Shashikant, If both Portugal and India are signatories to the Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, I see no reason why Portugal would not accept a document from India containing the Apostille.
But I think people fail to understand what the Apostille actually certifies. The Apostille certifies the signature of the officer that issued the document, not the content of the document. If there are doubts about the content of the document, the fact that it contains the Apostille is not going to make anything easier or faster. It might be a bit cheaper though. The work of the Portuguese consulates in India is not only of recognition of signatures from Indian authorities but also the follow up service with the local authorities to verify if those documents were really issued by them. This is what takes long. The certification of documents does not take long. As you must know, the docs submitted through the Portuguese consulate in Goa are sent via diplomatic mail to the CRC in Lisbon in order to start the process and then sent back to the Portuguese consulate in Goa so that the Portuguese consulate can check with the local Indian authorities (office of births, deaths, marriages, etc) if those documents were really issued by them. This is to avoid fraud, which unfortunately is common in India. And that is where the documents then get stuck and the delays occur. They get stuck in the local Indian Registries. Many times the local Indian authorities do not bother to respond (because they do not have the time and also because they do not think they should spend on post to reply and other times also because they are jealous of the applicants...). Applicants then have to follow up with the local authorities and many times pay them to actually process the requests of confirmation from the Portuguese consulate. This is the reality that not many people know about! Best regards Paulo Colaco Dias > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:goanet- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Swastik > Sent: 18 October 2007 12:09 > To: 'J. Colaço < jc>' > Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [Goanet] Hague Apostille {IMPORTANT}. > > Dear Jose, > > Would Surely appreciate your comments and any productive information you > would like to share with us all regarding above. > > Shashikant. >
