Apostille vs. embassy attestation — what's the difference?
An apostille is a single standardised certificate issued by the Competent Authority of a Hague Convention country (such as the UK Foreign Office, US Secretary of State, or India's MEA). It replaces the longer chain of attestations between member states. Embassy attestation is the traditional route used when one of the countries involved (origin or destination) is not a Hague signatory — the document must be stamped by the home country's MOFA, the destination country's embassy abroad, and the destination country's MOFA. Because the UAE acceded to the Hague Apostille Convention in 2025, the rules around what is accepted are evolving — Benchmark advises you on the correct route for your specific document and country pair.