Best Apostille Services in India: how to compare, and what SiZA actually offers

Six things a customer can verify: a registered Indian legal entity with a real office (not a WhatsApp-only operation), a published custody record on originals (number handled, number lost), a written urgent SLA, a free pre-submission scan review, distinction between Hague and non-Hague destinations including the recent Saudi (2022) and Canada (2024) accessions, and willingness to share the unique apostille number for independent eSanad verification. A provider that meets all six is genuinely better than one that meets two or three.

SiZA Global operates on the six objective criteria listed on this page. The verifiable evidence is 100,000+ documents handled for 20,000+ customers with zero misplaced or mishandled, a registered Indian legal entity (SiZA Global Solutions Pvt. Ltd., MCA-registered, Udyam MSME-registered) with a real office at Sector 8, Noida, 24-hour MEA urgent committed in writing on qualifying files, free WhatsApp scan review before any original moves, and eSanad-verifiable apostille number shared in writing before dispatch. Whether that makes SiZA "the best" for your specific document is a judgment you can verify against the criteria above and against any other provider.

Ask three questions in writing on WhatsApp before sending originals. One, "What is your registered company name, your CIN or Udyam number, and your office address I can visit?" A WhatsApp-only operator dodges; a registered legal entity answers immediately. Two, "Will you give me a written acknowledgement when you receive my original document?" A genuine provider always does. Three, "Will you share the unique MEA apostille number with me before dispatch so I can verify on esanad.nic.in?" A real provider says yes; eSanad lets you check the apostille against the MEA record yourself. Customers who run these three checks before paying avoid most of the apostille scams reported in India.

MEA does the apostille; the provider does everything else. Document custody from your address to MEA Delhi and back. Pre-submission review that catches rejection causes (lamination, mismatched seals, expired-format certificates, missing prior attestation). Coordination of the prior-attestation step (State HRD, SDM, Home Department, Chamber of Commerce) in the issuing state of the document. Country-specific routing for non-Hague destinations (UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Libya). Translation in destination-recognised credentials where required. The provider's quality determines whether the file reaches MEA correctly and whether the apostilled document reaches you safely; MEA does not handle any of that.

A provider that refuses to share the MEA apostille number after completion (so you cannot verify on eSanad). One that claims to apostille Indian documents from outside India through "Indian Embassy abroad" (Indian missions cannot apostille India-issued documents; only MEA in India can). One that promises to bypass the personal-appearance rule in Rajasthan, J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, or Uttarakhand (the law does not allow this). One that asks for full upfront payment without a written quote and a written receipt of the original document. One that quotes embassy attestation for a Hague destination (Saudi has been Hague since 7 December 2022; if anyone is quoting Saudi Embassy attestation on a personal or educational document, they are using outdated information).

The MEA government fee is a fixed amount per document, regardless of provider. The variable is the provider service charge plus the prior-attestation fee (State HRD, SDM, Home Department, Chamber of Commerce), the translation fee where the destination needs it, and the courier fee. A "best" provider quotes each line item separately in writing so you can see what is the government fee, what is the service charge, and what is each prior-attestation step. SiZA does not publish a fixed price list because the document type, the issuing state, the destination country, and the urgency change the total. We quote in writing after a free WhatsApp scan review. See /apostille-cost-india for the cost-factor breakdown.