How do you apostille and prepare documents for India in 2026?

If the issuing country is a Hague Apostille party, obtain the Apostille from that country’s competent authority before you rely on the paper with an Indian employer, international school, or FRRO desk. Non-Hague origins generally need consular legalisation paths that the issuing state and the Indian receiving office describe for that document type.

Employment and professional files often ask for authenticated degrees and transcripts: Get a work permit and Apply for a residence permit. Dependant and spouse routes need birth or marriage certificates that match passport spellings. International schools may request the same civil trail: International school costs. Some state RTO conversion packs want certified licence translations: Convert a driving licence.

MEA apostille applies to Indian public documents such as birth, death, and marriage certificates, affidavits, powers of attorney, and educational certificates issued in India that you need abroad. e-Sanad is the online channel; MEA has also routed physical intake through designated outsourced agencies with separate handling fees on top of the published MEA apostille charge.

Do not reverse the lanes. A foreign public document already apostilled by another Convention country should be accepted in India without a second MEA stamp. Banks and landlords still run their own KYC rules after immigration stamps: Open a bank account and the wider paperwork after moving chain.

English helps at metro counters, yet Hindi or local-script forms still appear on some state desks: Hindi bureaucracy without Hindi. Keep one folder with matching spellings across passport, Apostille, lease, and FRRO registration.