Document Recognition for Serbia: ENIC/NARIC and Your School Diploma

Fee figures: catalogue of 6 October 2026.

To enrol in a bachelor's programme in Serbia with a school-leaving certificate from another country, your certificate has to be recognised first. Serbians call this process nostrification. This guide explains who does it, what you send and how long to plan for it.

Who decides

Recognition of foreign secondary school documents is done by the ENIC/NARIC Centre, an organisational unit of the Qualifications Agency of the Republic of Serbia (Agencija za kvalifikacije, azk.gov.rs). The Ministry of Education keeps the records of foreign institutions, but it is the Agency that carries out the procedure. The legal basis is the Law on the National Qualifications Framework, unless an international agreement says otherwise.

Higher education degrees are treated differently:

• academic recognition, which you need to continue your studies, is handled by the university or faculty where you want to study, under its own rules;
• professional recognition, for work, is handled by the Qualifications Agency, with an electronic request.

For a bachelor's applicant, the step that matters is recognition of the secondary school diploma.

What you submit

According to the government portal Welcome to Serbia, the file for a secondary school certificate contains:

1. the original final report card or diploma, or a certified copy, stamped or sealed by the school or authority that issued it;
2. a certified translation into Serbian by a certified court interpreter in Serbia;
3. evidence of all completed school years, such as report cards for every grade;
4. proof that you paid the Agency's procedure fee.

The application is filed electronically on the Agency's website, after which you receive a confirmation e-mail. You can also send it by post or deliver it in person. The Agency's pages publish the application form, a payment slip and instructions for paying from abroad in foreign currency. The fee amount is on the payment slip, so open the current one before you pay.

Neither the Agency's page nor the government portal mentions an apostille or other legalisation for secondary school documents. Requirements can differ by country and purpose, so write to the Agency before you pay for apostilles or translations. The Agency holds consultations on weekdays from 12:00 to 14:00 on +381 11 7455 728.

How long it takes

Study in Serbia says the secondary school procedure takes up to 60 days from the day the Agency receives a complete application. It also says you must have the recognition certificate when you enrol, and that it should be completed before final enrolment.

That is long if you need your results first. Plan the timeline backwards from the faculty's deadline. Some faculties accept a confirmation that the procedure has been started. The University of Belgrade's rules say a person with a foreign diploma may apply together with a confirmation that recognition has begun. Check this for each faculty. Another Belgrade faculty states that foreign applicants must finish recognition and submit their application within the foreign-applicant deadline, typically the first week of September.

Language of documents and Serbian

Your documents must be translated by a Serbian court interpreter, which means you may need to find one in Serbia or have your documents sent there. Recognition does not replace the language requirement. The Law on Higher Education allows enrolment only if you understand the language of instruction, and faculties test this. For example, the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade asks all foreign candidates for evidence of Serbian at B2 level. For English-taught programmes, ask the faculty what it needs; see bachelor's degrees in English in Serbia.

Special cases

• Certificates from Republika Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina) do not go through recognition at the University of Belgrade, except for the International Baccalaureate programme. See IB Diploma and university admission in Serbia.
• Citizens of Serbia who finished school abroad go through the same procedure.
• Scholarship holders under the Serbia for Serbs from the region programme get free nostrification of diplomas, according to the government portal.

Step by step

1. Collect the original diploma and report cards for every year.
2. Have them translated by a Serbian court interpreter.
3. Pay the fee using the Agency's slip and submit the electronic application.
4. Keep the confirmation e-mail and ask the faculty whether it accepts it until the decision arrives.
5. Show the recognition decision when you enrol, then move on to the visa and residence steps. See student visa for Serbia.

Where to look next

• How to get into a university in Serbia
• How much it costs to study in Serbia
• IB Diploma and university admission in Serbia
• All programmes in Serbia

Official sources

• Qualifications Agency: ENIC/NARIC Centre (in Serbian)
• Welcome to Serbia: recognition of diplomas: Government of Serbia
• Welcome to Serbia: scholarships
• Study in Serbia: recognition of previous education: Ministry of Education and Tempus Foundation
• University of Belgrade: rules on enrolment of students (in Serbian)
• University of Belgrade Faculty of Economics: candidates with foreign secondary school degrees

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