States with no Agreements: Full diplomatic Legalization
Your certificates were issued by a country with which there is currently no bilateral legalization agreement and which is not a contracting state of the Hague Legalization Convention. This means that the document must also be legalized by the relevant Austrian representation in the respective country (embassy, consulate, honorary consulate) after having followed the domestic legalization procedure in the respective country (the final stage of which must involve the foreign ministry of the respective state). This means that, amongst others, the mere legalization of a foreign document by the representation authorities of the respective country in Austria – without prior legalization by the foreign ministry of the respective country – is not sufficient to serve as a basis for the additional authentication. It should also be noted that only original documents can be authenticated. Legalization by the representation authorities of the respective country in Austria or by the legislation office of the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs is not possible.
- Step one: Legalization by the relevant ministry (e.g. ministry of education) of the issuing country
- Step two: Authentication by the foreign ministry of the issuing country
- Step three: Austrian diplomatic representation in the issuing country
Rules for translations
- Original certificates should already have all required legalization stamps so that these can be translated too. The translation must be affixed to the original certificate or a certified copy thereof.
- If the translation was prepared by an officially registered, sworn and judicially certified translator in Austria, no additional legalization is required.
- Translations made abroad of foreign certificates must also be have been prepared by a sworn and judicially certified translator officially registered in the respective country and are to be treated like foreign original documents in respect of legalization regulations, i.e. the method to certify the documents is the one applicable to the country in which the translation was made. However, because the country in which the translation was made is not necessarily the same as the country issuing the original document, it is entirely possible that different legalization regulations apply to the original certificate and the associated translation.
Please note:
Only legalized documents are accepted from applicants from the following countries to prove a relevant professional qualification pursuant to Section 4 para. 4 FHStG [Austrian law on studying at a university of applied sciences] or to prove eligibility for admission to a university pursuant to Section 4 para. 5 FHStG:
- Africa (particularly north Africa and west Africa such as Egypt and Libya)
- Bangladesh
- China
- Iran
- Kosovo
- Mongolia
- Pakistan
- Sri Lanka
- Vietnam
“Full diplomatic legalization” is required, see above. Applicants from China have the possibility to contact the academic inspection body in Beijing. All admission-relevant documents can be checked there for authenticity and plausibility. Appointments are available within one inspection week per semester. Details can be found at https://www.aps.org.cn/internationale-kooperationen/osterreich
Questions concerning legalization and translation
Please contact the InfoCenter team of UAS Technikum Wien if you have any questions about legalization – for contact data please click here.