Higher education diplomas obtained outside of Poland have to be authenticated with apostille or legalised. This serves as the basis of acknowledging foreign documents as valid in the territory of Poland. In case of documents issued in countries that are parties to the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 (Dz.U. z 2005 r. nr 112, poz. 938), an apostille has to be obtained.

The list of countries and institutions responsible in each country for issuing apostille can be found on HCCH website.

Legalisation, similarly to apostille, confirms the authenticity of a document issued in a country other than Poland. Documents have to be legalized if obtaining an apostille is not possible because the country that issued the document is not a party to the Hague Convention mentioned above. If your country is not on the list mentioned above, you need to contact the institution responsible in this country for legalising documents (in order to use them abroad). Usually, it is a ministry of foreign affairs or a ministry of education/higher education. After obtaining initial confirmation, the Polish consulate should be contacted in order to finalise legalisation of the document.

Apostille or legalisation must be delivered to the respective Secretariat of the Education Programme within a set deadline.