Difference Between Legalization, Authentication And Attestation

By Author: Naman Vohra
Total Articles: 133
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Ever heard about terms like attestation, legalization and apostille? Do you know about these processes? Can you distinguish between?
Majority of people have either not heard all of these terms, or are confused about them. If we go by the definitions, then authentication would be referred to as the procedure of verification of a document's or certificate's official nature. Authentication of a document ensures acceptance at its face value on a foreign land.

On the other hand, confirmation of the genuineness of a seal or stamp or signature on a document by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is regarded as legalization. The legalization process also verifies the capacity in which the signatory entity has signed the document. Both legalization and authentication in no way speak for the accuracy of the content of a document.

Furthermore, attestation is the process of providing a witness to a signature on a document by another signature to verify the document has been duly signed by the entities bound by the document's contents.
Requirements of authentication and legalization are present in the countries that ...
... are not included in the Hague Convention, i.e. they are non-members of the Convention. Same is the case with attestation. However, among all the three processes, attestation is a procedure most preferred by countries.

As per the guidelines laid out by General Administration Department (GAD) of India, the country processes requests for authentication only for educational documents. Mark sheets is one exception made in the list of educational documents eligible for authentication which means that authentication requests for this sort of documents is not accepted.
On the contrary of authentication processes and requirements, attestation requests are processed on both educational as well as non-educational documents. However, in case of attestation, commercial documents like trust deeds etc. have been kept out of the purview of attestation process.

Attestation process involves few steps. The process of document attestation starts with sending the document Maharashtra's notary. This should be followed by taking the document to the Mantralaye and later to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). Finally, after receiving accreditation from all the above bodies by way of stamps or seal or signature on the document, it has to be sent to foreign country's embassy in India.

It is important to be aware of such concepts that can hold relevance sooner or later in our lives. While awareness of the concepts is a good thing, knowing the difference between them indicates clarity on the concepts later, when a person would have to get his documents attested, authenticated or legalized, he would hold an edge over others, all thanks to his awareness.

~Naman is associated with a leading Gulf Attestation & Apostille company which specializes in Document Attestation & Apostille services