Divorce Certificate Apostille & Attestation for Thailand

A few questions answered at the start save weeks later:

Most authorities will send a written list if you ask. Keep it, because it also helps us confirm the route and avoid unnecessary steps. If the list is in another language, send it to us as it is, and we will help you understand what it asks for.

India does not issue a separate "divorce certificate" in the way it issues birth or marriage certificates. When a court grants a divorce, it passes a decree, often together with a judgment explaining the decision. To use the divorce as proof, you obtain a certified copy of the decree from the court's copying section. That certified copy is the document foreign authorities usually mean when they ask for a "divorce certificate", and it is the document that is legalised.

Ask the court's copying section for a certified copy that clearly shows the court's seal, the date and the case details. Many foreign authorities also want the copy to be recent.

A divorce decree apostille is a square, computer-generated certificate that MEA fixes to the certified copy of the decree. It confirms that the signature and seal of the Indian official who verified the document are genuine. India joined the Hague Apostille Convention of 5 October 1961 with effect from 14 July 2005, so member countries accept this certificate without embassy legalisation.

The apostille does not decide whether the foreign country recognises the divorce; that is a matter of the foreign country's law. In most countries, a divorce granted by a competent Indian court is recognised, but some countries apply their own rules, especially where the parties have links to that country. The apostille's role is to prove that the Indian court document is genuine. Each apostille has a unique number that can be checked online on the MEA verification facility. MEA

Germany objected to India's accession, and the objection still stands, so an Indian apostille has no legal effect for German authorities. German missions in India stopped legalising Indian documents in 2000 and offer document verification instead, which only a German authority can request. China joined the Convention in 2023, but India objected to China's accession, so a divorce decree for China needs MEA attestation followed by Chinese Embassy or Consulate legalisation. Hague Convention | anchor "Germany" → Germany | anchor "China" → China

The divorce decree apostille process has these stages.

Apply to the copying section of the family court or district court that granted the divorce for a certified copy of the decree, and of the judgment if needed. Check the names, case number and date against your passport and marriage certificate before legalisation.

Court documents are verified through the route the state designates for them before MEA. Depending on the state, this may involve the court's own certification and a designated state department. Because the route for court documents differs between states and can change, we confirm the current route for your decree before pickup. Divorce decrees do not follow the education route.