Poland: recognition of certificates and degrees — who decides and what to prepare

What you need to do

First find out whether you need the procedure at all. Poland has international agreements under which some foreign education documents are recognised in themselves; the rest go through a recognition procedure. The answer depends on the issuing country and on the year, and it should be settled before assembling documents, not after.

Distinguish two different things. Recognition for admission answers whether your document gives the right to study further. Nostrification and professional recognition is another procedure, and not everyone needs it: it is required where the profession is regulated. Doing it "just in case" means months spent for nothing.

The preparation order is the usual one: confirmation of the document in the issuing country, then translation, then a certified copy. The translation comes after the confirmation — otherwise marks added later stay untranslated.

Where the official answers live

• The National Agency for Academic Exchange — its recognition section: which documents are recognised, when the procedure is needed and how it works.
• The Ministry of Science and Higher Education — the frame all of this lives in: rules, changes, lists.
• Study in Poland — the state portal for international applicants: admission and studying.

How to check that the requirement has not changed

Check two sources: the authority's rule and the particular university's requirement. A university may ask for more, and that is lawful; it cannot ask for less than the general rule.

A sign to stop at: an agent promising to "get the degree recognised in a week". The length of the procedure is set by the authority, and a private service cannot speed it up.

Timings, fees and document lists for Poland are in the facts on the country page, each with a link to its primary source and the date it was checked.