On Wednesday, the launch of an integrated online authentication management system was held.
Foreign Adviser Md Touhid Hossain said that such initiatives will help enhance the country's reputation at the inauguration event held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
There is often a need to authenticate various certificates for students, professionals, and others who are traveling abroad or residing overseas.
The launch of an integrated online authentication management system has replaced the traditional manual process.
This online service will be conducted according to the Apostille Convention of 1961.
It is expected that this will save time and money for service recipients, potentially saving Tk500 to 700 crore annually.
The Apostille is a certificate that serves as authentication of public documents under the Apostille Convention of 1961, verifying the authenticity of the document's origin.
With the Apostille certificate and its associated management and technology, the authenticity of any document can be verified from anywhere in the world.
Currently, 127 countries are parties to the Apostille Convention.
However, documents authenticated by Bangladesh will be recognized in 117 countries.
Bangladeshi citizens traveling abroad or residing overseas often require academic certificates and other documents to be authenticated through various authorities, including the relevant ministries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, foreign embassies in Dhaka, and eventually the respective authorities in the destination countries.
In cases where embassies are not located in Dhaka, citizens must visit the embassies in neighboring countries for document authentication.
This process is time-consuming and costly for the citizens.
To address this issue, Bangladesh has joined the Apostille Convention of 1961.
As a party to the convention, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will issue Apostille certificates for the authentication of public documents.
By using the Apostille certificate, citizens will not need to go through the foreign embassies or other authorities abroad for further authentication.
Foreign embassies in Dhaka currently charge service fees ranging from Tk3,000 to Tk20,000 per page for document authentication.
With the implementation of the Apostille program, citizens will no longer have to pay these service fees.
This will result in an annual saving of approximately Tk500 to 700 crore for Bangladeshi citizens.
Currently, citizens must wait in long lines at various government offices to manually authenticate documents, often falling victim to middlemen.
The Apostille program will eliminate these intermediaries, prevent fraudulent authentication through fake seals and signatures, and streamline the entire process.
Students and professionals who wish to go abroad will be able to apply for Apostille certificates online via the MyGov portal.
The issuing authority will verify and authenticate the document before sending it to the relevant ministry.
The ministry will then verify the document, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will issue an Apostille certificate in compliance with the Convention.
Once the authentication is completed, the service recipient will receive a notification on their registered mobile number and can download the e-Apostille certificate from their personal dashboard on the MyGov portal.