If you plan to go to Qatar for any purpose, one of the essential things you need to do is the attestation of your documents. Attestation ensures the authenticity of the documents and makes them acceptable in a foreign country. With the documents being properly attested, they will be legally valid and can be used for multiple purposes.
Whether you want to pursue higher education or start your own business, you need to get your documents attested. There are various kinds of documents that can be attested. These are educational documents, non-educational documents, and commercial documents. As each document is different, their process of attestation is also different.
One of the important documents that require attestation in Qatar, is marriage certificate. It is a non-educational document. So, what is marriage certificate attestation, how it is done, and why it is required? Let’s dive in.
Marriage certificate attestation
A marriage certificate is one of those documents that require it to be attested if you want to travel to Qatar with your spouse. Marriage certificate attestation will help prove the legality of the document in a foreign land.
For attestation, it is essential that the country of origin should legalize the document before you produce it in another country. Marriage certificate attestation is essential if you want to get a family residence visa.
Procedure for Marriage Certificate Attestation in Qatar
Attestation is not a single-step process. It has the involvement of different ministries and authorities. This multi-step process ensures the documents certified are legally valid. The rigorous marriage certificate attestation procedure makes sure that no forged documents find their way into a foreign country.
Step-by-step Process of Marriage Certificate Attestation in Qatar
The process starts with the regional-level attestation and ends with the embassy attestation.
Notary Attestation
The initial step involves the attestation by a notary. This is the regional-level attestation. The notary checks the authenticity of the documents and provides signatures and stamps validating the credibility of the documents.
Home Department Attestation
This is the second level of attestation. This can also be called state-level attestation. This can be done by the State Home Department (SHD) or Human Resource Department (HRD). Only Home Department can attest personal documents such as marriage certificates.
SDM Attestation
Though Sub-Divisional Magistrate is independent of the state government, the verification by SDM is considered on the state level. However, the HRD attestation is mandated by some officials.
MEA Attestation
Ministry of External Affairs attestation is a mandatory part of the attestation procedure. The external affairs of a country are dealt with by MEA. MEA authorization is the final step of attestation in the home country.
Embassy Attestation
Embassy certification is done by the legal authorities of the destination country. Attestation by Embassy is done once the MEA attestation is completed.
Birth Certificate Attestation
A Birth Certificate is one of the most important personal documents that need to be attested while you travel to another country. Attestation of birth certificate is necessary to prove the credibility of the document. A birth certificate is attested by the country of origin to be used in abroad.
It is an important legal document that proves your birth, place of birth, age, name of your parents, etc. If you want to study abroad you must attest your birth certificate. The same goes with, if you want to get a visa.
The procedure of Birth Certificate Attestation in Qatar
The birth Certificate Attestation process involves multiple steps. These include
Notary Attestation
The first step involves the certification from the notary. Once satisfied with the documents, the notary authenticates the certificate. This is the first step in the personal or education document attestation.
Home Department Attestation
The home department attests the certificate once the regional-level attestation is completed. Home Department Attestation is performed by the State Home Department (SHD) or Human Resource Department (HRD).
SDM Attestation
Sub-Divisional Magistrate is essentially a variant of the Home Department and the SDM certification is considered on the state level. HRD attestation is required for educational documents.
MEA Attestation
MEA attestation is an essential step in the Birth certificate attestation procedure. MEA reviews the authenticity of the document and after ensuring it, MEA pastes an MEA stamp on it.
Embassy Attestation
Once MEA certifies the documents, the Embassy of the destination country checks the document and validates it.
Another important certificate that needs to be attested is your degree certificate.
Degree Certificate Attestation
If you want to continue your studies, you need to do attestation of all of your educational certificates. The degree certificate is among the most important educational certificates. It is required if you want to visit Qatar for employment or business purposes. Degree certificate attestation is important for getting a family visa as well.
The Attestation Procedure for Degree Certificates in Qatar
As the first step, the degree certificate must be certified by a public notary in the origin country.
