Dhaka: Country’s government is easing the trouble of travelling to New Delhi for certificate verification for travellers from countries without an embassy in Bangladesh.

The cabinet approved Bangladesh's accession to the Apostille Convention-1961 on May 20, enabling foreign acceptance of necessary certificates attested by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Dhaka, said Cabinet Secretary Md Mahbub Hossain, as per reports.

Usually, essential documents such as educational certificates, marriage certificates and driving licences must be authenticated by the embassy of the destination country when travelling abroad. For Bangladeshis, this often means travelling to New Delhi, as many countries do not have embassies in Dhaka.

With the new move under the Apostille Convention, which includes 126 member countries, the foreign ministry's attestation will be sufficient, eliminating the need to visit foreign embassies in other countries. This will significantly streamline the verification process.

Explaining the context, the cabinet secretary said, "When students or other individuals from our country travel abroad, many documents need to be verified in the respective countries. Typically, students first get their documents attested by the education ministry, followed by attestation from the foreign ministry.”

"Afterwards, they have to visit the embassy of the destination country to complete the attestation process. This process validates our country's documents in other nations. While many countries have embassies in Bangladesh, around 90 countries have embassies in New Delhi. For countries without embassies in Dhaka, we currently need to go to New Delhi for certificate verification, which is quite cumbersome. I've faced this problem myself," he said.

Mahbub further informed, "Under the rules of the Apostille Convention, if the foreign ministry of the respective country verifies or attests the documents, there is no need for further verification in another country. This is the core principle of the convention,” he concluded.