Documents for Greek Universities: Apostille, Translation and Equivalence Certificates

Fee figures: catalogue of 6 October 2026.

Greece does not recognise your school certificate through a single national service for applicants. Instead, the Ministry of Education asks foreign candidates for a set of validated, translated documents, and a Greek authority issues a certificate that translates your results into the Greek system. This guide follows the ministry's 2025 general instructions and its 2026 press announcement; the 2027 round may change details, so check the new announcement when it appears.

What you submit

For the ministry route described in how to get into a university in Greece, the instructions list these documents:

your leaving certificate, validated and officially translated into Greek
a certificate of correspondence issued by a Greek authority
a certificate from the education authority or embassy of your country saying that your certificate gives access to university there
a certificate confirming the country and curriculum of your school
a certificate that you attended the last two classes in full, with school years named
a certificate of your origin and your parents' origin, or birth certificates, passport copies or a family status certificate if the authority no longer issues it
two small photographs and a copy of your passport or identity document
an official statement that you do not hold a Greek secondary certificate or a Greek higher education degree under this route

The 2026 announcement adds that the signed application and statement, a lawyer-certified copy of the leaving certificate with its Greek translation, the correspondence certificate, a photo and a passport copy go to the ministry by courier.

Apostille or consular validation

Every document issued abroad must carry an apostille on the original, or be validated by a Greek diplomatic authority abroad. The instructions list countries whose documents need only the apostille, among them most EU states, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, India, Japan, Brazil and Turkey. Greece has objected to some countries joining the Hague Convention, including Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Tunisia and Kyrgyzstan, so documents from those countries need validation by a Greek diplomatic authority abroad. Study in Greece also names Peru and the Philippines among them, although the 2025 instructions list both as apostille-only, so ask the ministry if you hold documents from either. If a document is issued by a foreign embassy in Greece, it must be validated by the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Birth, marriage and death certificates issued in Austria, France, Spain, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Turkey need no further validation under Law 4231/2014. For the general procedure, see apostille and legalisation of documents.

Official translation into Greek

Translations must be made by one of the following:

the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs translation service, through its translators register
the embassy or consulate of the foreign country in Greece
a Greek lawyer, who must certify that he or she knows both languages
graduates of the Department of Foreign Languages, Translation and Interpretation of the Ionian University who are certified by the Panhellenic Union of Professional Translators of that university

Submit a clear photocopy of a lawyer-certified copy of the original, with the Greek translation.

The certificate of correspondence and the 0 to 20 scale

A certificate of correspondence is issued by the Ministry of Education's directorate for indigenous education, intercultural education and European and minority schools, by the local directorates of secondary education, or by the education coordinators at Greek embassies. If your total mark is not on a 0 to 20 scale, the same authority issues a certificate giving your average on that scale. This applies to many systems, including a diploma graded out of 45 points, and your ranking depends on that converted figure. For IB students, IB diploma: university admission in Greece explains how this meets English-taught programmes.

Two special cases:

Vocational certificates need an equivalence certificate from EOPPEP, the national organisation for the certification of qualifications.
Graduates of foreign schools located in Greece need an equivalence certificate from the local directorate of secondary education.

Consequences of false documents

The ministry warns that if a university finds the conditions are not met because documents were false or illegal, the registered student is removed and excluded for two academic years from any entry procedure to any department or university. Do not submit documents you cannot prove.

English-taught programmes

These programmes check documents themselves. Typical requests, from the programme pages, include the leaving certificate and last two years' transcripts with English translation, a passport or identity card, an English certificate and a personal statement. Requirements differ, so use each programme's own list.

Where to look next

Official sources

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