Affidavit
Apostille in India
An affidavit is the one document on this list that you create rather than obtain, which makes it the one where the drafting matters as much as the route. It is a private document, so it must be sworn before a Notary Public before the SDM will touch it — and if the wording does not say what the receiving authority abroad needs it to say, a perfectly valid apostille will still not get you what you wanted.
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 affidavit 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 Affidavit
Issuing Authority
Sworn by the deponent before a Notary Public, on stamp paper of the value required by the state
A affidavit is a privately-made document, not a government record. That is why it must be attested by a Notary Public before the SDM will pre-authenticate it. Skipping that step is the most common reason a first attempt fails.
How the SDM Route Works for a Affidavit
Notary Public
Same dayThe deponent signs the affidavit before a Notary Public, who attests it and affixes their notarial seal and register number. Use stamp paper of the value your state requires.
Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM)
3–7 working daysThe SDM verifies the notary's signature and register entry, and attests the document. This is the step that converts a private paper into something the MEA can act on.
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.
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.
Affidavit Apostille by State
The SDM is a district-level officer, so the office that pre-authenticates your affidavit 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.
Affidavit 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.
Affidavit 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.
Affidavit 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.
Affidavit 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.
Affidavit 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.
Affidavit 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.
Affidavit 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.
Affidavit 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.
Affidavit 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.
Affidavit 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.
Affidavit 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.
Affidavit 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.
Affidavit 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?
e-Sanad works from records held by an onboarded issuing authority. An affidavit has no issuing authority — it is your own sworn statement — so it is not an e-Sanad case. The physical route is the 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 Affidavit 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 |
Notarisation Required for this document before the SDM stage | Quoted at order |
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 Affidavit
Single status for marriage abroad
The most common affidavit we apostille — see the dedicated single-status page for the specifics of that wording.
Name change and identity declarations
Declaring that two spellings refer to the same person, or that a name has changed, for a foreign bank, employer or registry.
Financial support and sponsorship
Sponsors declaring financial support for a student or dependent visa are often asked for an apostilled affidavit.
Date-of-birth and relationship declarations
Used where a civil record is missing or inconsistent, typically alongside an NABC or a school leaving certificate.
Which Affidavit 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.
Affidavit format for apostille
There is no single official format, and that is exactly why applications fail. What matters is that the affidavit states the facts the receiving authority asked for, names the deponent as they appear on the passport, and is sworn before a notary. Send us the requirement in writing from the destination and we will tell you whether the draft covers it.
Stamp paper value
Set by the state where the affidavit is sworn, not by the destination. An affidavit on stamp paper of insufficient value can be refused at the notary or SDM stage.
Affidavit sworn abroadOften rejected
An affidavit sworn before a notary outside India is not an Indian public document and cannot be apostilled by the MEA. It has to be apostilled in the country where it was sworn.
Unsigned or undated affidavitOften rejected
Sounds obvious, and it is still one of the more common reasons a set comes back. The deponent must sign in the notary's presence, and the date must be present on both the affidavit and the notarial endorsement.
Affidavit Format for Apostille (free PDF)
The structure an Indian affidavit needs to clear the notary, SDM and MEA steps — with a worked single-status specimen and the eight things the chain actually checks.
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 notarised affidavit on stamp paper, signed by the deponent
A photocopy of the deponent's passport (photo and address pages)
Any supporting document the affidavit refers to, where the receiving authority asks for it
Affidavit Apostille — Common Questions
Does an affidavit need to be notarised before apostille in India?
What format should an affidavit take for apostille?
How long does an affidavit apostille take?
Can I apostille an affidavit I wrote myself?
Hague Convention figures verified against theHCCH status tableon 30 June 2026. Government fees from mea.gov.in, same date.
Ready to Apostille Your
Affidavit?
₹2,100 per document, 3–7 working days processing. We check your document for free before you courier anything.
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