Diploma nostrification in Poland: when it is required, how to apply and how much it costs in 2026

A Ukrainian higher-education diploma does not always need to be nostrified for employment or further study in Poland. The answer depends on the purpose, the profession and the legal status of the qualification.

An employer often evaluates a diploma for a non-regulated job. Regulated professions have separate rules, while formal equivalence to a Polish diploma is established by an authorised university.

The guide below reflects the position checked on 29 July 2026.

What diploma nostrification means

Nostrification is the formal procedure through which an authorised Polish university determines the Polish equivalent of a foreign higher-education diploma and professional title.

It is carried out by a university, not by NAWA or a voivodeship office.

When it is and is not required

Check NAWA before applying

KWALIFIKATOR provides preliminary information about foreign qualifications. Individual written information can be requested online through SYRENA and is issued free of charge in Polish as a digitally signed PDF.

A NAWA information statement is not a nostrification decision and does not grant professional authorisation.

A key point for Ukrainian diplomas

Poland and Ukraine have an agreement on the academic recognition of education documents. It supports access to further study but does not automatically grant access to every profession.

For a regulated profession, applicants must follow the rules of the competent professional authority.

Which institution conducts the procedure

The application goes to a Polish university holding scientific category A+, A or B+ in the relevant discipline. Categories can be checked in RAD-on.

Applicants should compare the rules, fees and procedures of more than one eligible university.

Required documents

Apostille and legalisation

There is no single rule that every diploma must always carry an apostille for nostrification. The university verifies authenticity and communicates its document requirements.

Confirm this before ordering an apostille or translations. NAWA authenticates documents issued by Polish, not Ukrainian, universities.

Step-by-step process

1. Identify the purpose: employment, a regulated profession, further study or an authority’s requirement.

2. Check KWALIFIKATOR and obtain NAWA information if needed.

3. Find a university with category A+, A or B+ in the relevant discipline.

4. Review its regulations, fee and translation requirements.

5. File the diploma, study records and admission document.

6. Correct any formal deficiencies.

7. Complete any examinations or professional practice required to address substantial differences.

8. Receive the recognition or refusal decision.

What the university compares

• level and duration of study;
• curriculum and learning outcomes;
• professional rights attached to the qualification;
• placements and practical training;
• substantial differences from the corresponding Polish programme.

How long it takes

The university has 90 days from receipt of a formally complete application to recognise or refuse the diploma. Time allowed for translations, examinations or placements is excluded.

Cost in 2026

The law sets a maximum rather than a fixed fee: no more than 50% of the minimum monthly basic salary of a professor at a public university.

From 1 May 2026 that salary is PLN 9,650, making the maximum nostrification fee PLN 4,825. A university may charge less.

The payment deadline set by the university cannot be shorter than 14 days. No fee is charged where the institution finds that it lacks competence to conduct the case.

Additional expenses

Fee waiver and public-employment-office support

Each university sets its own conditions for full or partial fee exemption. A registered unemployed person or jobseeker may also ask the local powiatowy urząd pracy about financing, but approval is discretionary.

Regulated professions require more

Nostrification confirms an academic equivalent but does not always grant the right to practise. Additional recognition by a ministry or professional chamber, language tests, state examinations, supervised practice or a licence may still be required.

Missing diploma or records

A separate procedure for confirming completion of study at a given level is available to certain people with refugee status, subsidiary protection or specified residence permits who do not possess a diploma.

PESEL UKR alone does not automatically place a person in that special procedure.

When recognition may be refused

• the institution or programme lacked accreditation;
• the institution did not form part of any country’s higher-education system;
• study was delivered contrary to the law of the country concerned;
• substantial differences were not compensated by examinations or practice;
• formal deficiencies were not corrected.