Does every document used abroad need an apostille?

No. It depends on the document, the two countries and the receiving organisation. Some documents need the longer attestation chain instead, and some need no authentication at all — a university that asked only for a certified translation means only that.

Does an apostille certify my translation?

No. It authenticates the origin of the public document. Translation requirements are set separately by the receiving organisation, and you need to ask them about both.

Should I translate before or after the apostille?

There is no universal answer, which is why we ask you to check. The common case is that the original is apostilled and the translation accompanies it, but some authorities want the apostille itself included in the translation, which means translating afterwards.

Can you issue the apostille?

No — apostilles are issued by the Ministry of External Affairs, and nobody else can issue one. What we do is translate the document, tell you which route applies, and where you ask us to, run the document through the notarisation and authentication steps, passing the official fees through at cost.

The translation is quoted on the document. Notarisation, apostille and attestation are quoted separately because they carry third-party and government fees, and we show those separately rather than folding them into one number.

How long does it take?

We will commit to a date for the translation. For the authentication chain we will give you a realistic range and tell you which steps we do not control, because guaranteeing a government office's schedule is not something anyone can honestly do.

Will the receiving organisation accept it?

That decision is theirs, and no agency can promise it. We prepare the document to the instructions you give us, and we will tell you when those instructions look wrong before you pay.

Apostille and document attestation

An apostille is narrower than people expect

An apostille certifies three things about a public document: that the signature on it is genuine, that the person who signed held the capacity they claim, and that the seal or stamp is what it appears to be.

It certifies nothing else. It does not confirm that the contents of the document are true, and it says nothing whatever about a translation attached to it. This is worth being precise about, because customers regularly arrive believing an apostille is a general-purpose stamp of validity that will carry a translation along with it. It is not. Our guide to how apostille works in India walks through the full process step by step; this page covers the part we handle.

Two different routes, decided by the destination

Both apostille and attestation answer the same question for a foreign government: is this Indian document genuine? They answer it in different ways, and which one applies is determined entirely by the country the document is going to.

Apostille is a single certificate issued by the Ministry of External Affairs. India has been party to the Hague Apostille Convention since 2005, which means an apostille issued here is recognised by every other member country without further steps. One certificate, one authority, done.

Embassy attestation is the route for countries outside the Convention. Instead of one certificate, the document passes through a chain: state-level authentication, then the Ministry of External Affairs, then the embassy or consulate of the destination country itself. More steps, more fees, considerably more time.

You do not get to choose between them. Check whether your destination country is a Hague Convention member, and that determines the route. Many Gulf countries, which are a very common destination for Indian documents, are outside the Convention and require the embassy chain.

Four different things, routinely called by each other’s names

Translation converts the text into another language. The receiving organisation may specify the language direction, the format, and who is permitted to certify it.

Notarisation is a notary witnessing a signature and recording it. It confirms who signed. It does not confirm that a translation is accurate, and an Indian notary is not a sworn translator.

Apostille authenticates the origin of a public document for use in another Convention country, on the narrow terms described above.

Attestation or legalisation is the longer authentication route used where apostille does not apply. What the chain consists of depends on both countries.

These stack rather than compete, and being asked for one when you need another is the most common way money gets wasted here. Our guide to certified, notarised or apostilled works through how to tell which your authority means.

Which documents this applies to

Personal and civil documents — birth, marriage and death certificates, police clearance certificates, affidavits, powers of attorney. What is required depends on whether the document was issued by a public authority or executed privately, which decides the route described below.

Educational documents — degree and diploma certificates, marksheets, transcripts. Some destinations and some issuing institutions bring in state-level verification before the Ministry will act, and universities differ in how quickly they respond to it. The Ministry also operates e-Sanad, an online route for documents from issuing authorities that have been onboarded to it; whether your university participates is worth checking before assuming the paper route.

Commercial and other documents — company records, board resolutions, commercial invoices. Tell us the document type, the issuing authority and the destination and we will tell you what we can establish about the route.

These are illustrations rather than a promise that every document is eligible. Eligibility is determined by the competent authority, not by us.

Where the translation fits

This is the part that trips people up, and getting the order wrong is expensive.

For most purposes, the original document is authenticated, not the translation. The apostille or attestation is applied to the Indian-issued certificate, and the translation accompanies it. If you translate first and authenticate the translation instead of the original, you may have to start again.

There are exceptions. Some authorities want the translation itself authenticated, which means it must first be notarised, then state-authenticated, then apostilled — the chain described below. Others want the original apostilled and then everything translated together, apostille included, because the apostille certificate is itself in English and sometimes in another language.

The sequence depends on your destination’s requirements. Ask them, in writing if possible, and tell us the answer. We will not guess at this, because a wrong guess here costs weeks rather than rupees.

The chain for privately issued documents

A translation is a privately issued document, as are affidavits and commercial papers. The Ministry does not apostille these directly. The sequence is notarisation first, then authentication by the relevant state authority, and only then apostille by the Ministry.

Government-issued documents — a birth certificate from a municipal authority, a degree from a recognised university — follow a different and usually shorter path, because the issuing authority is already official.

How the process runs

Tell us the destination and the document. The country, the organisation receiving it, the document type, and the language it needs to be in. If the recipient gave you written instructions, send those too — they settle more questions than anything else.
Send a clear photograph or scan. Every page, edges included, both sides. Do not post an original to anyone, us included, until it has been confirmed that an original is needed.
We confirm the route and quote. You get a written quotation, an estimated delivery date, and a statement of which steps we carry out and which are handled by a government office or a third party.
You approve before anything starts. Including any official or third-party fees, which we pass through at cost rather than marking up.
We do the agreed work and hand it back. The apostille certificate itself is issued by the Ministry of External Affairs — that part is never ours to grant, whoever runs the document through the office.

What changes the shape of all this: the document’s category and issuing authority; whether the destination takes apostille or the longer chain; whether the receiving organisation wants the translation authenticated as well; whether an original or a certified copy is required; and the current workload of whichever offices are involved.

Timelines, honestly

The translation is the fast part. The authentication chain is not, and it is not under our control: it depends on government office schedules, on state-level processing, and for embassy attestation on the specific mission’s current workload, which varies substantially between countries and across the year.

Anyone quoting you a guaranteed turnaround on the full chain is guessing. What we will do is tell you the realistic range, tell you which steps are the uncertain ones, and flag early if your deadline looks unachievable — while there is still time for you to make other arrangements.

Before you pay anyone

Go back to whoever asked for the document and get the requirement in writing. “Attested” is used loosely, and it is worth five minutes to establish whether they mean apostille, embassy attestation, notarisation, or simply a certified translation. We would rather send you back to ask than sell you a process you did not need.

Last reviewed September 2026. Requirements are set by the receiving authority and can change — confirm with them before you order.