Apostille and Legalisation: Making Your School Documents Valid Abroad

Fee figures: catalogue of 6 October 2026.

A school certificate is a public document of the country that issued it. Before a university or consulate in another country accepts it, they usually want proof that the signature and stamp on it are genuine. That proof is called legalisation, and its simplified form is the apostille. Getting it wrong, or doing it in the wrong order, is one of the most common reasons applications are delayed.

Apostille

The apostille is a certificate attached to your document by an authority of the country that issued it. It was created by the Hague Convention of 1961, which more than 120 countries have joined, including all seven countries in our catalogue. Between two member countries an apostille is all that is required: no embassy is involved.

• It is issued only in the country where the document originates. A Spanish consulate cannot apostille a Brazilian diploma.
• Each country names its competent authorities: a ministry, a court, a regional office. The Hague Conference publishes the list.
• It confirms the signature, the capacity of the signer and the seal. It says nothing about the content or the level of your diploma.
• Many countries now issue electronic apostilles that can be verified online.

Consular legalisation

If the country that issued your document has not joined the convention, or the two countries do not apply it to each other, you need the longer chain: first the foreign ministry, or another designated authority, of the issuing country, then the consulate of the destination country in that country. Each step adds a stamp and takes time.

When nothing is needed

Several European treaties and practices remove the requirement between particular countries, and some universities accept documents from EU school systems without an apostille. Others insist on it for everyone. The only reliable answer is the list on the admission page of the university or consulate you are dealing with.

Which documents

For admission and a visa you may be asked to legalise:

• the school-leaving certificate and the transcript of grades
• a university transcript, if you have already studied
• the birth certificate, for some residence procedures
• the criminal record certificate, for visas in Spain, Portugal and Czechia among others

Certificates with a limited shelf life, such as the criminal record, must be legalised and translated while they are still fresh. Consulates often accept them only within three or six months of issue.

The right order

1. Obtain the original or an official duplicate from the issuing school or authority.
2. Apostille or legalise the original in the issuing country.
3. Translate the document together with its apostille, by a translator the destination country accepts. See sworn translations.
4. Make certified copies if you apply to several universities, so the original never leaves your hands.

Translating before the apostille is the classic mistake: the apostille is then missing from the translation and the work has to be repeated.

Legalisation is not recognition

An apostilled diploma is a genuine diploma. Whether it gives access to university in another country is a separate question, answered by a recognition procedure:

• Homologation and UNEDasiss in Spain
• uni-assist and certified copies in Germany
• Declaration of value and CIMEA in Italy
• Nostrification in Czechia
• France, Portugal and Switzerland

How long to allow

An apostille can take from a day to several weeks, depending on the country and on whether a preliminary certification by an education authority is needed first. Consular legalisation takes longer. Start in the autumn before the year you plan to begin your studies.

Official sources

• Hague Conference: the Apostille Convention: member countries and competent authorities
• Your Europe: public documents

Always check current information on the official website of the university before you apply.