Adoption Deed
Apostille in India
Adoption documents come in two forms in India — a registered deed under the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, and a court order under the Juvenile Justice Act. Which one you hold matters, because foreign immigration authorities are often specific, and inter-country adoption carries its own statutory process through CARA that sits well outside an apostille. We will tell you plainly if what you need is not something an apostille can deliver.
All-in price
₹2,100per document
Processing
3–7 working days
plus courier transit
Check this first
An apostille only works for Hague Convention countries.
There are 130 Contracting Parties as of 30 June 2026. If your adoption deed is going to the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt, Malaysia, Iraq or Iran, an apostille is not valid — you need embassy attestation instead, which is a different process. Check your destination before you order.
Check your destination countryWho Issues an Indian Adoption Deed
Issuing Authority
Sub-Registrar, for a registered deed under the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956; or the competent court, for an adoption order under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015
A adoption deed issued by this authority is a public document, which means it goes straight to the Sub-Divisional Magistrate for pre-authentication — no notary step.
How the SDM Route Works for a Adoption Deed
Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM)
3–7 working daysThe SDM verifies the Sub-Registrar's or court's seal and the signature of the issuing officer, and attests the document.
Ministry of External Affairs
1–2 working days after depositThe MEA verifies the SDM signature against its records and affixes the apostille sticker with its QR code. The MEA accepts no document directly from an individual, so we deposit through an MEA-authorised collection channel.
Does a Adoption Deed need notarisation first?
No. A adoption deed issued by Sub-Registrar is a public document, so the SDM attests it directly and no Notary Public is involved. Notarisation applies to privately-made documents — affidavits, powers of attorney, employer letters and certified copies — where there is no government signature for the SDM to verify. If an agency tells you your adoption deed must be notarised first, ask them why.
SDM or State Home Department?
Personal documents can be pre-authenticated by either the SDM or the State Home Department. We default to the SDM because it is materially faster, and because the slower route rarely buys the customer anything. The exception matters though: some destination countries and some receiving institutions specifically require Home Department attestation, and getting that wrong means running the whole process again.
| Pre-authentication authority | Typical time | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| SDM Our default | 3–7 days | The standard route for personal documents |
| State Home Department | 10–20+ days | Where a destination or institution specifically requires it |
Tell us the destination country and the receiving institution when you order and we will confirm which route yours needs before anything is submitted. If it needs the Home Department, we will say so — quoted on request.
Adoption Deed Apostille by State
The SDM is a district-level officer, so the office that pre-authenticates your adoption deed follows the district where it was issued — not where you live now. The Home Department alternative is state-level. Both routes end at the same MEA counter, and our price is the same from every state.
Adoption Deed Apostille in Telangana
- Issued by
- GHMC or the relevant municipality / gram panchayat
- Home Department route
- General Administration Department, Government of Telangana (Hyderabad)
Hyderabad births are registered by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation. A hospital-issued discharge slip is not a birth certificate and cannot be apostilled — the GHMC-issued certificate is the one that can.
Adoption Deed Apostille in Andhra Pradesh
- Issued by
- The municipal corporation, municipality or gram panchayat of registration
- Home Department route
- General Administration Department, Government of Andhra Pradesh (Amaravati)
Records for births before the 2014 bifurcation may sit with the authority in the district as it then stood. Tell us the district and year and we will confirm which office holds it.
Adoption Deed Apostille in Maharashtra
- Issued by
- BMC in Mumbai; the relevant municipal corporation or gram panchayat elsewhere
- Home Department route
- Home Department, Government of Maharashtra (Mumbai)
Mumbai civil records are issued by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. Documents registered in Pune, Nagpur or Nashik follow their own corporations, not BMC.
Adoption Deed Apostille in Karnataka
- Issued by
- BBMP in Bengaluru; the relevant municipal body elsewhere
- Home Department route
- Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms, Government of Karnataka (Bengaluru)
Bengaluru records come from the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike. Degrees from Karnataka universities take the HRD route rather than the SDM route — that is a different service, quoted on request.
Adoption Deed Apostille in Tamil Nadu
- Issued by
- Greater Chennai Corporation, or the municipality / panchayat of registration
- Home Department route
- Public (Political) Department, Government of Tamil Nadu (Chennai)
Tamil Nadu civil records are commonly issued in Tamil. Where the receiving authority abroad requires English, a certified translation is needed — the apostille does not translate anything.
Adoption Deed Apostille in Kerala
- Issued by
- The local self-government body — corporation, municipality or panchayat
- Home Department route
- General Administration (Political) Department, Government of Kerala (Thiruvananthapuram)
Kerala has among the highest volumes of documents going abroad, much of it to Gulf states. Several of those — the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait — are not Hague parties, so an apostille has no effect there and embassy attestation is required instead.
Adoption Deed Apostille in Gujarat
- Issued by
- The municipal corporation or gram panchayat of registration
- Home Department route
- Home Department, Government of Gujarat (Gandhinagar)
Documents issued in Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara each come from their own municipal corporation. Confirm which body issued yours before ordering a fresh copy.
