Diploma translation for nostrification: Czech Republic and Poland

Nostrification is the recognition of a Ukrainian diploma or school leaving certificate in another country. The receiving institution compares your study programme with its own, so what matters most is not the diploma itself but the supplement with the list of subjects and hours. That is what drives the translation requirements. Here is what you need for the Czech Republic and for Poland, and where people most often go wrong.

The diploma and the supplement are two documents

Both are translated, each separately. If an apostille is needed, it is also placed on each document separately.
The supplement is translated in full: every subject, hours or credits, grades, internships and term papers. Translating “only the main subjects” does not work for nostrification — there would be nothing to compare.
It is longer than it looks. A diploma supplement often runs to 10–15 pages and 40–60 entries, so the translation is priced by the volume of text, not “per document”. Plan for that in your budget.
Name and surname — as in your international passport, letter for letter. Send a photo of your passport with the diploma and there will be no mismatches.

Czech Republic: no apostille needed

Ukraine and the Czech Republic have a legal assistance treaty. Under it, Czech institutions accept official Ukrainian documents, including diplomas and school certificates, without an apostille. As a rule, a Czech translation certified by a Ukrainian notary is accepted.

University degrees are nostrified by Czech universities, school certificates by regional authorities. An individual institution may have its own translation requirements, so check them with the office you are applying to before you order.

Poland: educational documents need an apostille

Ukraine also has a legal assistance treaty with Poland, but for educational documents the Polish side requires an apostille. Diplomas, school certificates and supplements are apostilled by the Ministry of Education and Science — only on the original and before translation. Otherwise the translation has to be done again, this time with the apostille stamp.

If the surname in the document is written in Russian, the Ministry will not apostille it. We check this before submission, not after you have paid. Timing and prices are on the Ministry of Education apostille page.

Polish universities usually require a sworn translation by a tłumacz przysięgły, which Polish institutions accept without further certification. We do both: a sworn translation and a notarized one.

Step by step

Ask the institution you are applying to whether nostrification is actually required, which translation they accept — notarized or sworn — and whether an apostille is needed.
For Poland — a Ministry of Education apostille on the diploma and on the supplement. For the Czech Republic you skip this step.
A full translation of the diploma and the supplement, together with the apostille stamp if there is one.
Notarization of the translation or a sworn translation — depending on what the institution requires.

How we help

From photos of the diploma and supplement we tell you the volume, timing and price — before you pay.
We get the Ministry of Education apostille, translate into Czech or Polish and certify — in one order.
You do not have to come to Zhytomyr: send the original by Nova Poshta and we return the finished documents the same way, within Ukraine or abroad.

Send photos of the diploma and supplement via Telegram and tell us where you are applying — we will say exactly what your case needs. More on diploma translation; prices are on the price list.