Attestation by ministry is must, Indian expats told

MUSCAT - It is mandatory for all Indian expatriates currently residing in Oman or planning residence in the sultanate to get documents issued in India attested by the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi or its designated authority in the states.

The Indian embassy said this was in the wake of both countries now becoming member states of the Apostille Convention. The new regulation comes into effect immediately. Documents that need to be attested include birth, death and marriage certificates, driving licences, affidavits, Power of Attorney, degrees, diplomas and matriculation and secondary school certificates. Documents already attested by authorities in India or the embassy of India in Muscat do not have to be attested again. The Ministry of External Affairs, the embassy said, is the nodal ministry for consular legalisation and apostille of documents for use abroad. The Attestation Cell in the ministry will accept pre-authenticated documents at its counters from 9.30am to 12.30pm on all working days — Monday to Friday, it added. The attested documents will be returned the same day between 4pm and 5.30pm. “All original documents requiring attestation/ apostille should be pre-authenticated by the designated agencies in the state from where the document has been issued. The Ministry of External Affairs, India attests/apostilles the documents on the basis of the signature of the designated signing authorities of the State Government/Union Territory/Chambers of Commerce,” the embassy said. The details of the Regional Authentication Centres (RACs) in the states/UTs from where the documents should first be authenticated are available at www.indemb-oman.org under ‘Consular Services’. “Only original documents are legalised/apostilled and not photo copies,” an embassy statement pointed out. In the case of personal documents, the Home Department and General Administration Department of the respective states are the designated authorities for pre-authentication. For educational documents, these should first be authenticated by the Education Department of the concerned state or UT. In the case of commercial documents, these must be pre-authenticated by the respective Chambers of Commerce in India before being attested by the Ministry of External Affairs. The following supporting documents must be submitted along with the original document: A photocopy of the document to be attested, a photocopy of the passport of the person whose document is to be attested. The fee is Rs50 for each document. The documents should be submitted personally or through an authorised representative.  “In no case, the documents may be sent for attestation/apostillisation by post/courier,” the embassy said. The documents attested by the Ministry of External Affairs of India and its designated authorities, it added, are no longer required to be submitted at the Embassy of India, Muscat for attestation. Similarly, documents issued by authorities in Oman to be used in India are now required to be attested by the Sultanate’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. These documents include experience and salary certificates, as well as commercial documents. “Once the documents are apostilled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Sultanate of Oman,” the embassy said, “there is no need for further attestation by the Embassy of India, Muscat”. 21 Feb 2012 http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2012/February/middleeast_February601.xml§ion=middleeast&col=