PLEASE READ THIS VERY CAREFULLY.
APPLICANTS TO BACHELOR DEGREE STUDIES WILL NEED TO LEGALIZE THEIR SECONDARY SCHOOL CERTIFICATE IN THE BOARD OF EDUCATION IN SZCZECIN. Legalisation of your educational documents (secondary school leaving certificate and bachelor diploma) – it is a formal verification of their authenticity.
- Therefore the certificate either needs to be legalized or apostilled (find your country below and you will know what is appropriate for your country) before you arrive to Szczecin. With legalized/apostilled certificate you will go to the Board of Education in Szczecin after you arrive and will fill out necessary documents. The process takes about 6 months.
- The decision on acceptance (please read our application procedure) will be given to you only when we have your secondary school certificate verified by the Board of Education. Decision on acceptance is a separate document than acceptance letter which you have for visa purposes. When you arrive you will be issued a conditional decision on acceptance with a request to deliver your verified document)
important! EU, OECD citizens, IB and EB diploma holders are not required to legalize their secondary school certificate in the Board of Education in Szczecin.
If a country in which a given document was issued is not party to the Hague Convention, the document’s legalisation remains the responsibility of a Polish consular office in that country.
- If you are a holder of documents issued in countries mentioned below, you should legalise them in the Polish consular office appropriate for that particular country:
Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China (excluding Special Administrative Regions of: Hong Kong, Macao), Congo, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Kosovo, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Libya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritania, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Palestine, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Qatar, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Singapore, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
2. The list of Poland’s missions abroad is available at: www.msz.gov.pl/en.
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 legalisation is replaced by an Apostille certificate attached to it.
- If you are a holder of documents issued in any of the countries mentioned below you should provide them to the one of the institutions authorised to issue the Apostille:
Albania, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cape Verde, China (Special Administrative Regions of: Hong Kong, Macao), Colombia, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Grenada, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea (Republic of Korea), Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lesotho, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malawi, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niue, Norway, Oman, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Serbia, Seychelles, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela.
The list of all countries – parties to the Convention and the data of the institutions authorised to issue the Apostille is available here:
http://www.hcch.net/index_en.php?act=conventions.authorities&cid=41
For more information: http://www.nauka.gov.pl/en/recognition-of-academic-qualifications/legalisation-of-documents-of-education-in-the-recognition-process.html