Do certificates need legalization or apostille?

Question

Do my academic certificates from Bangladesh need to be apostilled or legalized before a Polish university will accept them?

Auranik Consulting & Management · Accepted Answer

## Short answer
Possibly -- it depends on the country that issued your certificate, the same way it does for civil-status documents like marriage or birth certificates. There is no universal rule that every foreign academic document needs an apostille.

## What this depends on
If the issuing country is a Hague Apostille Convention member and Poland hasn't objected to that country's accession, an apostille is generally the applicable method. If issued in a non-Hague country, consular legalisation typically applies instead. Some universities may also have their own additional verification steps for academic documents specifically.

## Important exception
This is separate from NAWA's nostrification / "Informacja Dyrektora NAWA" process, which assesses whether your qualification is equivalent to a Polish one -- authentication (apostille/legalisation) proves the document is genuine, nostrification/NAWA assessment is about academic equivalence. You may need one, both, or neither depending on your situation.

## Official source
HCCH Apostille Convention status table; NAWA (Narodowa Agencja Wymiany Akademickiej).

## Related Auranik tool
The [Marriage Certificate / Apostille Checker](/poland/immigration/documents/marriage-certificate) uses the same underlying authentication logic, though it's framed around civil-status documents specifically -- for academic documents, confirm directly with NAWA's Kwalifikator tool or your target university.

Do certificates need legalization or apostille?

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