostille Convention. And also referred to as the Hague Convention which Abolishes the need of legalising the  Foreign Public Documents.  In those countries in which the Apostille Convention is applicable, the treaty simplifies the process of authentication of documents to a single formality i.e. the issuing of a certificate of authentication by any designated authority of the country in which the issuing of public documents took place. This certificate is referred to as the Apostille Certificate.

The Apostille Certificate

The certificate that is used to authenticate various public documents such as the Driving License’s copy, the passport copy, the business documents, the register’s extract, or the notarial attestation. An Apostille Certificate can only be issued for those documents which were issued in a country which is a part of the Apostille Convention and will be needed in some other country which is also a part of the Apostille Convention.

Apostille Certificate Accepting Countries

An apostille certificate can be issued only if a condition is fulfilled i.e.  Both the country in which the documents are needed  and the country in which the documents have been issued are members of the Apostille Convention. India has also adopted the Apostille Certificate as it is also a part of the Hague Convention. Our country is able to provide apostille documents if needed and can also ask for documents that have been apostilled from a country that has also adopted the Apostille Convention. The countries that have adopted the Apostille Convention are listed below:

●      Albania

●      Andorra

●      Antigua and Barbuda

●      Argentina

●      Armenia

●      Australia

●      Austria

●      Azerbaijan

●      Bahamas

●      Bahrain

●      Barbados

●      Belarus

●      Belgium

●      Belize

●      Bosnia and Herzegovina

●      Botswana

●      Brazil

●      Brunei Darussalam

●      Bulgaria

●      Burundi

●      Cape Verde

●      Chile

●      China, People’s Republic of

●      Colombia

●      Cook Islands

●      Costa Rica

●      Croatia

●      Cyprus

●      Czech Republic

●      Denmark

●      Dominica

●      Dominican Republic

●      Ecuador

●      El Salvador

●      Estonia

●      Fiji

●      Finland

●      France

●      Georgia

●      Germany

●      Greece

●      Grenada

●      Honduras

●      Hungary

●      Iceland

●      India

●      Ireland

●      IsraelTitle Page

●      Italy

●      Japan

●      Kazakhstan

●      Korea, Republic of

●      Kosovo

●      Kyrgyzstan

●      Latvia

●      Lesotho

●      Liberia

●      Liechtenstein

●      Lithuania

●      Luxembourg

●      Malawi

●      Malta

●      Marshall Islands

●      Mauritius

●      Mexico

●      Monaco

●      Mongolia

●      Montenegro

●      Morocco

●      Namibia

●      Netherlands

●      New Zealand

●      Nicaragua

●      Niue

●      Norway

●      Oman

●      Panama

●      Paraguay

●      Peru

●      Poland

●      Portugal

●      Republic of Moldova

●      Romania

●      Russian Federation

●      Saint Kitts and Nevis

●      Saint Lucia

●      Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

●      Samoa

●      San Marino

●      Sao Tome and Principe

●      Serbia

●      Seychelles

●      Slovakia

●      Slovenia

●      South Africa

●      Spain

●      Suriname

●      Swaziland

●      Sweden

●      Switzerland

●      Tajikistan

●      The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

●      Tonga

●      Trinidad and Tobago

●      Turkey

●      Ukraine

●      United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

●      United States of America

●      Uruguay

●      Uzbekistan

●      Vanuatu

●      Venezuela

Apostille Requirements to register a company

At the time of registering a company in India which involves foreign nationals, the signatures of subscribers and address or identity proofs are required by the Companies Act, 2013. These need to be notarized before a Notary Public of the concerned country and then will have to be apostilled according to the guidelines of the Hague Convention when both the foreign nationals avail the documents that are issued by one of the countries that have been mentioned above.

Conclusion

In this blog, we learnt about the Hague Convention Or the Apostille Convention and the Apostille Certificate. We also came to know about the various countries which accept the Apostille Certificate. And the need for Apostille at the time of registration of a company.