Famously dubbed as the Giant of Africa’, Nigeria is a one of the richest countries of Africa. Nigeria is one of the most diverse countries of Africa which offers everything in abundance to its visitors. Whether you are exploring its stunning landscape, ancient cities or the spiritual sights, Nigeria leaves you mesmerized with its vibrance. Including some of the most diverse ethnicity in Africa, a trip to this nation is sure to provide visitors with a varied and multicultural travel experience. Besides its abundant natural resources, Nigeria has an emerging market with expanding manufacturing, technology and tourism sectors. This diverse nation has the largest economy of Africa and is growing exponentially in various sectors. With a business-oriented capital, Nigeria attracts a lot of aspirants across the world who wishes to take the advantage of the thriving opportunities it offers. Traveling to Nigeria for business purposes however is not a straightforward path. One has to go through a plethora of legal formalities specified by the Nigerian government Nigerian government for all it visitors. A person is permitted to travel to the country only after they get their commercial documents attested by the Nigerian embassy.
Are you someone traveling to Nigeria for business purposes? Are you confused about the process through which you can get all your documents verified by the Nigerian embassy?
Here is all you must know about embassy attestation:
Nigeria embassy Attestation is the process of getting all your commercial documents attested by the official of Nigerian embassy. It is a type of legalisation process where the embassy official after verifying your documents issues their stamp or signature at the back of the document. This process is a mandatory legal formality specified by the Nigerian government for all its visitors.
The primary reason of attestation is to provide all your commercial documents a legal status. The attestation of your documents is necessary to claim that you are a legal person traveling for legal reasons. Once the documents are attested by a credible authority, they can be used for various purposes without any legal barrier.
The attestation process of commercial document attestation for Nigeria is carried on by the officials of the native country and the embassy of Nigeria. It is carried out in following stages:
Your journey to document attestation begins with submission of your commercial documents at SPS. Once the client’s original documents are submitted, it is the responsibility of the team at SPS to submit them at all the concerned authorities including Chamber of commerce, MEA and embassy and get them attested by all.
Chamber of Commerce Attestation
The Chamber Of Commerce Attestation is the crucial step before the MEA attestation to get the commercial document verification. It is a local business association that verifies all your commercial documents and attest them with their stamp. The stamp by this credible authority is placed at the back of the documents that grant an authentic status to the documents.
MEA Attestation
After the documents are verified by the local business association, all your commercial documents go straight to the Ministry of External Affairs for attestation. This is the last level of verification by the native government after which the documents goes straight to the Nigeria embassy. The documents at this stage gets attested once the MEA issues their stamp at the back of the documents
The last step of verification is the attestation by the Nigeria embassy. The officials of the respective country verifies the documents and after they are satisfied issues their stamp or signature on the documents. After this final embassy attestation, all your commercial documents are authenticated and can be treated as valid in the country. The embassy attestation gives a final green signal to travel to Nigeria without any legal barriers.
The entire attestation process of your commercial documents is a lengthy procedure carried out in different stages. Going through the entire process can be overwhelming for a person to complete on their own. Therefore to facilitate things for you, our platform SPS provides all kind of attestation services you need for your commercial documents.
By providing the best and unmatched support services to our clients.
We at SPS have a team of talented professionals who thrive to simplify the entire attestation process for the clients. We acknowledge and understand the importance of getting your documents verified on time. Therefore our team at SPS pour all their efforts to ensure that the complete attestation process is carried out without any barrier. When you already have a ton of things to handle for establishing business ahead, going through the attestation process can feel too much for you to handle alone. To ease of your burden, we at SPS take care of everything related to the attestation process. Once the client has submitted their documents at SPS, it is our responsibility to get them attested by all the respective authorities. We understand the magnitude of responsibility in our hands therefore handle the entire attestation process with extreme care. Our team works hard to ensure that all the information specified on the documents is kept confidential and secure. We are a reliable platform who has earned a reputation of providing the most genuine services for our clients.
An Apostille is a French word that means Certification and it’s Pronounce as “ah-po-style”. An Apostille is simply the name for a specialized certificate, issued by the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi. The Apostille sticker is pasted on the backside of original document to verify it is legitimate and authentic, so it will be accepted in one of the other countries who are members of The Hague Apostille Convention.
