All foreign educational documents must be certified with apostille or fully legalized by competent authority.
In order to comply with the admission deadlines candidates are asked to submit sufficiently in advance their educational documents to proper authority for the appropriate procedure.
Admission Office KUL is not an intermediary in the document legalization procedure. Each candidate is obliged to complete this procedure on his/her own.
APOSTILLE
The apostille can be issued by designated competent authorities in a state which is a party to the Hague Convention.
The list of countries and institutions authorised to issue the Apostille is available here: Apostille – Competent Authorities by country.
LEGALIZATION
All educational documents issued in a state, which is not a party to the Hague Convention must be officially legalized.
The legalization of the educational documents can be done by the competent education authorities of the country on which territory or education system the certificate was issued (depends on the country, for example the Ministry of Education). After that, your educational documents must be submitted for the final legalization to the consul of the Republic of Poland at diplomatic or consular mission, competent for the country on which territory or in which education system the certificate was issued. You can search for Poland’s missions abroad here: https://www.gov.pl/web/diplomacy/polands-missions-abroad
CERTIFIED TRANSLATION
If your educational documents are not in Polish, a certified translation must also be provided after your arrival (but if you want you can make it earlier in the Polish embassy).
Each page of an official translation must bear the translator’s stamp and/or signature, i.e. should be done by:
• person entered into the registry of sworn translators and interpreters kept by the Polish Minister of Justice. The list of sworn translators in Lublin you can find here.
• a person registered as a sworn translator in any EU, OECD or EEA member state,
• the consul of the Republic of Poland having jurisdiction with respect to the state in the territory of which, or in the education system of which, the given certificate was issued,
• a diplomatic representative or consular office of the state in the territory of which, or in the education system of which, the given certificate was issued, accredited in the Republic of Poland.
Translation of your legalised/apostilled educational documents into Polish can be done after your arrival in Lublin but please have them ready for your visit in Admissions Office with other required documents.
RECOGNITION OF FOREIGN SECONDARY SCHOOL CERTIFICATE
Make sure to have your secondary school certificate recognised in Poland. This procedure is done after your arrival.
More information is available on the Ministry of Education and Science website (link).
1) Documents recognized by operation of law in Poland:
• certificate, diploma or other document issued within the education system of one of EU, EFTA or OECD member states that entitles to apply for admission to a higher education program in the state of issuance;
• IB diploma (International Baccalaureate);
• EB diploma (European Baccalaureate);
• certificates issued in countries with which Poland has signed bilateral agreements concerning the recognition of education (at present: Belarus, China, Ukraine); certificates issued under the agreements which expired are recognized on the basis of those agreements.
2) Documents which require recognition procedure in Poland:
• certificate, diploma or other document which is not mentioned above.
Recognition procedure is done at Education Superintendent (Kuratorium Oświaty) in Lublin (link).
Candidates admitted to BA programmes at KUL need to submit a decision on recognition from Kurator Oświaty to the university (Admissions Office KUL) not later than the end of October.
Documents required in recognition procedure:
• Application for recognition (for collection in Admissions Office KUL)
• Secondary School Certificate with apostille or legalized + copy
• Polish sworn translation of legalized/apostilled Secondary School Certificate + copy
• Copy of passport data page and visa with the original passport for inspection
