Another of our professional counseling series will explain the most important questions regarding the recognition of foreign education in the Czech Republic.

This article is designed for third-country nationals residing in CZ on at least a long-term visa.

Our clients are most often interested in the recognition of their foreign university education diploma, so we’ll focus on the university education topic in this article. If you’re interested in recognition of your elementary or high school education, please make an appointment for our counseling – see the last article for info.

What is the recognition of foreign education?

If you want to pursue further education or employment in the field you’ve studied, you might encounter an obligation to nostrificate your foreign education. This means that your foreign education is compared to its Czech counterpart and subsequently you may be given a certificate with which you may enroll in universities and be employed in professional job positions just like Czech nationals.

CARE: The Czech Republic has a list of so-called regulated professions. To carry out these professions, you need not only to have a recognized foreign education, but you also need to meet special criteria regulated by the law. The list of regulated professions can be found HERE.

What documents must I supply to have my foreign education recognized?

The first step is to find a corresponding public university that offers an accredited study program similar in content to that which you have studied abroad. You may use this list of the Ministry of Education as a basic guide. We’d also be happy to help you during our social counseling.

Next, you’ll need a certified copy of your university diploma and diploma attachments, which can be made by a notary or personnel of Czech Post’s CzechPOINT. You can find a map of CzechPOINT contact points HERE. If your diploma is not in the Czech, Slovak, or English languages, you must have it translated into the Czech language by a certified interpreter.

Then you have to fill in an application form, available for download on each university’s website.

You’ll also have to pay a fee of 3 000 CZK to the university to process the application.

In case you ask a third-party representative to handle the process of nostrification for you, you must issue them a power of attorney.

If you’ve studied in a country that has signed the Bilateral contract on international legal aid, you won’t need anything else. These countries are Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Belgium, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Montenegro, France, Georgia, Yemen, Croatia, Korea (North Korea), Cuba, Cyprus, Kyrgyzstan, Hungary, Macedonia / FYROM, Moldova, Mongolia, Poland, Austria, Romania, the Russian Federation, Greece, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia, Syria, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam.

In case you need recognition of foreign education from countries other than above, you’ll need a higher degree of certification, either superlegalization or apostille. In this case, we advise you to make an appointment for our social counseling.

Where to deliver the required documents?

We recommend handing all documents for nostrification application in person to your selected university. In case you can’t hand them in person, you may also send them via the post office to the university’s address. 

You will find detailed information on the website of the respective universities.  

How long does the process of recognition of foreign education take?

The prescribed period of time is 30 days. In more complicated cases, the process may take up to 60 days.

Got more questions?

Each situation is unique, so we’d always recommend visiting our organization, where we can answer your questions in depth. Call +420 252 543 846 and make an appointment for counseling.

We’d like to point out that all information is valid as of the article publication date. The information may change with time. You may always inquire about the current situation in a personal meeting.

We’ve also prepared a short video on this topic. Check it out!☺