Apostille / Legalization of public documents issued in the education sector

Introduction

When to apply for an apostille / legalization of a public document issued in the education sector?

You need to apply for an apostille / legalization if a foreign office requires you to provide a higher level of authentication of documents related to your studies in the Slovak Republic. The terms apostille and superlegalization refer to the verification of the authenticity of a signature and/or stamp on public documents issued in the Slovak Republic as a requirement of foreign offices.

The Ministry of Education, Research, Development and Youth of the Slovak Republic verifies Slovak educational documents and other documents issued by educational institutions within its jurisdiction (i.e. schools with the exception of secondary medical schools, police schools, military schools and documents issued by the Slovak University of Health Sciences).

Apostille applies to states that have acceded to the so-called Hague Apostille Convention (Notification No. 213/2002 Coll.) 

Superlegalization is a more complex process of higher authentication that applies to other states.

Therefore, it is always necessary to indicate in the application the state in which the authentication is required, on the basis of which the corresponding type of stamp will be issued.

The application applies only to documents issued and signed by public officials of the Slovak Republic (issued under the authority of the Slovak Republic or at schools included in the network of schools and school facilities).

If you are required to apostille or superlegalize a document that was issued by a foreign school or a document issued under the authority of another state, please contact the apostille authorities of the state of origin, or its diplomatic and consular representation.

Given that it is always the original issue of the document that is verified, the application can only be submitted in paper form (by post or in person at the registry room of the Ministry of Education, Research, Development and Youth of the Slovak Republic).

Processing period

The processing time for this type of application is up to 1 month. The processing time starts upon receipt of a complete application.

Result of the application and further action

The outcome of the application is:

• an apostille clause (sample) firmly attached to the original document
• a legalisation clause affixed firmly to the original document

In the case of legalisation, the process is not complete, further steps are required to complete the process of superlegalisation of the document. For more information, please visit the website of the Document Verification Department of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic.

 

 

 

 

Which documents can/cannot be verified?

The table below provides and overview of documents to which the apostille/legalization provided by the Ministry of Education, Research, Development and Youth of the Slovak Republic can be attached.

Ministry verifies

Ministry does not verify

original issues of documents bearing an official round stamp and the signature of the school official (rector, vicerector, dean, vicedean) original issues of documents bearing an official round stamp and signature of the official (director/headteacher, deputy director) of a school listed in the network of schools and school facilities in Slovak Republic original issues of documents bearing an official round stamp and the signature of another public official in the education sector original issues of multipage documents firmly bound and stamped through by the issuing institution in the education sector

notarized copies or official translations (signatures of notaries public and official translators are verified by the regional courts) foreign documents (i.e. international language certificate, IB diploma, diploma from a branch of foreign education institution operating in Slovakia) documents issued by medical, police force, and armed forces education institutions (verified by the respective ministries) documents that do not bear an official round stamp and a signature of a public official (having only the signatures of registrars or other administration employees and/or unofficial rectangular stamps, documents from informal and lifelong learning) multipage documents not bound and stamped through by the issuing institution

 

 

 

 

How to apply for apostille / legalization

To apply, you will need:

• filled-out application form
  

• original issue of the document bearing the original signature of the school official (rector, vicerector, dean, vicedean, school director, deputy school director) and official (round) stamp
• service fee "eKolok" in the required value (10 eur per each document regardless of the number of firmly bound pages, eKolok cannot be bought on the Ministry premises, please use the payment options below)

Service fee payment options

• confirmation of payment (eKolok with the QR code) which can be bought in any value at branches of Slovak Post
• via the mobile eKolok application available in Google Play/App Store
• via the web eKolok application available at https://m.ekolky.gov.sk

ID codes for searching the service in the mobile and web application:
 

2217 - apostille/superlegalizácia - overenie pravosti slovenských dokladov za každý dokument (správny poplatok v hodnote 10 EUR)

Delivery options

• by post to the address:

Ministry of Education, Research, Development and Youth of the Slovak Republic
Centre for the Recognition of Educational Qualifications
Černyševského 50
851 01  Bratislava

• in person at the registry room of the ministry at Černyševského 50, Bratislava during the office hours (application will be registered but not handled immediately)

Topics:

Recognition statement National regulated professions database Supplementary examination for third country healthcare professionals Proportionality test for regulated professions