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Home » Transcripts & Certifications

Apostille Certifications

The Apostille is much like an international notary, with rules and regulations agreed upon in the Hague Convention of 1961. The Apostille process serves as a way for documents to be recognized across international borders. If you are overseas and your home country requires a certified copy of your diploma or some other element of your academic record, our office can help you through this very complicated procedure.

It should be noted that in many cases when your home country requests a certified copy of your diploma, what they are really requesting is a document that certifies that you have attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and that you were awarded the degree that you claim to have been awarded. We offer several options for satifying this request.

• A Degree Certification: Degree Certifications are printed on official MIT letterhead and signed by the Registrar. They certify your dates of attendance and any degrees awarded from MIT. These documents are free of charge and can be produced very quickly. The Degree Certification is designed to satisfy most requirements that your home country may need. We can also add certain information to your degree certification, depending on what is needed. We can add your GPA, your undergraduate class rank, and a statement that the classes were conducted in English, if that is necessary.


• A copy of your Academic Transcript: Your transcript lists all the subjects you completed, the credit units for each subject, and the grades you received. It also includes your GPA as well as any degrees you have received from MIT. The transcript may satisfy the requirements of your home country, but it may also be more information than necessary.


• A copy of your diploma: If you require a notarized diploma, you will need to present us with your diploma to photocopy. MIT does not keep copies of diplomas on file. You may bring it in person to the Registrar's Office or mail it to us. If you mail it to us, we will send the diploma back to you free of charge once we have made the notarized copies.
  
  If you do not have your diploma, you may order a replacement.

Keep in mind when choosing one of these options that as part of the notary process, we must make a photocopy of the original document, notarize that photocopy, and then forward it to the Massachusetts State House.

Once you have chosen which document you would like to use, you should review the Apostille instructions listed on the Massachusetts Secretary of State's website.

You will notice on their website a statement which reads: "Photocopied signatures which appear on a document cannot be certified." This means that the notary signature must be original. We have a member of the notary public available here to handle that part of the process. There is no charge for the notary service.

Here is a step-by-step guide for having the document(s) you choose certified and sent.

1. Choose which of our documents you would like to have certified. You may choose more than one.


2. Follow the instructions for ordering each document you need. Instructions are found by following the links in the sidebar.


3. Include instructions with your request for us to have the documents notarized and prepared for the Apostille.


4. You will need to mail your request to us. After we produce and notarize the document(s), you will then need to have them forwarded to the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachussetts, according to their instructions.


5. To follow the Apostille instructions, you will need to include the following in the request you send us:
   
   
   
   • A letter addressed to the Secretary's office requesting the Apostille, with instructions for them to follow regarding how and where they should mail it when they have finished the Apostille.
   
   
   • An addressed envelope for them to use to send the document for you. They will not provide their own envelope.
   
   
   • A check to cover their fee for the Apostille
6. Finally, if you provide express shipping envelopes and prepared express shipping airway bills, we can send the document to the State House accordingly. Mail all of the above to us at:
   
   Apostille Certifications
   Registrar's Office
   MIT 5-119
   77 Massachusetts Avenue
   Cambridge, MA 02139-4307


7. We will forward the notarized document(s), the letter for the Secretary's office, the envelope they will use, and the check according to instructions that you provide in your request.

The Apostille process can be very complicated. We are happy to help you navigate through getting your academic record recognized in your home country. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or concerns about your request.

Questions? We may be reached by phone at (617) 253-2658 or by email.