International documents must be submitted in the original or be verified (or notarized) as a true copy of the original. Regardless of where the school-leaving (=Reifeprüfungszeugnis) certificate was issued, all documents must additionally be certified as a “true copy of the original”:
1. Due to a bilateral agreement, verification procedures do not apply to documents issued from the following countries (however, all documents must be submitted in the original or as a verified "true" copy of the original) :
Bosnia and Herzegovina | Liechtenstein | Serbia |
Bulgaria | Macedonia | Slovakia |
Germany | Montenegro | Slovenia |
Estonia | Netherlands | Czechia |
Finland | Norway | Hungary |
France | Poland | |
Italy | Romania | |
Croatia | Sweden | |
2. Documents issued by contracting states of the so-called “Hague Convention Abolishing The Requirements of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents“ must be verified with an APOSTILLE*. The verification, in the form of apostille, is to be issued by the foreign ministry or Foreign Office of the issuing country in regards to the documents involved or issued by the proper authorities from the foreign ministry. The Apostille must be submitted in the original.
Member states of the Hague Convention Abolishing The Requirements of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents“ include:
Albania | Honduras | |
Andorra | India | Panama |
Angola | Ireland | Paraguay |
Antigua and Barbuda | Iceland | Peru |
Argentina | Israel | Portugal |
Armenia | Japan | Russian Federation |
Azerbaijan | Cape Verde | Samoa |
Australia | Kazakhstan | San Marino |
Bahamas | Columbia | São Tomé and Principe |
Bahrain | Republic of Korea | St. Christopher and Nevis |
Barbados | Lesotho | St. Kitts und Nevis |
Belarus | Latvia | St. Lucia |
Belgium | Liberia | St. Vincent and the Grenadines |
Belize | Lithuania | Switzerland |
Botswana | Luxembourg | Sychelles |
Brazil | Malawi | Spain |
Brunei Darussalam | Malta | South Africa |
Chile | Morocco | Suriname |
China (China-Hong Kong SAR and Macao only) | Marshall Islands | Swaziland |
Costa Rica | Mauritius | Tonga |
Denmark | Mexico | Trinidad and Tobago |
Dominica | Moldavia | Turkey |
Ecuador | Monaco | Ukraine |
El Salvador | Mozambique | Uruguay |
Fiji | Namibia | Vanuatu |
Georgia | Neuseeland | Venezuela |
Grenada | Nicaragua | United States of America |
Greece | Niue | United Kingdom |
Guyana | Oman | Cyprus |
| | |
3. Documents issued by countries not listed above must be submitted with complete diplomatic verification. For this purpose, the documents' authenticity must be verified by the foreign ministry of the country in which the documents were issued and also verified by the Austrian consulate or embassy in that country
PLEASE NOTE:
The legalization of documents of certain states can be suspended by the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, if a reliable verification of the authenticity or substantive accuracy of these documents cannot be guaranteed. In these cases, the Austrian embassies may not state the authenticity of such documents. If your transcripts were issued by one of those countries the legalizations of your documents are not possible at the Austrian embassies. The admission process at Johannes Kepler University Linz cannot be done at this time.
For additional information, please see: Austrian Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs