Diploma legalisation
If you are you planning to work or study abroad, you will often need to have your Dutch educational certificates, such as your diploma or list of grades, legalised. Your employer or school can tell you whether legalisation is necessary. If so, you have to apply to DUO for this legalisation. After that, you will need to finalize the legalisation at your local district court or the Consular Service Centre.
How legalisation works
- First, you apply to DUO to have your educational documents legalised. You can do this in person at our service desks in Groningen or Utrecht, or you can apply for legalisation by registered mail. DUO will check whether your relevant document meets all the requirements.
- After that, you will need to go to a district court or the Consular Service Centre. They will finalize the legalisation process.
- Does your country of destination appear on the list of apostille countriess Link opent externe pagina ? If this is the case, you will need to apply to a Dutch district court Link opent externe pagina for an apostille.
- If your destination country does not appear on the list of apostille countries, you will need to contact the Consular Service Centre Link opent externe pagina in The Hague, and in many cases also the embassy or consulate of the country you are going to.
Requirements for legalisation
Your educational document must be:
- original and complete
- printed on original paper from the relevant educational institution
- signed by a representative of the relevant educational institution
Your educational programme must also be officially recognized by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.
If the details of your diploma are registered in the diploma register, you can be certain that your educational programme is officially recognized:
- Log in to Mijn DUO.
- Go to 'Mijn studies en diploma's'.
- Choose 'Diplomaregister'.
If the details of your diploma are not registered in the diploma register, or if you cannot log in to Mijn DUO, send a copy of your educational document to ks.dw@duo.nl.
Legalisation at our service desk
Because of the coronavirus, our service desks in Groningen and Utrecht are closed.
Legalisation by registered mail
- Complete the Application legalisation or diploma description form. Send this to DUO, together with your original educational document. Use registered mail for this.
- We will check your educational document. If we are able to legalise it, we will send you a payment request by email.
- After your payment, we will legalise your educational document. You will receive your legalised document within 3 weeks.
- After that, you will need to go to a district court or the Consular Service Centre to finalise the legalisation.
Fees
Legalisation at one of our service desks costs €6 per educational document.
Legalisation by registered mail costs €6 per educational document, plus a non-recurring €10 administration fee. We will send you a payment request by email.
Contact
If you have any questions, you can call the Diploma Recognition and Legalisation department on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 12 noon: +31 50 599 80 36. Or send an email to ks.dw@duo.nl.