Legalisation is the certification of a document’s formal conformity with the law binding in the place of its issue or of the authenticity of the seals and signatures placed on the document. Legalisation of educational documents may thus be significant for determining the country within whose education system a document was issued and whether it is necessary to verify its authenticity.
In some countries, such as Poland, the internal laws oblige a qualification holder to legalise their document before taking it abroad. Legalisation of a document by the relevant authorities in the country in which it was issued increases its credibility.
- Legalisation of foreign documents of education
- Legalisation of Polish documents of education
Legalisation of foreign documents of education
If a country in which a given document was issued is a party to the Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, concluded in The Hague, 5 October 1961, the document’s legalisation is replaced by an Apostille certificate attached to it. The list of countries – parties to the Convention and the institutions authorised to issue the Apostille is available here: http://www.hcch.net/index_en.php?act=conventions.authorities&cid=41
If a country in which a given document was issued is not a party to the aforementioned Convention, the document’s legalisation remains the responsibility of the Polish consular office in that country. Depending on the type of document, Polish consular offices will use one of the three categories of legalisation clauses:
- full legalisation – a consul confirms the authenticity of the official seal and signature as well as conformity of the document with the law binding in the place of its issue. This form of legalisation is required only for certain kinds of documents, such as notarial acts or marriage certificates;
- standard legalisation – a consul certifies that the document has been prepared in accordance with the law binding in the place of its issue;
- authentication – confirmation of the authenticity of the official seal and signatures.
Legalisation of Polish documents of education
On 14th August 2005, the Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, concluded in The Hague, 5 October 1961 (Journal of Laws of 2005 No. 112, Item 938) entered into force in Poland. On its basis, legalisation of documents has been replaced by an Apostille certificate attached to them.
For more information on the certification of Polish documents, please visit the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.