Legalization and recognition of educational documents
All the educational documents issued abroad are supposed to be legalized in a proper way: with apostille or fully legalized by competent authority.
In order to comply with the admission deadlines candidates are asked to submit their educational documents to a proper authority for the appropriate procedure sufficiently in advance.
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
Recognition
Make sure to have your secondary school certificate recognised in Poland!
The certificate of recognition is supposed to be submited at the Admissions Office KUL in person along with other required documents by the 30th of September 2025.
The recognition certificate is issued by the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA). Please submit an application for a recognition statement sufficiently in advance in order to comply with the admission deadlines! NAWA issues a recognition certificates within 60 days from the date of submission of the complete set of required documents.
ATTENTION: If your secondary school certificate has already been recognised by the Regional Educational Authority (Kurator Oświaty) you can apply for admission to a Polish university – the NAWA’s Director individual recognition statement is not required.
(Please take into account that the recognition procedure was only done by the Educational Superintendent Office till the 30th of June 2025).
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: 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.
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.