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International Secondary Education

Acknowledgement of equivalence and validity of secondary-school reports from international schools

Education validity acknowledgement (in Czech „nostrifikace“) means that the Czech authorities accept the completed level of education (primary, secondary, higher secondary or university).

Procedure to Acknowledge International Secondary Education in the Czech Republic

The issue of acknowledging the equivalence and validity of secondary-school reports falls in the competences of Departments of Education in respective regional authorities (in Prague the responsible department is Department of Youth, Education and Sports of the City of Prague Authority).

Documents required for acknowledgement of international education in the Czech Republic:

  1. Completed application to acknowledge international education;
  2. Original or notarized copy of the international school report (Diploma) with all enclosure thereto, translated by a Czech court-appointed interpreter (a list of court-appointed interpreters available on:
    http://datalot.justice.cz/justice/repznatl.nsf/$$SearchForm?OpenForm&Seq=4#_RefreshKW_select_5;
  3. Certified/notarized copy of a certificate of the scope of education competed in an international school – a list of subjects and number of lessons attended in each year of education; all translated by a Czech court-appointed interpreter;
  4. A certificate the international school is licensed by the country in which the school report/Diploma was issued as a part of the education system, unless it is apparent from the school report/Diploma; all translated by a Czech court-appointed interpreter;
  5. A copy of the passport with personal data;
  6. A certificate of a place of residence in the Czech Republic (a copy of respective page in the passport, no contract of lease);
  7. Power of Attorney to represent the applicant, translated into Czech (in case of representing a person under 18 years of age, the Power of Attorney is to be signed by the minor´s legal representative);
  8. A copy of the legal representative´s/attorney´s identity document, showing their address;
  9. Receipt of the administrative fee payment.

Competent authority handling the application for education validity acknowledgement may request further specific documents; before submitting the application please address the competent authority for information and make sure the application is properly completed.

International public documents are subject to various regimes of authentication – either a regime of no further authentication resulting from bilateral international agreements, or the Apostille regime (Apostille is a higher authentication issued in the country of the document´s origin), or the regime of higher authentication (in Czech “superlegalizace” that confirms authenticity of signatures and stamps/seals attached to or printed on originals of international school reports; confirms that the school is licenced by the country in which the school report was issued in accordance with the law; the school also needs to be confirmed by Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country in which the international school has its registered office or by a Notary practising in the country, and by the Embassy of the Czech Republic in that country). The regimes of documents´ authentication differ as to the country of origin; specific information will be provided by competent authority.

The following authorities handle the applications for education validity acknowledgement: