Legalization (Authorization) or Apostille

In order to be enrolled as a student of the University in Poland, you must provide a document of education (certificate of completing secondary education / higher education diploma) entitling you to undertake university-level education (undergraduate or graduate) in your country of origin.

You must have your diploma legalized (authorized), translated into the Polish language, and recognized in Poland.

with the exception of documents from Austria that don’t need apostille certificate attached (on the basis of a bilateral agreement with Poland)

Legalization (authorization) or apostille

Legalisation (authorisation):

is the certification of a document’s formal conformity with the law binding in the place of its issue or of the authenticity of the seals and signatures placed on the document. The legalization of educational documents may thus be significant for determining the country within whose education system a document was issued and whether it is necessary to verify its authenticity. In some countries, such as Poland, the internal laws oblige a qualification holder to legalize their document before taking it abroad. The legalization of a document by the relevant authorities in the country in which it was issued increases its credibility.

Certificates may be legalized (or receive an apostille – see below) by:

• the consul of the Republic of Poland having jurisdiction with respect to the state in the territory of which, or in the education system of which, the given certificate was issued, or
• the educational authorities of the state in the territory of which, or in the education system of which, the given certificate was issued, or
• a diplomatic representation or consular office of the state in the territory of which, or in the education system of which, the given certificate was issued, accredited in the Republic of Poland or in any EU, OECD or EEA member state, where the said certificates or documents confer an entitlement to apply for admission to a higher education program in the states in question.

Apostille

if a country in which a given document was issued is a party to the Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, concluded in The Hague, 5 October 1961, the document’s legalization is replaced by an Apostille certificate attached to it. The list of countries – parties to the Convention and the institutions authorized to issue the Apostille is available here.