Apostille and Document Prep for Indian GV Investors

Residencies & citizenships Portugal Golden Visa šŸ‡µšŸ‡¹
21

Hi Nadeem,
Can you please tell me where you got the requirement for ā€˜last 6 months validā€™ from?
I know SEF requires the criminal record certificate to be less than 3-months old, but that the only time constraint as far as I know.

I am planning to have my original Marriage Cert apostilled and then it will be translated into Portuguese, but thatā€™s it. I am not going to ā€˜refreshā€™ my original Marriage Cert with a recent date, I donā€™t think itā€™s even possible.
Or it is something that SEF specifically require for India?

22

Hey all, we just received our Marriage Certificate from the Indian Consulate and it looks less like a certificate and more like a statement that my wife and I are mentioned as spouses in each others passport. Is this in line with your experience and does this document suffice for SEF purposes?

23

Hi,

We got a similar certificate and we got our GV applications pre-approved with it. We havenā€™t done the biometrics yet though.

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24

Thank you for all the great details here, some questions

  1. I am submitting the Marriage certificate request to SF consulate, should I add supporting documents (notarized copies) for both husband & wife or just the applicant who is requesting it? I am assuming it is latter but want to confirm.

  2. Once I get the MC from SF consulate, I need to ship it to India using 3rd parties to get it apostilled? I see some good service providers already mentioned.

  3. For background check, we can do wither FBI or PCC, any reason to prefer one over another? Is one faster or easy to get & apostilled?

25

Gratuitous doc prep is a small price to pay for smooth execution. If I had to make a decision between two countries, I would be proactive and supply background checks from both countries, with the apostilles and translations. Well before they expired, Iā€™d get fresh background checks and apostilles of everything again, so that I always had current documents in hand.

According to my lawyer, the SEF clerk was very pleased that I had provided a new, current background check and apostille, and the associated translations, since the original had expired subsequent to my application submission. It wasnā€™t ā€œnecessaryā€, but it was ā€œappreciatedā€, and administrators have great discretionary power to delay or accelerate your case.

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26

We did both Indian and US Criminal Records check for application. We may only do US criminal check for biometrics for refresh. Getting

Indian PCC is not as smooth as US checks including police visits at your home address. On top of that apostille and courier back and forth really adds to the cost.

You can use Pec attestation for apostille. Or google India apostille and many options will pop up.

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27

Great info here, thanks for all the conv. Does the Apostille have to be done in India for a MC issued by a consulate in the US? Cant it be done in US?

28

Has to be done in India. Consulates donā€™t offer this service. Many agents can do it for you in India and ship it back.

29

Thanks Naderm, yes I u derstand consulates dont do the hague apostille. But, registered law firms can, i live in Singapore and have had my police clearance certificate issued by the Indian high commission Apostilled in Singapore. Have you explored this for MC?

30

I would check if SEF would accept that. Honestly, I didnā€™t explore as it was pretty easy to get it done by an agent in India and sent it back to me in US.

31

Thanks Nadeem, I checked with the Portuguese embassy and they said as long as there is a Hague Apostille, its fine. Location doesnt matter. Thanks again for sharing your experiences

32

Portuguese embassy ? They do not know the rules of SEF.
Generally documents should be apostilled by the issuing state or central agency. In india, to simplify the process all documents are apostilled by MEA.

I am not sure how a Singapore agency can apostille an Indian document. They probably apostilled a notarized signature.

33

They can apostille a document issued in Singapore, even if it is a high commission of another country based in Singapore

34

I lived in Singapore myself and I had to go through this process for my wife who is an Indian citizen. I have actually done this process in both manners prescribed here.

1st time - I got it done in High Commission of India in Singapore + Apostille from Ministry of Foreign Affairs (now itā€™s done by Singapore Law Society) + Portuguese Stamp.

2nd time (this year) - Seemingly, the Indian government has gotten much stricter with PCC, and the process is more rigorous so they verified things in India (with home visits) + MEA authentication + Portuguese embassy stamp.

My only observation is that I would go through a verified channeler and assume things will take a bit longer than expected.

Also, as someone mentioned, I would do ā€˜extraā€™ paperwork meaning both native country PCC and PCC for country one is residing in. My thought is if you are paying at a minimum of 280,000EUR for golden visa, why not be extra careful and spend a bit more

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