JOIN USThe Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has decided to commission an Attestation Branch Secretariat (ABC) in Bengaluru from June to help people who are travelling abroad.
“The MEA will set up the ABC in Regional Passport Office (RPO) at Koramangala in Bengaluru, and operations will begin from June 1,” Regional Passport Officer P S Karthigeyan told DH.
“The decision to launch the ABC in Bengaluru RPO was taken about two weeks ago. There are 37 RPOs across the country, including Bengaluru, and about 10 RPOs have been chosen for the ABC,” said Karthigeyan.
At present, the ABCs are in New Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata for attestation of three types of documents: personal documents which include birth, death, marriage and divorce certificates; educational documents like marks card and degree certificates; and commercial documents like business registration and IT returns.
Foreign governments do not accept documents attested by state governments in India. In case of educational documents, attestation from the Ministry of Human Resources Development and MEA’s seal is mandatory.
In case of commercial and personal documents, attestation by competent central government authorities and MEA’s seal is required.
So far, people from Karnataka who wished to study, settle or carry out business abroad were required to get their documents attested either at Hyderabad or New Delhi ABC.
The MEA has estimated Karnataka’s load to be 34,500 persons per year, including over 50% from Bengaluru, based on the previous years’ numbers.
The Hyderabad and New Delhi centres will continue to attest documents along with the Bengaluru centre for about one month till the operations are fully stabilised here.
“The MEA wants to ensure convenience for the public and expect them to spend less, travel less and complete the work at a faster and better pace,” Karthigeyan added.
The major destinations for people from Karnataka are the US, Europe, Australia, Canada, Singapore and the Gulf countries.