Nostrification of a secondary school diploma of a non-EU citizen

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Nostrification of a secondary school diploma of a non-EU citizen.

 

So you’ve decided to study in Poland and you’ve been accepted? Congratulations, a fabulous choice!

 

Before you come to Poland, it’s important that all your school documents are properly prepared. Before you start your studies at the BA level in Poland, you’re obliged to get your high school, or equivalent, diploma nostrified. With this, you’ve still got a couple of things to get on top of in your home country.

 

During the recruitment process, the university surely asked you to forward your finishing diploma and grades. Depending on if your country subscribes to the Hague Convention, your diploma has to be confirmed via apostille stamp or legalisation by the Polish embassy in your country. 

 

If you’re not sure whether your diploma needs legalisation or the apostille, you can check following this link: https://www.aina.pl/legalizacja-czy-apostille-konwencja-haska

 

Legalisation through the Polish embassy has to be done either on the original diploma or it’s duplicate. It can absolutely not be a copy, even a notarized one. Of course, this can be extremely difficult in some countries because of regulations that prevent the stamping of original documentation- unfortunately, the Polish Educational Authority doesn’t make exceptions.  Therefore, press the embassy so that the legalisation can be made on the original diploma. 

 

When it comes to the apostille clause, things are much simpler. A document with an apostille can be the original diploma, as well as it’s duplicate and notarized copy. The apostille is made at national offices and there’s no need for any additional visits to the Polish embassy.

 

The notification process requires additional information about the course of studies. If your diploma and school report to have the following information, you’ll have to get it from your school as well:

 

  1. A completed list of all grades you received when taking your final exams from a school, institution, passing of a given stage of education, or a certificate confirming that a final exam isn’t required under your educational system. 

  2. A list of subjects and other activities completed within a given stage of education along with the grades obtained,

  3. Certificate containing:

    1. Contents of education – what was taught during each subject during your education

    2. The scale of grading, showing which grade is highest and lowest

    3. Information about the length of duration of education 

 

The aforementioned documents should be issued by, or confirmed by the school or institution that issued the report, or confirmed by the education board of the country within which education took place.

 

Once you start studying in Poland, the university should inform you what the deadline is for submitting your nostrified diploma. It’s usually one semester, with the chance to extend the deadline with permission from the university Dean.

 

All necessary documents as well as your application are submitted to the Polish Educational Authority . Additionally, all documents must be translated to Polish by a notarized translator.

 

If your application is missing anything, you’ll be informed by post, and you’ll receive notice of the deadline to supply the rest of the documents. If you don’t supply the missing documents, your case will be closed.

 

Nostrification, depending on the educational authority, can take a few months. Unfortunately, the boards are often overwhelmed with work and fail to meet the deadline laid out by the university. To prevent any delays, students often reach out for help from attorneys. This helps with the language barrier, as English isn’t the strong suit of Polish bureaucracy.

 

If your diploma and school report are found to be equal to the Polish system, you need to pass that information to the university. However, if you pass the deadline given by the uni, or fail to submit all documents necessary for nostrification to the educational board and don’t receive a positive response from them, the university has the right to remove you from the student lists. 

 

It’s best to begin the process immediately after arriving in Poland. From my experience, many students leave this as one of their last tasks and  then it costs them a lot of unneeded stress. Many students don’t bring the necessary documents with them to Poland, which becomes a problem because you can’t do everything long distance. 

 

I hope that this entry will help you understand the nostrification process and you can properly prepare to begin your journey. 

 

For more information, contact us at info@berelocated