Procedure for documentation of accepted students from India

Hello Friends,

I wanted to let you know the detailed procedure to get all the required documents so that yuou can get them done easily and quickly. This is applicable only for students from India. As i am from Mumbai, some procedure may be applicable for students from mumbai but it is more or less the same for students from other states.

Once you get the documents from the IMIM office like your offer letter, admission letter, residence proof, etc (which they will send you), first thing you must do it to apply for the Spain Visa. It generally takes 3-4 weeks before you get your visa but it is subjective. It may take longer in special cases. There are 3 spanish consulates in India. One in New Delhi, one in Mumbai and one in Assam (not sure abt the reliability of the one in Assam). Well, for the Visa application, you need to fill in the form which you can download online from thier website. ALong with the form attach all the documents as mentioned on their site. Do not take a DD as written on the site. If you are an Erasmus Mundus student, its free for you. but please confirm , in case they have changes the rules.

Also, take one copy of all your certificates, mark sheet sand get them attested by the Spanish consulate. You will require them in Madrid.

Now, the next important document is Declaration of Value. For this, there is a long procedure. This document is issued by the Italian Consulate in India. It is a proof that you have equivalent degree to undertake this masters course in Italy. But to give you this, the consulate requires an Apostile on your degree certificate. We will come to this later.

First you need to get your degree certificate attested by the university that issued it. For eg, if you have a deree certificate from University of Mumbai, you need to go to Kalina campus in Santacruz to get this attestation. There you need to go to the Examination office building and get thsi attestation. Before that, you need to remove the lamination from the rear of your degree certificate (if any lamination priviously exists). Remove maximum lamination as possible as you will need all the space that isd available. There are a lot of stamps. It takes abt 2-3 weeks to get this attestation and you also need to pay around Rs.500-700 for getting it. In case you find a tricky person, bribe him and you can get your job done in a week.

Once this is done, you go and get a notary stamp on the certificate. Remember, all these stamps must be taken on the original degree certificate/s (only bachelors or Masters and Bachelors as the case may be). After getting the notary done, which looks like a half dozen stamps on your certificate, its time to get a goverment attestation. This procedure here onwards, is specific to Maharashtra state. Similar procedure must exist in other states as well. Please find out abt it, if this is not applicable to you.

Opposite to Mantralaya, there is a huge tall building. There on the 18th or 20th floor, you need to get one attestation. it is the same floor where you get stamps for the working permits to work outside India. You can just ask anyopne there and get the exact location in the building. This is the only attestation that is free of cost. Once you have got this one, you now need to go to the education department in the Mantralaya. The timings for this department s in the afterrnoon after 3pm. Find out exact timings before you go. There you need to submit your originals for attestation. This attestation is a pre-requisit for you to get the Apostile sticker. This takes abt 1-2 weeks. Once you get this, now you need to go to the Office of External Affairs Ministry, Patiala House, New delhi. This is the only place in India where you can get the Apostile done. So don't even think abt finding other options. It is a one days job. So not a big deal. Just take a Rs.50 post DD available at any post office in India. You can also get one outside Patiala house. Now here you need to show your indian skills. its a mess in there, People from all over the place are there to get Apostile. So you need to get inthe right queue and submit you document befor lunch time. Only if this done, you can get the Apostile stamp in the evening else you wait till the next day.

Once you get Apostile sticker, you have completed half part of the race. Take photo copies of all degree certificates that you got Apostile and now you need to translate them into Italian language. For doing the same, you can go to Indo-Italian Chamber of Commerce near Siddhivinayak Temple, in Mumbai. Tell them what you want them for and they will do all the necessary work. It takes abt 4-5 days for this translation process and they charge you per word basis so may turn out to be a bit expensive. In case you know any other place, its your choice.

Once you have translated, take all those documents to the Italian consulate near Pedder road, Mumbai. You need to get these translated documents attested from the Italian consulate. It takes abt 2-3 weeks because these guys are too lazy. If i am not wrong, this is done free of cost. Only things is that you always need to push them to get your work done.

Thats it. You have achieved an olympic gold if you do all this by yourself. So start now and take the lead. All the best to you !!!

In case you have any more quesries, do write to me.