Single Status Certificate
Apostille in India
India does not issue a "single status certificate" as a civil record. What exists is a sworn affidavit — commonly called a bachelorhood or no-impediment affidavit — declaring that you are unmarried and free to marry. Knowing that up front saves people weeks of asking municipal offices for a document that does not exist. It is a private document, so it needs a notary before the SDM.
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 single status certificate 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 Single Status Certificate
Issuing Authority
Sworn by the deponent before a Notary Public. Some states additionally issue a certificate through the SDM or Tehsildar, which the destination may or may not require.
A single status certificate 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 Single Status Certificate
Notary Public
Same dayThe deponent swears the single-status affidavit before a Notary Public, who attests it and affixes their seal and register number.
Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM)
3–7 working daysThe SDM verifies the notary's signature and register entry and attests the affidavit.
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.
Single Status Certificate Apostille by State
The SDM is a district-level officer, so the office that pre-authenticates your single status certificate 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.
Single Status Certificate 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.
Single Status Certificate 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.
Single Status Certificate 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.
Single Status Certificate 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.
Single Status Certificate 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.
Single Status Certificate 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.
Single Status Certificate 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.
Single Status Certificate 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.
Single Status Certificate 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.
Single Status Certificate 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.
Single Status Certificate 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.
Single Status Certificate 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.
Single Status Certificate 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?
A sworn affidavit has no onboarded issuing authority behind it, so e-Sanad does not apply. The physical apostille 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 Single Status Certificate 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 Single Status Certificate
Marriage abroad
Civil registries in Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and elsewhere require proof that you are free to marry before they will schedule a ceremony.
Spouse visa after marrying abroad
Some immigration routes ask for the single-status document from before the marriage as part of establishing the marriage was validly contracted.
Religious ceremony requirements
Churches and other religious bodies abroad frequently ask for a no-impediment declaration in authenticated form.
Which Single Status Certificate 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.
Bachelorhood affidavit
The same instrument under a different name. Destination authorities use "single status", "bachelorhood", "no impediment" and "celibacy certificate" more or less interchangeably — what they are asking for is the sworn declaration.
Single status affidavit for marriage abroad
Foreign registries often specify wording: that you have never been married, or that a previous marriage ended and when. Get the requirement in writing from the registry before drafting, because redoing it means a second full run.
Divorced or widowed applicantOften rejected
The affidavit must state the prior marriage and how it ended, and the registry will usually want the apostilled divorce decree or death certificate alongside it. A bare "never married" declaration would be false and will unravel.
SDM- or Tehsildar-issued certificate
Some states issue a single-status certificate through a revenue officer. Where the destination specifically asks for a government-issued certificate rather than an affidavit, this is what they mean — tell us which one you were asked for.
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 single-status or bachelorhood affidavit on stamp paper
A photocopy of the deponent's passport (photo and address pages)
The written requirement from the foreign registry or embassy, where you have it — the wording they expect varies
Single Status Certificate Apostille — Common Questions
Does India issue a single status certificate?
How do I get a bachelorhood certificate apostilled?
What should a single status affidavit say?
How long is a single status certificate valid abroad?
Hague Convention figures verified against theHCCH status tableon 30 June 2026. Government fees from mea.gov.in, same date.
Ready to Apostille Your
Single Status Certificate?
₹2,100 per document, 3–7 working days processing. We check your document for free before you courier anything.
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