The Synergy Of Attestation And Verification

By Author: Naman Vohra
Total Articles: 133
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If you or anybody in your circle had got a job in the Middle East, then you must have come across the term, document attestation. Attestation refers to the mandatory process of getting the signature of a witness who, through its signature and seal, authenticates the signature of relevant entities on that document.

Documents that require attestation can be broadly divided in two broad categories- educational and non-educational. As the term conveys, educational documents involve all the mark sheets and certificates received during higher and senior secondary, graduation, post-graduation. It also includes professional degree or diploma certificates as well as doctorate certificates. Document attestation involves a process wherein an educational document needs to go through a state’s notary, human resource department, Ministry of External Affairs and the foreign country’s embassy before its Ministry of Foreign Affairs attests the document itself.

The other category of documents is that of non-educational documents. Examples of this category can range from death certificates, birth certificates, marriage certificates, ...
... divorce certificates, to medical certificates, experience certificates etc. The attestation process of non-educational documents is same as that of educational documents.

For companies in countries which have mandated document attestation, such as countries in the Middle East, this process has been quite a help. Attestation help in ensuring the originality of documents which, in turn, helps in recognizing the legitimacy of a foreign employee's identity.

But is attestation a foolproof way of ensuring a legitimate identity? In more cases than one, documents related to employment such as offer letter, relieving letter, appointment letter, promotion letter, etc., do not require attestation. Hence, it is difficult to brand attestation as a foolproof method.

So in order to ascertain the legitimacy of a foreign employee, companies can opt for a background check. With background verification, an employer can learn about all the aspects of an employee's background. Thus, the employment related details that are not looked into through attestation process can be checked through background verification.

In background verification, employment check involves getting in touch with previous company's HR department or the reporting manager. Details like tenure, designation, salary, etc are cross checked in the previous company via emails or telephonically. Checks like address check, reference check, education check, criminal record check, credit and integrity risk check, etc can also be opted by a company who is interested in knowing more about an employee.

Hence, synchronizing the uses of verification and attestation allows for synergy which is highly beneficial for a company hiring a foreign national.

~Naman is associated with a leading Gulf Attestation & Apostille service company which specializes in Document Attestation & Apostille services