Legalization of Diplomas
Prior to leaving Poland, PUMS graduates are strongly advised to authenticate and legalize their diplomas and diploma supplements for circulation abroad. This includes procedures of obtaining an apostille or legalization, and sometimes also authentication by a consulate.
The competent authority for issuing apostille and legalization certificates for documents issued by higher education institutions in Poland is:
National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA)
Narodowa Agencja Wymiany Akademickiej
40 Polna St. 00-635 Warsaw
website: https://nawa.gov.pl/en/apostille-and-legalization
e-mail: apostille@nawa.gov.pl
tel. 48 22 390 35 80 (from 10am to 12pm on weekdays)
Apostille or legalization?
If your destination country is party to the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents, official documents intended for circulation in such a country should be certified with an apostille. Such countries include the USA, the UK, Norway, India, Sweden, Ireland and Germany.
Exceptions: an apostille is not issued in respect to documents intended for circulation in: Burundi, Kosovo and China (except for Hong Kong and Makau).
Otherwise, the documents will have to be legalized — for example if you intend to use them in countries like Canada, Taiwan, Thailand, Lebanon or Saudi Arabia.
The full up-to-date list of Hague Convention members is available here.
NAWA information page: Apostille or legalization – which one do I need?
Apostille pathway
Legalization pathway
Step 1
Step 2
Legalization by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Step 3
In case of some countries it might be necessary to obtain an additional authentication by the destination country’s consulate authorities in Poland – it’s best to check directly with the consulate.