IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR ALL INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS
to apply for Bachelor or Master degree programs to any Russian university
In accordance with part 3 of article 107 of the Law in the Russian Federation, to apply for undergraduate or graduate programs to any Russian university,
international students from most countries should provide a proof to the admission commission that their previous education documents got abroad are recognized by Russian Federation, i.e a school certificate (to apply for a Bachelor degree) or a bachelor degree certificate (to apply for a Master degree).
✅There are three types of recognition of your previous education abroad:
1️⃣ Consular legalization (stamp of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of your country; before your departure to Russia),
2️⃣ Apostille (stamp of the Ministry of Education of your country; before your departure to Russia),
3️⃣ Certificate of recognition (issued by the Institution “Glavexpertcenter”in Moscow (after your arrival to Russia)
Depending on your country and existing international agreements on the recognition of education with the Russian Federation, you should obtain one or another type of recognition:
Just for example,
- students from Türkiye get for their school certificate: Apostille (in the Ministry of Education of Türkiye) and Certificate of recognition (in Moscow);
- students from Egypt should get only the Certificate of recognition (in Moscow);
- students from Algeria don’t need to recognize their school certificate at all.
Important: If different types of confirmation are required in your case, then you first need to make consular legalization or an apostille in your country, and only after that to send documents for recognition in Moscow.
✅ Many countries need to get the Certificate of recognition in Moscow! So much in advance, you need to check with the University you are going to apply if exactly you must recognize your previous school certificate in Moscow.
❗️It usually takes about 40-45 days to get the Certificate of recognition from Moscow.
🗓Therefore, you need to start this process in advance, better in February-March!
Information for those who need to get the recognition certificate in Moscow
1️⃣ You need to create your personal account on the website of the organization issuing the Certificate of recognition in Moscow https://nic.gov.ru/en/proc/nic/apply and upload there each of the following scanned documents separately:
- school certificate or bachelor degree certificate
- their supplements
- passport
- their legalized translations into Russian.
2️⃣ Fill out an online application and send all scanned copies electronically. If there are any errors when sending, the system will point you to them, they need to be corrected and resubmitted.
3️⃣ After sending the documents, you need to monitor the status in your account “Documents accepted for verification”.
4️⃣ Upon obtaining this status, you need to pay the State Fee for recognition in the amount of 6,500 rubles. Payment details will be sent you in your account or by email.
5️⃣ Then send all hard copies of your documents to Moscow via courier service. When sending documents through a courier service, you must send the following package of documents:
1. Application number;
2. A copy of the passport, if the passport is not in Russian, then its legalized translation
3. Your school certificate or degree certificate with all attachments + its legalized translation.
When addressing to a courier service, we recommend ordering delivery with the "Reverse" service. After verification in Moscow, your documents will be immediately handed over to the courier for return to the student. The organization does not accept documents from couriers without an invoice (delivery document). We recommend ordering a courier together with the reverse service.
6️⃣ Your documents will be sent you to the address indicated in your online application for recognition. If your postal address has changed, you need to inform them in advance about the change of address for the return of documents.
7️⃣ After the procedure is completed, you will be issued an electronic Certificate of recognition, it will be sent you by email or in your account. From January 2020, only an electronic certificate is issued. You print it out and submit along with the rest of the documents to the Admission office of your chosen University.
Important!!! It usually takes about 40-45 days to complete the recognition procedure from the moment the documents are sent online with the request to get the Certificate. Therefore, you need to start this procedure as soon as possible in order to have time to get a recognition certificate by the time you apply for admission to any university.
