The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) | What is Hrd?

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is the primary government entity in India responsible for the administration of international affairs. The MEA is also responsible for authenticating documents issued by India. During the legalisation procedure, all sorts of papers (personal, educational, and commercial) must be authenticated (stamped) by the MEA.

However, MEA is not the initial step in the authentication process; papers must first be legalised by the competent government. For example, in the case of educational papers, the document must first be certified by the respective state education department, and in the case of personal documents, the document must first be attested by the applicable home department before being attested by the MEA. UAE Embassy Attestation

What exactly is MEA Attestation?

MEA (Ministry of External Affairs) attestation is the most precious stamp on the papers and will be done only after the required documents have been examined and confirmed by the different authorities in the state where the certificate was granted. In the event of personal papers, the General Administration Department/Home Department is the appropriate authority. In the case of educational papers, it must first be attested by the HRD of the relevant state, union, or government territory. An MEA deals with everything foreign-related, hence its duty is for applicants who need to verify their papers in/from India to show the legitimacy of the certificates/documents. The External Affairs Department in Delhi was once in charge of centralised attestation, but it is now decentralised.

What is the purpose of MEA Attestation?

MEA attestation is necessary for a variety of purposes, including work visas, student visas, and resident visas; doing business from a foreign nation, among others.

If the papers are not certified for validity, it may be difficult or impossible to remain in a foreign nation.

MEA attestation is the process of confirming the validity of a document and announcing its authenticity by appending the signature of the verifying staff to it.

Procedure for MEA Attestation

MEA (Ministry of External Affairs) attestation is the last step of authentication in which the supplied papers are stamped with a MEA stamp or an Apostille sticker to complete the attestation procedure.

However, before the MEA authenticates the papers, they must first be authenticated by the relevant authorities/departments of the State Governments/Union Territories from whence the documents were issued, depending on whether they are personal, educational, or commercial. The steps are outlined below:

This is the first step of the certificate authentication process. Legalization may be done at the regional level by the notary or the university where the papers were issued, or by the Chamber of Commerce for commercial documents.

State level: Documents issued by the state department or state-registered organisation, such as educational, commercial, or personal certificates/degrees, must be attested by the State Home Department (SHD), Human Resource Department (HRD), and the Sub-Divisional Magistrate in order to be used in another country (SDM).

Central level (MEA): As previously said, MEA (Ministry of External Affairs) attestation is the last step of authentication in which the supplied papers will have an MEA stamp or sticker in order to complete the attestation process and be used in another nation.

What is the difference between MEA Normal Attestation and Apostille?

Apostille and normal attestation are both methods of authenticating papers in order for them to be used in another nation.

What exactly is an Apostille?

The legalisation of papers necessary prior to submission to a foreign authority that is a signatory to the Hague Convention. As evidence of authenticity, an apostille sticker is placed on the papers, which includes information such as the applicant’s name, issuing officer’s name, date of issue, an apostille stamp, and others. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), which is in charge of India’s international affairs, handles the apostille procedure.

What exactly is Normal Attestation?

Document attestation is necessary for nations that are not signatories to the Hague Convention, such as China, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and others. This legalisation procedure includes receiving an MEA stamp on the document as well as having the document validated by the corresponding Indian embassy. Saudi Embassy Attestation