Med Admission & application
Apostille and sworn translation: the order of operations that saves you starting over
· Med Romania
A translator sworn before a court in your own country carries no weight at all with a Romanian university.
It’s counter-intuitive, it’s expensive to discover, and it’s one of the three mistakes that make you redo an entire application. The other two: translating before apostilling, and forgetting to have the apostille itself translated.
Apostille, sworn translation, notarial certification: three perfectly manageable formalities, provided you do them in the right order. Here is the exact circuit, the real timescales, and what it costs.
What’s covered
🧭 The principle in one sentence
Apostille the originals first. Have them translated next, apostille included. Have the translator’s signature certified last.
The order isn’t an administrative preference, it’s a technical constraint: an apostille authenticates a public document. A translation isn’t one. Apostilling a translation therefore produces nothing usable, and you have to start again from the original.
🏛️ The apostille: what, where, how
An apostille is a stamp or sticker authenticating the origin of a public document for use abroad. Since Romania and every EU member state are party to the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961, it is sufficient — there’s no need to go through the Romanian consulate.
Which documents
| Document | Apostille |
|---|---|
| School-leaving certificate | ✅ |
| Secondary-school transcripts | ✅ |
| Birth certificate | ✅ |
| Marriage certificate (if applicable) | ✅ |
| Passport (copy) | ❌ |
| Medical certificate (FR/EN) | ❌ |
| Motivation letter, CV | ❌ |
Where to request it
The competent authority is the body designated by your own country — in France, the Court of Appeal covering the authority that signed the document:
- School-leaving certificate — the Court of Appeal for the place of issue; your education authority will tell you which.
- Birth certificate — the Court of Appeal for the place the certificate was issued.
- Transcripts — the Court of Appeal covering the school.
In the UK it’s the FCDO Legalisation Office; in Ireland, the Department of Foreign Affairs. The procedure is the same everywhere: you send the original or a certified copy with your request and a prepaid return envelope. In France the service is free. Allow one to three weeks.
Four EU countries are an exception. According to Romania’s CNRED, diplomas issued in Greece, Spain, Portugal and Cyprus require an apostille despite EU membership. If your diploma comes from one of those countries, don’t assume the European framework exempts you.
📝 The sworn translation
Who is allowed to translate
Only translators authorised by the Romanian Ministry of Justice, listed on an official register under Law No. 178/1997.
This is where almost everyone goes wrong. A translator sworn in your own country, however qualified, is not recognised by the Romanian authorities. Always check the Romanian accreditation number.
| Option | Advantage | Drawback |
|---|---|---|
| Sworn translator in Romania | Knows the university standards, 3–7 days | Dealing at a distance |
| Romanian translator based in your country | Local, speaks your language | Rarer, more expensive |
| Specialist agency | Turnkey | Intermediary cost |
The official list is available on the Romanian Ministry of Justice website.
Documents already in a major language
Most Romanian universities accept documents whose original version is in French, English, Spanish or Italian — without translation. So an English or French diploma often passes as is.
We nonetheless recommend having everything translated into Romanian. The practical reason: some Romanian administrative bodies, including CNRED for equivalences, require the Romanian version. Having both from the outset costs €150. Having to translate urgently in September costs double and loses a week. Our CNRED equivalence guide sets out when that step becomes compulsory.
✍️ Certifying the signature
Once the translation is done, the translator’s signature must be certified by a Romanian notary — or by the Romanian consulate in your country. This step attests that the translator is who they claim to be.
| Step | Where | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Sworn translation | Translator’s office | €15–50 per page |
| Signature certification | Romanian notary | €10–30 per signature |
Most translators offer both in a single order. Ask for it explicitly: it’s faster and often cheaper than arranging the notary separately.
🔄 One document’s complete journey
Émilie, a French school leaver, is preparing her application for Cluj. Here’s her diploma’s journey.
- Town hall. She has a certified copy of her original diploma made. Free, immediate.
- Court of Appeal. She sends that copy with her apostille request and a return envelope. Two weeks.
- Return. She gets the apostilled, stamped copy back.
- Translator. She sends the scan to an accredited Romanian translator, with this explicit instruction: “Translate the diploma and the apostille.”
- Five days later. The translator delivers the translation and has their signature certified by a Romanian notary.
- Result. Émilie has two PDFs: the apostilled copy and the certified translation. Both go up onto the admission platform.
The same circuit applies to the birth certificate and the transcripts. Handle them in parallel, not in sequence — that’s the only way to hold the overall timeline.
⏱️ Real timescales and costs
| Step | Minimum | Realistic |
|---|---|---|
| Certified copy | 1 day | 2–3 days |
| Apostille | 1 week | 2–3 weeks |
| Sworn translation | 3 days | 5–7 days |
| Notarial certification | 1 day | 2–3 days |
| Total per document | ~2 weeks | ~4–5 weeks |
| Item | Unit | Quantity | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apostille | Free (France) | 3–4 documents | €0 |
| Translation | €15–50/page | 10–15 pages | €150–400 |
| Certification | €10–30/signature | 3–4 | €30–120 |
| Total budget | €180–520 |
An unexpected piece of good news: the apostille, the most intimidating part, is free in France. The real cost concentrates on the translation — and that’s precisely the item not to economise on.
⚠️ The five classic traps
1. Translating before apostilling. The apostille goes on the original or its certified copy, never on a translation. Correct order: original → certified copy → apostille → translation including the apostille.
2. Using a translator sworn in your own country. Without Romanian Ministry of Justice accreditation, the translation is refused. It’s the most expensive trap because you only discover it at the point of rejection.
3. Sending a plain photocopy. The apostille applies only to originals or certified copies. A photocopy will be neither apostilled nor accepted.
4. Forgetting to have the apostille translated. It has its own official text. If the translator doesn’t translate it, the university may consider the document incomplete. Put it in your order.
5. Leaving the health documents until last. Neither the GP’s certificate nor the psychological report requires an apostille or translation if they’re in French or English — but finding a psychologist who administers the NEO PI-R or Young’s test takes two to three weeks. That’s comparable to the apostille timeline. Start both at the same time. The full list is in our application checklist.
The summary table by document
| Document | Certified copy | Apostille | Translation | Certification |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| School-leaving certificate | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Transcripts | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Birth certificate | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Passport (copy) | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Medical certificate (FR/EN) | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Language certificate | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Motivation letter, CV | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
If you come from a country outside the Hague Convention
The apostille isn’t enough. You have to go through full legalisation, in three stages: your country’s education ministry, then its foreign affairs ministry, then the Romanian embassy or consulate.
Allow two to three months. That isn’t a cautious estimate, it’s the normal duration. If this applies to you, start before you’ve even chosen your university.
What you can do this week
Two steps, in this order, and nothing else.
Get certified copies made of your diploma, your transcripts and your birth certificate. It’s free in most places and takes twenty minutes. Then send everything to the competent apostille authority the same day — it’s the one delay you can never make up.
During the two to three weeks of waiting, deal with the rest: the full 14-document checklist, and your university’s deadlines to check the timeline holds.
Sources. Hague Convention (HCCH); CNRED — list of countries requiring an apostille; Romanian Ministry of Justice — authorised translators; Romanian Law No. 178/1997. Verified 31 July 2026.
🛡️ If you’d rather not do it alone
The apostille and translation are exactly the kind of process where getting the order wrong costs a month. We handle the sworn translations and the apostille, check every document before it goes out, file the application at the university registry and follow it through to confirmation.