FRANKEY FERNANDES
THE GOAN | MELBOURNE
In a significant move for Goans living abroad, the Goa government has notified a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to streamline the authentication of documents required for overseas education, employment, immigration, residency and business purposes.
The new SOP lays down a uniform process for the pre-authentication of personal, commercial and educational documents before they are submitted to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) for Apostille or attestation.
The notification states that the Consular, Passport and Visa (CPV) Division of the MEA has authorised the Regional Passport Officer (RPO), Goa, to issue Apostille certificates for public documents originating in the State.
As India is a signatory to the Hague Apostille Convention, 1961, Apostille-certified documents are accepted in member countries without further legalisation. Documents intended for non-member countries will continue to require MEA attestation followed by legalisation by the respective Embassy or High Commission.
For Goans residing overseas, the SOP is expected to reduce delays and improve the reliability of document verification.
Whether applying for permanent residency, work permits, higher education, overseas employment, marriage registration or business transactions, applicants often need educational certificates, birth and marriage certificates, affidavits and other official documents authenticated before they are accepted by foreign authorities.
The SOP also designates specific Documents Issuing Authorities (DIAs) for various categories of documents and requires authorised government officers and notaries to register their signatures with the designated authorities. This is aimed at strengthening the verification process, preventing fraud and ensuring only genuine documents are authenticated.
The new procedure comes into force from the date of its publication in the Official Gazette and is expected to make the document authentication process more transparent, secure and efficient for the large Goan diaspora across Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Middle East and other parts of the world.
