Certification rules

Full diplomatic certification

International education certificates that are submitted in Austria for official purposes generally require national certification from the country in question (i.e. education authority, foreign ministry) and also need to be authenticated by the competent Austrian representation authority in the country of issue (embassy, consulate, honorary consulate).

Certification in the form of an apostille

Full diplomatic certification of education certificates is not required in the case of contracting states to the Apostille Convention (Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents) if these certificates have an apostille attached.
The contracting states are currently as follows:
Albania, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Cape Verde, Chile, China – including the special administrative regions of Macau and Hong Kong, excepted Taiwan, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Denmark, Dominica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, eSwatini, Fiji, Georgia, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lesotho, Liberia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malawi, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Monaco, Morocco, Namibia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Oman, Palau, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Republic of the Philippines, Russian Federation, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, São Tomé and Príncipe, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Suriname, Switzerland, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Venezuela.

Exemption from any certification

Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden.

Further information – certification (PDF, 216 KB) (in German only)