Bosnia and Herzegovina (BA)

Authority: For higher education degrees: Centre for Information and Recognition of Qualifications in Higher Education (CIP — cip.gov.ba), the BiH NARIC/ENIC centre based in Mostar, issues formal recognition recommendations. For final nostrification decisions: Ministarstvo obrazovanja i nauke FBiH (Federation of BiH) and Ministarstvo prosvjete RS (Republika Srpska) issue binding nostrifikacija decisions. CIP provides a preparatory assessment and represents BiH internationally in the ENIC-NARIC network.

Process: Submit to the entity Ministry of Education: original degree certificate (apostilled), official transcripts, certified sworn translation into Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, completed application form and applicable fees. The ministry issues a nostrifikacija (nostrification) or izjava o ekvivalenciji (equivalence declaration). Bologna-compliant EU degrees (3+2 Bologna system) are recognised under the Bologna process without full nostrification for non-regulated employment. For enquiries before applying, CIP (cip.gov.ba) provides free information on whether a degree is likely to be recognised and at what level.

Equivalency service: Nostrifikacija — issued by entity Ministry of Education. Confirms the foreign degree is equivalent to a specified BiH degree level. Required for public sector employment, regulated professions and academic appointments. CIP also issues informal recognition opinions useful for job applications and pre-assessment. For private sector employment, many employers accept foreign degrees informally without formal nostrification, particularly in IT, business and international organisations.

Apostille: Apostille under the Hague Convention of 1961 is required for all foreign academic and professional documents. Request the apostille from the authority that issued the document (typically the Ministry of Education or Ministry of Foreign Affairs in your country). BiH is a Hague Convention member — apostilled documents from member states are accepted without further legalisation.

Legalisation: For documents from non-Hague Convention countries, full consular legalisation is required: authentication by the foreign ministry of the issuing country, then legalisation by the BiH diplomatic mission in that country. This process is slower and more expensive than apostille. Check if your country is a Hague Convention member before proceeding.

Sworn translation: All foreign-language documents must be translated by a certified sworn translator (sudski tumač) registered in BiH. The translation must be certified by the translator's official stamp and signature. Translations done abroad may not be accepted — use a BiH-registered sworn translator. Sworn translators can be found through entity courts (lists published at Ministarstvo pravde FBiH / RS).