Background
India has acceded to the Hague Apostille Convention of 5 October 1961, but the Federal Republic of Germany has lodged an objection to India's accession, with the result that the Convention is not applicable between Germany and India. In addition, the German diplomatic missions in India have found that the requirements for the legalisation of public documents from India are not fulfilled until further notice, as a high percentage of documents regularly turn out to be incorrect in form or content. Therefore, the German missions in India discontinued the legalisation procedure in the year 2000 with the approval of the Federal Foreign Office.
However, administrative and legal assistance (Amtshilfe) is provided to German authorities and courts to check whether an Indian document is authentic and correct. The expert assessment is intended to serve as a decision-making aid for the German authorities. Due to the large number of document reviews and the local circumstances, the reviews can only be carried out by commissioning service providers for a fee. The results of their investigations are assessed by consular officials in a statement and forwarded to the requesting authority together with the original documents. Private individuals cannot initiate a document verification.

Jurisdiction
The German Consulate General Mumbai has jurisdiction over documents issued in the following states:
Chhattisgarh; Goa; Gujarat; Madhya Pradesh; Maharashtra; union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.
The documents to be verified must have been issued mainly from the aforementioned states.

Fees
The cost of verification of Indian documents is currently INR 45,000 per application (irrespective of the number of documents submitted). Once the verification is completed, the requesting authority will receive an electronic assessment notice on the final, exact amount. Pursuant to Section 8 (1) of the Foreign Expenses Act, the requesting authority is obliged to reimburse the Consulate General for its expenses. The requesting authority can then reimburse these expenses to the document holder.

Documents
The Consulate requires the following documents to initiate a verification:
• originals of the documents/certificates to be verified
• passport copies and (passport) photos of the parties involved
• complete Indian home addresses of all concerned individuals and contact details
• declaration of assumption of costs (Kostenübernahmeerklärung)
• declaration that the data protection instruction (GDPR) has taken place

All certificates and documents (including any photos) must be submitted as originals and as two unstapled copies. Please note that it is the responsibility of your authority to provide data protection information in accordance with the GDPR on the necessity of transferring data to third countries. A corresponding sample is attached to this information sheet.

Sending the documents
German authorities may use the official courier service of the Federal Foreign Office to send their requests for administrative assistance to the Consulate General:
Auswärtiges Amt
Generalkonsulat Mumbai
Kurstraße 36
10117 Berlin

Duration of the procedure
The average processing time is around 6 weeks from receipt of the complete request for administrative assistance, plus postal and courier delivery times of around 2 weeks per route. The Consulate General confirms receipt of the request for administrative assistance. The requesting authority will be informed accordingly should it become apparent that more time will be required in individual cases.

Contact information
Address: Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany
Hoechst House, 1st Floor, Nariman Point
193, Backbay Reclamation
Mumbai 400 021
India
Tel.: +91 22 6940 1444
E-mail: consular@mumb.diplo.de

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