Traveling abroad for employment opportunities? If yes, then an experience certificate is one of the important documents that you shouldn’t forget.
It’s a formal letter issued by the previous employers to certify that you worked in their organizations for a particular time period. The letter or certificate includes the name of the organization you worked for, the time period (joining date and relieving date) you worked in their organizations and your designation in the organizations at the time of resignation. It gives an insight into your experience in a particular field.
But the experience certificate issued by Indian employers or issued in India is valid abroad only if it is attested. Experience certificate attestation is a legal procedure that proves your document is genuine. In this process, an attestation stamp from the designated official is procured in the home country. After attestation, you get permission to enter a foreign country.
Documents required for experience certificate attestation
- Original and photocopy of your experience certificate
- Copy of your passport
- 2 passport size photos
Process of experience certificate attestation
The experience certificate goes through the following departments to complete the attestation process:
- Notary attestation
- Home Department Attestation
- Ministry of External Affairs or MEA attestation
- Embassy attestation
The process starts from the notary, which is the basic requirement of any law-related legalization process. The official performs verification at your employer’s site and approves the certificate in the form of a signature and stamp.
Second, the document goes to Home Department where the officials sign and attests the certificate based on the verification done by the notary officials.
Third, the document is sent for MEA attestation, which is the last level of authentication from the home government. It’s a central department that deals with the foreign matters of the country.
The final step of the process is Embassy attestation. In this, the officials of the country you intend to travel attest the certificate based on their rules and regulations.
Time required for experience certificate attestation
Usually, it takes 8 to 10 days to finish the attestation process. However, it depends on various aspects like the country for which you require attestation, the state you require it from, and so on. It can also stretch up to a couple of weeks or more than a month.
The processing time also depends on the knowledge of the person applying for attestation. At every step of the attestation process, you need to follow some rules and submit the documents accordingly. One mistake will hold or cancel the attestation process and you will have to re-apply.
To avoid any mistake and resubmission of the application, you should work with an attestation agency. The professionals at the agency are thorough with the process and can complete it with ease. Also, they will reduce the processing time.