Notary Attestation
This step is the attestation at the regional level. Notaries are those who are legally authorized to sign a legal document. In the initial step, notaries can sign to certify a document. For the verification of the authenticity of the degree certificate the university issuing it can attest to it.
Home Department Attestation
This is the state-level attestation. After the regional-level attestation, the home department attests to the document. State Home Department (SHD) or Human Resource Department (HRD) performs the Home Department Attestation.
SDM Attestation
Attestation by Sub-Divisional Magistrate is considered on the state level. However, it is independent of the State.
MEA Attestation
MEA attestation is required on educational documents. It is a mandatory step in the Degree certificate attestation procedure. MEA ensures the genuinely of the document and pastes the MEA stamp on it.
Embassy Attestation
Once all the procedures till MEA attestation are properly conducted, the Embassy of Qatar checks the document and validates it.
Documents required for your degree certificate attestation:
To get your degree certificate attested, you need to submit your original degree certificate, mark sheet and copy of your passport. You may even require to submit copies of the same.
Another important kind of attestation that requires in Qatar is MOFA attestation.
MOFA Attestation
MOFA attestation is the certification of the Ministry of foreign affairs. MOFA attestation is an essential procedure if you want to travel to Qatar for professional or residential purposes. The Foreign Affairs Ministry thoroughly checks the validity of the documents submitted and pastes the MOFA stamp on the backside of the document to authenticate it.
MOFA attestation is the last step after HRD, MEA and Embassy attestation.
MOFA attestation in Qatar
Attestation from MOFA is the last step of the certificate attestation process in Qatar. The other steps of the certificate attestation process are HRD Attestation, MEA Attestation and Embassy Attestation.
Attestation procedure in Qatar
The process of document attestation is not a simple process, it is a complex process with multiple steps. From the regional level to MOFA attestation, there are a series of attestation procedures involved in it.
Step-by-step procedure of document attestation in Qatar
Regional Level Attestation
Regional-level attestation is done by the notary. This initial stage of the attestation procedure may vary according to the kind of documents you are attesting. If it is an educational document the concerned University attests the document. For commercial purposes, the Chamber of Commerce certifies the authenticity.
State-Level Attestation
State Level attestation is required for the documents before we submit the documents to the External Affairs Ministry. Three departments conduct state-level verification. These are the State Home Department (SHD), Human Resource Department (HRD), and the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM). Authentication done by SDM is considered on the state level.
MEA Attestation
MEA means the Ministry of External Affairs. It deals with the foreign affairs of the country and its stamp authenticating the document is important for the verification process. MEA attestation is the final authentication from the origin country. MEA is the central department that concerns with the foreign matters of the country.
Embassy Attestation
Embassy Attestation is done by the authorities of the embassy of the destination country. The embassy reviews the document after the Ministry of External Affairs ensures its credibility.
For most countries, the embassy attestation is the final step in the attestation procedure. However, for Gulf countries MOFA attestation is necessary. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) handles foreign affairs in Gulf countries. So, after the normal attestation procedure, the document should be certified by MOFA.
Documents that may require MOFA attestation
Most of the documents used in Qatar require attestation. These may range from educational, personal to commercial documents. A few of the documents that require MOFA attestation are
- Passport
- Degree Certificate
- Marriage certificate
- Divorce Certificate
- Birth certificate
- Death Certificate
- Police clearance certificate
- Diploma Certificate
- Bonafide Letter
- Articles of Association
- Certificate of Incorporation
Documents to be submitted for MOFA attestation:
To get the MOFA attestation on your documents you need to submit certain documents.
- The document which needs to be attested
- Letter of authentication
- Photocopy of visa
- Photocopy of the passport
You will be required to submit your address, phone number and email ID. For supporting the authenticity of documents you may also need to submit other documents that the authority asks for.
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With the involvement of different ministries and officials, the document attestation process may be a daunting task. By starting the process early you can solve a lot of problems. Before starting the procedure try to know about the documents required for it. Make sure you take multiple copies of them. For clarifying the doubts you can contact the embassy or the legal personnel regarding the process.