How Long Does Indian Document Apostille Usually Take?

I would go by the official MEA timeline rather than the two- or three-day estimates you sometimes see from agents.

MEA's current Citizen's Charter lists “usually within 7 working days after receipt by MEA” for both apostille and normal attestation.

The MEA procedure says documents not covered under e-Sanad first need authentication, then are deposited with an authorized outsourced service provider. The completed document is subsequently returned through that channel.

So I'd calculate:

State/UT authentication + submission/delivery time + MEA processing + return/delivery time.

The first and last parts can vary considerably depending on where the document was issued and how you're submitting it.

If you have a fixed deadline in the UK, I'd also ask the receiving organization whether they require the original apostilled document or accept an e-Apostille/other permitted format.

I had a birth certificate apostilled while living in Australia.

In my case, the biggest delay wasn't really the apostille itself. It was getting the document ready for submission because of the authentication requirements.

That's why I think there are two different timelines people mention online:

1. Pre-authentication/document preparation

This depends on the document type and issuing State/UT.

2. MEA apostille

MEA currently states that apostille is usually completed within 7 working days after receiving the document.

So if someone says “my apostille took seven working days,” they may be referring specifically to the MEA stage rather than the full process.

I would also check whether your particular document is eligible for e-Sanad. MEA says only documents for which the relevant State/UT pre-authentication is available through e-Sanad can currently be apostilled through that route.

My advice would be to start earlier than the deadline, especially if you're sending originals from overseas.

I recently had an Indian educational certificate apostilled, and the timeline was longer than the actual MEA stage because I had to deal with the authentication before submission.

The current MEA Citizen’s Charter says apostille is usually completed within 7 working days after the document is received by MEA.

That wording is important because I wouldn't count the entire process as seven working days. There can be additional time for state/UT authentication, submitting the document through the authorized service provider, and returning or delivering the apostilled document.

My document was educational, so the pre-authentication requirement was also something I had to check separately.

I would therefore leave some buffer rather than planning everything around exactly seven working days.

Also, make sure you use the current MEA procedure. The MEA says documents not covered by e-Sanad go through authentication followed by submission to an authorized outsourced service provider.

So if you're asking specifically about MEA processing time, seven working days is the current official figure I would use as the reference point—not as a guaranteed overall turnaround.