Authentication of Indian Documents for Use in the United States
This page provides information on how to authenticate an Indian document for use in the United States.
Documents issued in one country that need to be used in another country must be "authenticated" or "legalized" before they can be recognized as valid in the foreign country. This is a process in which various seals are placed on the document. Examples of such documents are court documents, birth, death and marriages records, educational documents, incorporation papers and other legal papers. Recently, India became a party to the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents ("Hague Legalization Convention"). Pursuant to the Hague Legalization Convention, Indian documents can be authenticated/legalized for use overseas by the issuance of an "apostille." (For more information on this subject, please see http://travel.state.gov/law/info/judicial/judicial_2545.html.)
The Attestations Office of the Ministry of External Affairs, Consular-Passport-Visa (CPV) Division, in New Delhi will be the central authority in India for issuing apostilles for Indian public documents. However, the Government of India is still determining the manner in which it will issue apostilles, and does not expect to begin doing so until some time in 2007. In the meantime, this sheet explains the process currently being used to authenticate/legalize Indian documents which will continue in the interim.
To legalize an Indian document, it must be presented to the following address in person:
Attestations Office
Ministry of External Affairs (CPV Division)
Patiala House, Tilak Marg (near India Gate)
New Delhi - 110 001
Tel. +91-11-2338-7931
The office's hours for dropping off documents are 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m., Monday through Friday (excluding Indian public holidays). Documents generally are ready for pick-up within two hours. In some cases, a document issued by an Indian state government must be first authenticated by the Home Department or NRI Department of that particular state before it can be legalized by the Ministry of External Affairs. Inquiries on the names and locations of Indian state Home/NRI Department offices can be obtained by calling the Ministry of External Affairs at 2338-7931.
After the document is legalized by the MEA-CPV Attestations Office, it can be presented to the American Citizen Services Unit of the U.S. Embassy for authentication of the Attestation Officer's Signature. The cost of this service is $30 per document. After this final step, the document is legalized/authenticated for use in the United States.