The real purpose of getting an apostille for Saudi is to mainly attain a Visa for work, study, or any business purpose. 

Reasons why you need an apostille on your documents:-

• If you want to enter Saudi for employment, you need to have a work visa. Therefore, to obtain a work visa it is required for you to have an apostille on your PCC (Police Clearance Certificate), Degree Certificate, and Experience Letter. 

• Students who want to enroll in a university in Saudi for higher education, or to get permanent residence must get a degree attestation for Saudi Arabia. Also, for a study visa, an apostille is required for the documents including  Passport Photocopies, Aadhar Card, Photocopy of the license, and transcript.

• If you want to smoothly operate a business in Saudi, then you must get an apostille on  commercial documents such as a GST certificate, AOA (Article of Association), MOU (Memorandum of Understanding), and Registration Certificate.

• If you want to marry in Saudi Arabia you need an apostille for a single status certificate. 
• If you want to register your marriage or want to apply for a dependent visa to enter Saudi with your partner and kids, then you should get birth and marriage certificate attestation for Saudi.

Note: –  Every element of your documents should be visible and readable, and they must be original documents free of any marks and stains. 

Government Authorities and Saudi Embassy Attestation in the Apostille Process (For Hague Nations)

Here are the Government Authorities that sign/stamp documents for apostille attestation – 

• Notary 
• SDM
• Universities 
• Global Chamber of Commerce, 
• Human Resource Department (HRD), 
• General Administrative Department (GRD), 
• MEA (Ministry of External Affairs).

What is the process of getting an apostille for Personal Documents?

To enter Saudi Arabia for either work, marriage, education, or just travel, there’s a requirement for thorough documentation that can be identified as genuine and authentic in Saudi Arabia. So if you are planning to make your visit to Saudi trouble-free, make your documents credible before the Saudi government.

Below is the apostille process of personal documents for Saudi Arabia  – 

Local verification – Depending on the type of document the local verification will be done. For example – 

• Marriage Certificate – Marriage Registrar verification
• Birth certificate – Birth Registrar verification
• Educational documents – School or University verification
• Divorce certificate – Court verification
• Death Certificate –  Registrar of birth and death verification

Notary Attestation – After the preliminary verification is done the document will be submitted to Notary Attestation. In this process, the documents are stamped or signed by the notary. The stamp/sticker primarily approves the document’s authenticity.   

State/SDM attestation – Once the Notary Attestation is done the documents are sent for either state attestation or SDM Attestation Depending on your requirement. For educational purposes, the documents will be authenticated by HRD (Human Resource Development) only under state attestation. It is recommended as well as preferred to go for SDM attestation as it takes less time i.e. 3-4 days than State attestation. State attestation is a lengthy process that typically takes 21-28 working days

MEA attestation –  In the final process the documents are sent to MEA for stamp/signature. MEA (Ministry of External Affairs) legalizes your document with an apostille.

What is the process of getting an apostille for Commercial Documents?

Without proper attestation, no one can smoothly operate or open their commercial work in Saudi. Thus, it is critical to have an  apostille for Saudi Arabia on your commercial documents. 

Below is the process of commercial certificate attestation for Saudi Arabia –

Local Verification – Depending on the type of commercial documents local verification will be done. For example, commercial documents such as GST, Registration, AOA(Article of Association), and MOU(Memorandum of Understanding) will be verified by the Registrar of Companies.

Global Chamber Of Commerce – In this initial process the commercial documents are authenticated by the Global Chamber of Commerce. Global Chamber of Commerce verifies your commercial documents by checking the details of the documents. However, the details in the commercial document must align with the Indian rules and regulations.