The Apostille Convention is an international treaty that simplifies the legalization procedure for foreign public documents. It allows a Government body to certify a document issued in its own country as valid for other countries without further certification by the destination state. The Convention has 126 contracting states as of November 2023, including the United States and Canada.
The Apostille Convention provides the simplified certification of public (including notarized) documents to be used in countries that have joined the convention. Documents destined for use in participating countries and their territories should be certified by one of the officials in the jurisdiction in which the document has been executed.
The Hague Convention requires that all Apostille be numbered consecutively, with individual numbers applied to each Apostille issued. The recognized standard Apostille contains a seal and 10 mandatory references: name of country from which the document emanates, name of person signing the document, the capacity in which the person signing the document has acted, in the case of unsigned documents, the name of the authority that has affixed the seal or stamp, place of certification date of certification, the authority issuing the certificate, number of certificate, seal or stamp of authority issuing certificate and signature of authority issuing certificate. Prior to the introduction of Apostille certificates the burden on international courts and authorities to judge foreign documents as authentic was quite considerable. On the October 5, 1961 the Hague Convention abolished the requirement of legalization for foreign public documents. The Convention reduces all of the formalities of legalization to the simple delivery of a certificate in a prescribed form, entitled “Apostille”, by the authorities of the Ministry where the document originates. This certificate, placed on the document, is dated, numbered and registered. The verification of its registration can be carried out without difficulty by means of a simple request for information addressed to the authority which delivered the certificate.
Apostille Process depends that if the documents are Educational, Non Educational or Commercial. Educational Certificate Apostille is required if you are going for Job or Study in any of The Hague Convention Countries. Non Educational documents like Marriage, Birth Certificate Apostille services are required for your dependents, if you want them to accompany you in that country. Commercial documents Apostille is required if you want to send shipment, open a branch in Hague country of have to do some business collaboration. We will try to explain process for you.
First step of the Process is getting the Notarization of document done. Notary can be done from anywhere in India. And it can be done from Delhi also. Doing Notary from Delhi will save some time, as documents has to come to Delhi only for Apostille.
After the Notary is done, next step in Sub Divisional Magistrate. SDM attestation is done in Delhi. It’s same for Educational and Non Educational documents. If you leave few countries, this SDM Stamping is valid in all the countries. Some countries Like, Italy, Switzerland and Austria might ask for State HRD for Educational Documents and State home Department/GAD for Non Educational documents. So, if you are planning for these countries please get complete knowledge from office HR or local bodies who are applying your case. SDM Stamping is done in 1 day and on the backside of the original Document.
Last and most important part is getting the document attested from Ministry of External affairs. After Notary and SDM Stampings are done Documents are submitted in Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi for Apostille. Just like Notary and SDM, Apostille Sticker is pasted on the back side of the document. Apostille sticker will have your name and current date. It also have unique number and contain name and designation of the person who have signed it. After Apostille sticker, the process is completed the documents are ready for use. When you receive the Apostille document, first please check that all the spellings and dates are fine. As sometimes there can be some mismatch in the spelling. If there is some spelling mistake then it has to submit in correction department. That will take another 1 day
If you are going through State Attestation Process then it might take more than a month. As for Educational documents, first stamp from University is required and then from State HRD Department. And for Non Educational Documents, First Stamp is required from Local DC office and then from State GAD/Home Department. If you go through SDM Apostille process then processing time is only 5 to 6 working. This Process takes less time and is less expensive as well.
Apostille Sticker has a validity of Six Months. Means you have to use this Apostille within 6 months, after that whole life you can stay in that country. But if you want to change the country after 6 Months then Apostille needs to done again. Don’t worry if there is no space on the backside of the document. New Apostille Sticker can be applied on the expired Sticker.
Original Documents are very important part of our Life. Sometimes it takes several months to obtain new documents. So security of documents is most important for us. You can do live tracking of the process daily. Currently document is in which city and in which department, you can check with just one click. Whenever you handover your documents to any of our office, a link is shared to you on mail. With that you can track the whole process, till documents are delivered back to you.
If you are travelling outside India to any of The Hague convention Country for Study or Work, then Apostille is required on your Educational documents. And if you are applying dependent visa for your spouse or children, then their Marriage and Birth Certificate will be required to get Apostille. Still if you have any query, you can get in touch with SPS Team @9920111362
