Based on the recent ministerial guidelines issued by the NGM, the labour office’s decision making practice regarding proof of education obtained abroad is changing in all applications for employment-related residence permits and work permits.
In future, all school documents issued outside the EEA will require Apostille authentication and, for issuing countries that are not parties to the Apostille Convention, diplomatic legalisation.
This change will not only affect first-time applications, but authentication will also be required in case of permit extensions. In the absence of certification, education is considered not to be certified.
All applications submitted as of today are now required to have proper authentication. With regard to the procedures currently under way, the authority has not yet been able to comment on whether it will be necessary to attach certified school documents in addition.
The change may also affect applications that are not related to a labour authority procedure (e.g. National Card), so it may be necessary to prove education with a document with appropriate authentication in such cases as well.