MEA Apostille for Indian Personal Documents
via the SDM Route
Documents issued in India, apostilled for use abroad. We route through the Sub-Divisional Magistrate because it takes 3–7 days instead of the State Home Department's 10–20+, and we deposit with the MEA through an authorised collection channel — because the Ministry accepts nothing directly from an individual.
All-in price
₹2,100per document
Processing
3–7 working days
plus courier transit
Documents issued in the United States instead?That is the other direction — we do both.
Will an Apostille Even Work for Your Destination?
An apostille is valid only in Hague Convention countries. Ordering one for a country that is not a party means paying for a document that gets rejected on arrival. This takes five seconds.
An apostille is only valid for Hague Convention countries — 130 of them as of 30 June 2026. Everywhere else needs embassy attestation instead, which is a different and longer process. Check before you order, not after.
130 Contracting Parties, verified against the HCCH status table on 30 June 2026. Status is calculated against today's date, so a country whose accession has not yet taken effect shows as pending until the day it does.
The SDM Route, and Why We Default To It
Notary
Only for privately-made documents — affidavits, powers of attorney, employer letters, certified copies. Government-issued certificates skip this entirely.
SDM
The Sub-Divisional Magistrate verifies the issuing authority or the notary and pre-authenticates the document. 3–7 working days.
MEA
The apostille sticker with its QR code, affixed by the Ministry of External Affairs. Deposited through an authorised collection channel. 1–2 working days.
| Pre-authentication route | Typical time | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| SDM Our default | 3–7 days | Standard for personal documents |
| State Home Department | 10–20+ days | Where a destination or institution requires it |
That 2–4× difference is a choice we make on your behalf, not a technicality. The caveat matters though: some destination countries and some receiving institutions specifically require Home Department attestation, and getting it wrong means running the whole process again. Tell us the destination and the receiving institution when you order and we confirm the route before anything is submitted.More on the SDM route.
Why You Need an Agency for the Last Step
"No document is directly accepted from individuals at the Ministry of External Affairs Counter."
— mea.gov.in
This is the single most under-used fact in this market, and it changes how you should think about the whole process. You can obtain your own document. You can get it notarised. You can walk it through the SDM yourself. What you cannot do is hand it to the MEA — since the collection function was outsourced, documents reach the Ministry only through a small number of authorised agencies.
That reframes an agency from an optional middleman into a necessary channel. It is also why the "can I just do this myself?" question deserves a straight answer rather than a sales pitch:yes for most of it, no for the last step.
Our position
We deposit through an MEA-authorised collection channel. The fact that the Ministry outsources collection to a small number of authorised agencies is published on mea.gov.in and you can verify it there. What we will not do is imply we are something we are not — the ₹84 collection fee appears on your invoice at cost, exactly as the government sets it.
The 13 Personal Documents We Apostille
One flat price of ₹2,100 for any of them, whatever the page count.
Birth Certificate
SDM → MEA
Marriage Certificate
SDM → MEA
Police Clearance Certificate (PCC)
SDM → MEA
Death Certificate
SDM → MEA
Affidavit
Notary → SDM → MEA
Single Status Certificate
Notary → SDM → MEA
Power of Attorney
Notary → SDM → MEA
Divorce Decree
SDM → MEA
Domicile Certificate
SDM → MEA
Medical Certificate
Notary → SDM → MEA
Adoption Deed
SDM → MEA
Experience Certificate
Notary → SDM → MEA
Passport & ID Copy
Notary → SDM → MEA
What we do not do as standing business
- · State Home Department route (where a destination or institution requires it)
- · Educational documents via State HRD
- · Commercial documents via Chamber of Commerce
These are quoted on request rather than listed at a price we have not costed. And we do not do embassy attestation for non-Hague destinations at all — see apostille vs attestation.
What It Costs — Itemised, Ungated
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 costs | At cost |
Where We Work
Hyderabad
Doorstep pickup — our base
Delhi
Tracked courier
Mumbai
Tracked courier
Bangalore
Tracked courier
Chennai
Tracked courier
Pune
Tracked courier
We serve all of India by tracked courier. Doorstep collection is offered in Hyderabad, where we are actually based — and nowhere else, because we are not going to claim a pickup we could not turn up for.
The Numbers on This Page Are Checkable
There are 130 Hague Apostille Convention Contracting Parties as of 30 June 2026. India acceded on 26 October 2004 and the Convention entered into force for India on 14 July 2005.
Both figures are verified against theHCCH status table for Convention No. 12, and the party count is asserted against our own country data at build time — if the two ever disagree, this site fails to build rather than publishing a wrong number.
We are specific about this because the published figures across this industry are not. Counts of 105, 106, 114, 117, 120 and 124 are all in circulation, and one widely-cited guide states that India has been a signatory "since 1961" — the date of the Convention itself, not of India's accession, and wrong by more than four decades. If a provider has the party count wrong, that tells you something about the rest of what they are telling you.
MEA Apostille — Common Questions
What is MEA apostille?
Can I apostille documents myself in India?
Does the MEA accept documents directly from individuals?
How much does apostille cost in India?
How long does MEA apostille take?
Is an Indian apostille valid in all countries?
When did India join the Hague Apostille Convention?
Which authority attests personal documents before the MEA apostille?
Indian Documents,
Accepted Abroad.
₹2,100 per document, 3–7 working days processing. We check your document and your destination for free before you send anything.
Start on WhatsApp2-hour response · Mon–Sat 9AM–8PM IST