Degree and certificate attestation for Saudi Arabia: apostille or legalisation

If your degree was issued in a country that is a party to the Apostille Convention, such as India, Pakistan or the Philippines, it usually needs an apostille from that country, not Saudi embassy legalisation. Saudi Arabia joined the Convention with effect from 7 December 2022. The education authority at home verifies the degree first.

This guide is for people with a Saudi job offer, and for the HR teams and recruitment agents preparing their files. It explains why the documents are needed, how the chain works now, and the routes for India, Pakistan and the Philippines. It covers educational certificates mainly, with a short note on personal and commercial documents.

Why Saudi Arabia asks for attested certificates

A Saudi employer, the work visa process or a professional body may ask for your degree or diploma to be attested, depending on your job title and nationality. An apostille or a chain of attestations lets an authority in Saudi Arabia rely on a foreign signature and seal without checking them itself.

Common reasons you may be asked:

• The work visa. Where required for your job title or nationality, the qualification behind the visa may need to be supported by an attested or apostilled degree.
• Residency after arrival. Your employer handles the residence permit (iqama) inside Saudi Arabia and may ask for the same documents.
• Professional registration. Engineers, health workers and other regulated professions may need to register with a Saudi professional body, which can make its own checks on your qualifications.

Attestation is also separate from Saudi Arabia's online checks of the qualification itself, such as QVP professional verification. A file can need both.

Not every applicant needs every step. Ask your employer or recruitment agent which documents they need attested, and for what purpose, before you start.

What changed when Saudi Arabia joined the Apostille Convention

Saudi Arabia deposited its accession to the Hague Apostille Convention on 8 April 2022, and the Convention entered into force for the Kingdom on 7 December 2022, according to the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH). India, Pakistan and the Philippines are also parties, as the HCCH status table shows.

Under the Convention, a member country exempts public documents from other member countries from legalisation, which is the stamp of its own embassy or consulate. The apostille, issued by the competent authority of the country where the document comes from, replaces it.

Before 7 December 2022, a foreign degree for use in Saudi Arabia needed full legalisation, which ended with the Saudi embassy or consulate in the issuing country. Many articles online still describe that older chain. For a public document from another member country, the Convention removes the Saudi embassy stage.

Three points are worth knowing:

1. An apostille confirms the signature and seal, not the content. It certifies the authenticity of the signature, the capacity of the person who signed and the seal on the document. It does not say the degree itself is valid or accredited, so a Saudi employer or professional body can still make its own checks.
2. Some commercial documents are excluded. The Convention does not apply to administrative documents dealing directly with commercial or customs operations, so those may still need legalisation.
3. The country that issued the document decides the route. A document from a country that is not a party still goes through legalisation, ending with the Saudi embassy or consulate in that country.

If you are unsure whether your document needs only an apostille or something more, check with the Saudi mission in the country that issued it.

The general chain for an educational certificate

Whatever the country, the order is broadly the same:

1. Verification at home. The education authority, university, board or state government in the issuing country confirms the certificate.
2. The apostille. The country's competent authority, often its foreign ministry, adds the apostille. If the country is not in the Convention, the foreign ministry attests the document instead.
3. The Saudi mission, only where still required. For a country outside the Convention, the Saudi embassy or consulate legalises the document.
4. Checks in Saudi Arabia. The employer, the visa process or a professional body may verify the qualification further.

Each stage relies on the one before it, so the order matters. A stage skipped or done out of order usually means going back.

India

The Convention has been in force for India since 14 July 2005. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) issues apostilles on personal documents, such as birth, death and marriage certificates, affidavits and powers of attorney, and on educational documents, such as degrees, diplomas, and matriculation and secondary certificates. For countries that are not in the Convention, the MEA does normal attestation instead.

The route for an Indian degree:

1. State verification. The MEA legalises documents on the basis of the signatures of designated signing authorities of the state government, union territory or chambers of commerce. So your certificate is first verified by the authority your state designates.
2. Submission. The MEA does not take documents directly from applicants. They go through its outsourced service providers, or online through e-Sanad for the documents that service covers.
3. The apostille. The MEA adds the apostille.

The MEA gives no processing time. It asks applicants to apply well in advance, because it needs time to verify and process documents.

Pakistan

Pakistan joined the Convention with effect from 9 March 2023. Its Ministry of Foreign Affairs lists Saudi Arabia among the countries that accept the apostille for eligible Pakistani documents, and tells applicants to check the receiving authority's requirements before applying.

The route for a Pakistani degree:

1. HEC attestation. The Higher Education Commission (HEC) attests degrees, transcripts, provisional certificates and HEC equivalence letters through an online portal. HEC checks the application, sends it to the university that awarded the degree for verification, and issues an e-Attestation Certificate in your online account. HEC does not attest foreign degrees, only its equivalence letters for them.
2. Other prior attestations. The MOFA checklist sets them out by document. School and board certificates go to the Inter Board Committee of Chairmen (IBCC). Medical degrees need both HEC and the Ministry of National Health Services. Technical skills certificates need the local technical board and NAVTTC.
3. The MOFA application. You register on the MOFA applicant portal and apply for the apostille. An officer at the Foreign Affairs Liaison Office (FALO) reviews the documents, and then you book an appointment and pay online.
4. The office visit. On your appointment date, you submit the originals at the FALO office and collect the apostilled documents from its delivery counter, as MOFA's application steps describe.

The Philippines

The Convention has been in force for the Philippines since 14 May 2019. Apostilles there are issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA); the HCCH list of competent authorities has the details.

For a degree or transcript from a private or local college or university, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) describes this route:

1. At your school. You give the diploma or transcript of records to your school. The registrar certifies them and endorses them to the CHED regional office.
2. The CAV. CHED checks the file and, if it is approved, releases a Certification, Authentication and Verification (CAV) on security paper to the school.
3. The DFA. For use abroad, you take the CAV in its sealed envelope to a DFA office for the apostille, booking an appointment online.

The CHED page covers private and local colleges and universities. If you studied at a state university or college, check the route with your school and the DFA before you start.

Personal and commercial documents

Personal documents, such as birth and marriage certificates, follow the same logic. They are verified by the issuing authority at home, then apostilled in a member country. In Pakistan, for example, MOFA's checklist asks for civil records with the stamps of the issuing authority, such as NADRA or the union council.

Commercial documents need more care. Pakistan's MOFA asks for chamber of commerce or issuing-authority authentication where required, and India's MEA relies on chamber of commerce signatures for some documents. Administrative documents dealing directly with commercial or customs operations fall outside the Convention, so they may still need legalisation. Check with the Saudi mission before you start.

How long it takes

Each authority in the chain works to its own timetable, and most of the official pages above give no processing time. India's MEA asks applicants to apply well in advance.

Our own estimate for document attestation is usually 3 to 15 working days, depending on the document, the issuing country and the authorities involved. All timelines are estimates and depend on the relevant authorities and individual circumstances.