How to have a foreign educational diploma recognised in Bulgaria?

In Bulgaria you can have documents of secondary or higher education recognised. In both cases, the first thing to do is to translate the document into Bulgarian and legalise the translation. It is advisable to make a notarised copy of the diploma or school certificate in advance so as not to lose the original.

School leaving certificate

Recognition of secondary (lower secondary) education is usually required in order to exchange or obtain a driving licence for the first time in Bulgaria. It is worth taking care in advance to find your school certificate or to obtain a duplicate of it. By law, a higher education document is also acceptable for obtaining or exchanging a driving licence, but in practice this usually involves a number of difficulties and requires additional meetings and discussions with the staff of KAT (the traffic police). Therefore, if it is possible to use the school certificate, it is better to give preference to that option.

The legalisation process takes about a month. You need to apply to the RUO (Regional Education Directorate) in the regional city where you live, submit the school certificate (translated and legalised), a copy of the document and a completed application form (it will be given to you on the spot), and then pay the state fee. In about a month you can collect the certificate of recognition of secondary education.

Legalisation of a higher education diploma

If a university diploma needs to be recognised, the procedure is slightly different. The translated and legalised diploma together with its transcript must be sent, along with an application, to NACID (the National Centre for Information and Documentation) in Sofia. There is no charge for recognition of the diploma; the service is free. However, it is hard to predict how long the procedure will take. Sometimes a diploma can be recognised in a couple of weeks, and sometimes it takes several months. This depends both on how quickly the university responds to the enquiry and on whether the educational institution or the specialisation is in the NACID database. Educational documents in the so-called “regulated professions” (the list includes doctors, pharmacists, lawyers and so on) are assessed by special committees made up of representatives of the relevant professions. The task of such a committee is to assess whether the education obtained corresponds to Bulgarian standards. If there is a shortfall in teaching hours in certain subjects, the difference can be made up by taking additional training in Bulgaria, after which the degree will be treated as equivalent to a Bulgarian one. This is confirmed by a certificate of equivalence of the educational degree. Such a document is necessary in order to work in the profession or to continue studying. In general, specialists in “regulated professions” are subject to specific requirements, and without meeting them it will not be possible to work in the profession.

“Non-regulated professions” are subject to less strict requirements, so the time needed for recognition of the diploma will be shorter, and additional training is unlikely to be required.