Certificate attestation issues to ease for foreign travel

This will enable foreign acceptance of necessary certificates attested by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Dhaka

The government has moved to ease the pain of travelling to New Delhi for certificate verification for countries without an embassy in Bangladesh.

The cabinet approved Bangladesh's accession to the Apostille Convention-1961 on Monday, enabling foreign acceptance of necessary certificates attested by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Dhaka, Cabinet Secretary Md Mahbub Hossain said.

Typically, essential documents such as educational certificates, marriage certificates, and driving licences must be authenticated by the embassy of the destination country when traveling abroad.

For Bangladeshis, this often means traveling to New Delhi, as many countries do not have embassies in Dhaka.

With the new arrangement under the Apostille Convention, which includes 126 member countries, the foreign ministry's attestation will be sufficient, eliminating the need to visit foreign embassies in other countries.

This will significantly streamline the verification process.

Explaining the context, the cabinet secretary said, "When students or other individuals from our country travel abroad, many documents need to be verified in the respective countries. Typically, students first get their documents attested by the education ministry, followed by attestation from the foreign ministry.

"Afterwards, they have to visit the embassy of the destination country to complete the attestation process. This process validates our country's documents in other nations. While many countries have embassies in Bangladesh, around 90 countries have embassies in New Delhi. For countries without embassies in Dhaka, we currently need to go to New Delhi for certificate verification, which is quite cumbersome. I've faced this problem myself."

Mahbub explained, "Under the rules of the Apostille Convention, if the foreign ministry of the respective country verifies or attests the documents, there is no need for further verification in another country. This is the core principle of the convention.

"We have not been a member for a long time, which has caused us significant inconvenience. After the foreign ministry raised the issue, the cabinet responded positively and approved it. Signing this convention will simplify travel to Europe and America, making it more cost-effective."