Apostille is a certificate which verifies and confirms the seal and signature of person who authenticates the document. There are designated authorities in every country to issue apostille certificates or legalization. Apostilles are commonly issued for various documents related to adoption cases, for commercial documents, for educational documents and for court records, land records, school documents and patent applications.
Not all countries can issue apostille, but only the countries who had signed ‘Hague agreement for abolishing the need for public documents’. Once apostille is obtained, it is automatically considered ‘valid’ and ‘acceptable’ in all the 98 hague convention countries.
The following are considered as public deeds within the meaning of that Hague Convention:
· Any document issued by an authority or by an official covered by a jurisdiction of the State, including those coming from the public prosecutor, a clerk of the court or a bailiff;
· Administrative documents such as deeds from the public records office;
· Notarial deeds;
· Official declarations such as references of registration, visas for a set date and certifications of signature, applied to private agreements.

Procedure for apostille of Indian documents are as follows:

EDUCATIONAL DOCUMENTS

1. Home department Authentication (HRD)
2. Apostille Sticker from Ministry of External Affairs (MEA)

NON EDUCATIONAL DOCUMENTS

1. Subdivisional magistrate
2. Apostille sticker from Ministy of External Affairs