Notarising your diplomafor UPJŠ Košice
UPJŠ will not enrol you on a diploma alone. It has to be apostilled at home, copied by a Slovak notary, translated by a sworn Slovak translator and recognised. The copy and the translation can only be made once you land. The recognition, for most of our applicants, is a PDF you print before you go.
This page is the whole route. Pick the country your diploma was issued in and the page changes to your offices, your addresses, your fees and your waiting times.
Four steps, in one strict order.
The apostille goes on first, at home. The Slovak notary copy is taken from the apostilled document, and the translation is made from that copy. Do it in any other order and you pay for all of it twice. Only the first step happens in your own country.
At home
apostille, or legalisationOne stamp from one office if your country is in the Hague system. A chain of stamps ending at a Slovak embassy if it is not.The certified copy
in Slovakia, not at homeA Slovak notary stamps a copy against your apostilled original. About €3.08 a page including VAT, walk in, no appointment.The Slovak translation
in Slovakia, not at homeOnly a translator in the Slovak Ministry of Justice register can make an úradný preklad. A translator at home cannot.Recognition
a PDF you print, or the RÚŠS officeSlovakia publishes a ready made statement for 34 countries. If yours is one of them you print it yourself and never visit an office. If not, it is RÚŠS Košice at Moldavská cesta 3110/10B.Choose your country.
Twenty-six countries, each with its own offices, fees and waiting times. Only step one changes with your country. Steps two and three happen in Košice and are the same for everybody. Step four depends on whether Slovakia already publishes a recognition statement for your diploma.
Every step below changes when you choose.
Norsk? Velg Norge i listen over, så vises stegene under på norsk.
The requirement, in the university's own words.
- Your home country produces exactly one thingThe apostille, or the legalisation chain if your country sits outside the Hague system. That is the whole job at home.
- Košice produces the certified copy and the translationBoth have to be made in Slovakia and neither can be done before you arrive. The recognition is separate: for 34 countries it is a PDF you print at home before you fly.
- The transcript travels with the diplomaIf your grades come on a separate sheet, every step on this page applies to it as well. Sending one without the other is the most common resubmission.
- Do not laminate anythingA laminated certificate cannot be stamped, and most offices refuse it outright. If yours is already laminated, order a clean replacement now, not in September.
The hard deadline is the end of October.
The university's Request for Recognition deadline is 15 September 2026. If the decision has not arrived you still enrol, against a signed declaration, and hand the paper in afterwards. What you actually have to meet is the end of October, because after that you may be excluded from your studies.
| What | When | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Return slip and first tuition instalment | 31 August 2026 | both due the same day, bank transfer only |
| Enrolment | 9 September 2026, 11:00 | bring the notarised certificate with its translation. If your recognition is not ready you sign a declaration instead, and you are not turned away |
| Introductory Assembly | 10 September 2026 | obligatory, in the Aula |
| Request for Recognition deadline | 15 September 2026 | the university's own deadline, and it falls after enrolment |
| Recognition decision, final | end of October 2026 | the hard deadline: miss it and you may be excluded from your studies |
| Winter semester begins | 16 September 2026 | teaching starts |
| Matriculation ceremony | 19 November 2026 | obligatory for new first years |
Enrolment slots differ between agencies. UPJŠ issues a separate General Information Letter to each one, so another agency's students may have been given 7 September at 09:00. If a friend shows you a different date, neither of you is wrong. Ours is 9 September at 11:00.
The folder you carry to enrolment.
- Original diploma with its apostille or legalisation physically attached, staple and eyelet untouched
- Your grade transcript, through exactly the same steps as the diploma
- Two or three notary certified copies, made in Košice
- The sworn Slovak translation bundle, bound to a certified copy and not to your original
- Recognition decision, or the free recognition statement, or written proof you have filed for it
- Birth certificate: original, certified copy and translation. If yours is issued in English, UPJŠ accepts it as it is and there is nothing to translate
- Passport, plus a few plain photocopies of the photo page
- Proof of the return slip and the first tuition instalment, both dated 31 August
- Everything photographed and scanned at 300 dpi before it leaves your hands
If a bag goes missing you lose the apostille, not just the paper, and the whole chain starts again in your home country. There is no version of that story that ends before September.
Five mistakes that cost people a year.
Every one of these has happened to a real applicant. None of them are hard to avoid once you know they exist.
- Laminating the certificateA laminated diploma cannot be stamped at any counter in any country on this page. Most offices refuse it on sight, and a replacement from an exam board takes weeks.
- Getting the apostille on a photocopyThe apostille belongs on the document that carries the school's own signature. Put it on a copy and the whole chain is worthless.
- Doing the notary step at homeIt is the single most common reason a file is sent back. Slovak law requires the notarised copy and the sworn translation to be made in Slovakia.
- Thinking enrolment day is your last chanceIf the decision is not ready you sign a declaration at enrolment and hand the paper in later. The hard deadline is the end of October, and that is the one that can cost you the place.
- Starting when the results come outMost of these offices work in weeks, not days, and July and August are their busiest months. June is not early.
Half of this cannot be done in your own country.
Every other guide treats notarisation as one job. It is two, and they happen in different countries. Your home country produces the apostille, and for 34 countries the printed recognition statement as well. Slovakia produces the certified copy and the sworn translation, and neither can be done before you land.
That is not a Medently preference. It is how the Slovak Ministry of Education wrote the rule, and a notarised copy made at home is refused at the counter in Košice no matter how official it looks.
A counter says no? Photograph it and message us.
Offices change their hours, a clerk may refuse a paper for a reason nobody wrote on any website, and prices on old notice boards contradict this page. When that happens, do not argue and do not guess. Send us a photo of the document, the counter or the price list and we will tell you the next move.
We are in Košice ourselves. These are the same offices we use, and this is the route we would walk with you.
Apostille at home, the rest in Slovakia
Your country makes the apostille. The certified copy and the Slovak translation have to be made in Slovakia, and that is the law, not a preference.
Copies are cheap, originals are not
Every office keeps what you file, and a translator binds the paper forever. Spare certified copies cost about three euros and save the original.
The end of October is the hard deadline
If the decision is not ready on enrolment day you sign a declaration and hand the paper in later. Miss the end of October and you may be excluded from your studies.