Adoption Deed Apostille in Punjab
- Issued by
- The municipal corporation, council or gram panchayat of registration
- Home Department route
- Department of Home Affairs and Justice, Government of Punjab (Chandigarh)
Chandigarh is a Union Territory administered separately from Punjab and Haryana. If your document was issued in Chandigarh itself, the UT administration holds it, not the Punjab department.
Adoption Deed Apostille in Haryana
- Issued by
- The municipal corporation or gram panchayat of registration
- Home Department route
- Home Department, Government of Haryana (Chandigarh)
Gurugram and Faridabad records come from their own municipal corporations. As with Punjab, documents issued in Chandigarh itself follow the UT administration.
Adoption Deed Apostille in Uttar Pradesh
- Issued by
- The Nagar Nigam, Nagar Palika or gram panchayat of registration
- Home Department route
- Home Department, Government of Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow)
Late-registered births are common in UP and the certificate will say so. That does not prevent an apostille, but some receiving authorities ask for supporting evidence alongside it — tell us if yours is late-registered.
Adoption Deed Apostille in Rajasthan
- Issued by
- The municipal corporation, council or gram panchayat of registration
- Home Department route
- Home Department, Government of Rajasthan (Jaipur)
Rajasthan issues many civil records in Hindi. Where the destination requires English, budget for a certified translation in addition to the apostille.
Adoption Deed Apostille in Madhya Pradesh
- Issued by
- The Nagar Nigam, Nagar Palika or gram panchayat of registration
- Home Department route
- Home Department, Government of Madhya Pradesh (Bhopal)
Indore and Bhopal records come from their own municipal corporations. Documents from smaller districts follow the local body that registered them.
Adoption Deed Apostille in West Bengal
- Issued by
- Kolkata Municipal Corporation, or the municipality / panchayat of registration
- Home Department route
- Home and Hill Affairs Department, Government of West Bengal (Kolkata)
Kolkata civil records are issued by the KMC. Bengali-language certificates need a certified translation where the destination requires English.
We do not publish state office addresses here because they change and a stale address is worse than none — check the current one on your state portal, or just send the document to us and we will route it. Stamp-paper values and notary charges are set by the state and vary; we confirm those at order.
What about e-Sanad?
Registered deeds and court orders are generally not e-Sanad documents. Assume the physical route.
e-Sanad is the government's own free platform for digitally verifying documents from onboarded issuing authorities. Where it covers your document and your destination accepts it, it is genuinely the better option and we will tell you so. It is not a replacement for a physical apostille sticker in most cases.
What a Adoption Deed Apostille Costs
Government feesAt cost MEA apostille ₹50 + authorised-channel collection ₹84 + scanning ₹3/page | ₹143 |
Veritas service fee SDM pre-authentication, authorised-channel deposit, handling and tracking | ₹1,957 |
| Total per document | ₹2,100 |
Courier Quoted before payment, charged at what it actually costs | At cost |
The same ₹2,100 applies to every personal document we handle, whatever its page count. Most sites in this market either publish no figure at all or put their calculator behind an email form — on searches where the whole intent is to find out what it costs. Government fees are reproduced from mea.gov.in and passed through at cost. See the full charges breakdown.
Why People Apostille a Adoption Deed
Dependent visa for an adopted child
Immigration authorities require authenticated proof of the legal relationship before a dependent visa or residence permit is granted.
Foreign citizenship and passport applications
Establishing parentage for a passport or citizenship claim abroad requires the apostilled adoption document.
School admission and guardianship abroad
Foreign schools and authorities asking for proof of legal guardianship need it in authenticated form.
Which Adoption Deed Do You Actually Have?
This is where applications fail, and it is almost never the apostille itself. Find your case below before you courier anything — a rejected document costs a full second run, not a correction.
Registered deed under HAMA, 1956
A deed executed and registered before a Sub-Registrar. Routes through the SDM on the strength of the Sub-Registrar's seal.
Court adoption order under the JJ Act, 2015
A certified copy issued under court seal. This is what most foreign authorities expect where the adoption went through a formal process.
Inter-country adoptionOften rejected
Inter-country adoption from India runs through CARA under a separate statutory process, and the documentation it produces is not something an apostille substitutes for. If that is your situation, tell us — we would rather say so than sell you a step that does not help.
Deed without registrationOften rejected
An unregistered adoption deed has no Sub-Registrar seal for the SDM to verify and will generally not be accepted. Registration comes first.
Not sure which you have? Send photos on WhatsApp — we check before you courier anything, and we will tell you if the answer is that we cannot help.
What to Send Us
The original registered adoption deed, or a certified copy of the court adoption order under seal
Photocopies of the adoptive parents' passports
The child's birth certificate, where the receiving authority asks for the set together
Adoption Deed Apostille — Common Questions
Can an adoption deed be apostilled in India?
Does an adoption deed need notarisation before apostille?
Is an apostille enough for an inter-country adoption?
Hague Convention figures verified against theHCCH status tableon 30 June 2026. Government fees from mea.gov.in, same date.
Ready to Apostille Your
Adoption Deed?
₹2,100 per document, 3–7 working days processing. We check your document for free before you courier anything.
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