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Authenticating Academic Documents for Use in Qatar

If you’re planning to teach overseas, or if you’ve ventured out to international job markets, you may have realized that some countries have extra requirements for document authentication. China, Qatar, and Kuwait—just to name a few.

Let’s say you need your education documents (originating in the US) legalized for use in Qatar.

Qatar Diploma / Degree Attestation

The new requirements set by the Qatar Embassy/Consulate require the following documents to be processed together as a set:

1. Original Diploma (Notarized)

2. Original Transcript (Notarized)

3. Original Verification Letter (Notarized) — verification letter must be signed with a live signature and stamped by the registrar’s office and contain the following information

Certificate information is accurate
Enrollment and attendance (full-time, part-time, distance)
Study and tests locations
Degree obtained by the student (Diploma, Bachelors, Masters, Doctorate)
Duration of the program
The actual time the student spent to get a certificate (study start date – study end date)
Public or private academic institution
*In cases where the student attended more than two institutions, this must be specified in this letter. The letter must mention that the diploma took place on campus, face to face, not online, in case students took some portion online, specify how many classes out of how many on campus-in person.

The three documents specified above will need to be bundled together as one set. The three documents will receive one seal/stamp from the US Department of State, and then will be legalized by the embassy/consulates.

The Qatar consulate will only legalize ORIGINAL documents—photocopies/scanned copies are no longer accepted. You may re-order a diploma with your university for this document legalization process.

These are the necessary steps that need be completed by the Secretary of State, U.S. Department of State, and the relevant embassy—Qatar’s consulate, in this case.

Before you send these documents in to WCS, each document must be notarized locally by a notary public where the document was issued. Then, the bundle (all the documents together) must be certified by the local secretary of state. Only after these critical steps are completed, should you send in your document bundle to WCS.

Once you’ve sent in the documents to WCS, we’ll send you our Education Records Consent and Release Form — you must return this document to us signed and completed.

From there, WCS will handle the document legalization process. WCS will take the bundle to the US Department of State and finally to the Qatar embassy/consulate.

Better yet, handle this process step-by-step with our app, WCS Express. We’re here to answer any questions you may have throughout this process!

Apostille-FBI-Authentication-Letter-by-William-G-Mckinsey.jpg

Teaching Abroad

What Do I Need to Teach Abroad?

Each country has its own requirements, but there are two main documents required for most teaching programs.

You will need:

A copy of your FBI Criminal Background Check
A copy of your MFA College Diploma + Transcript

After obtaining these documents, they must then be certified OR notarized* in the originating state.

Here’s where it gets a little tricky… if the country you are heading to is a signatory of the 1961 Hague Convention, then you need to get an Apostille.

If the country you are heading to is NOT a signatory of the 1961 Hague Convention, then your documents will need to go through Embassy Legalization–which is a more complex, lengthier process of certifying the authenticity of your educational documents.

What is an Apostille? What’s Embassy Legalization?

Essentially, both these items are forms of certification from the US government that informs the receiving international government the documents in question are valid and able to be used overseas.

Why do I need to get an Apostille for a criminal background check?

Especially in Asian countries, there has been an unfortunate rise of criminals and sexual predators who have entered the country with the intention of teaching English in their school systems. Because of this, there has been a need for increased security within the education realm, and ESL teaching applicants must now provide certification of their documents.

How do I get an Apostille for my diploma?

Contact your school’s registrar for your school’s policy on notarizing a diploma. Oftentimes, you must request the registrar meet with yourself and a notary to notarize the signature on the diploma.

After you have notarized your diploma, you can mail them into a trusted document authenticating company (WCS…duh!) and let us take care of the rest.

*If your document needs to be notarized, find a notary near you—oftentimes, your banking institution may provide you of this service, or you can find a list of local notaries by state HERE.

*Some countries require that notarized, government-issued document need to be authenticated further through a certification of validity from the Office of the Secretary of State.

REMEMBER: Your diploma MUST be notarized, signed by your Registrar, and Apostilled from the same State the school is located in.

If you’re teaching in Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, prepare to be met with strict requirements on degree authentication. You will need to follow additional steps and provide supplemental documentation.

Teaching abroad is going to be an amazing experience. Don’t get bogged down by the complexities of document authentication, contact us and let us handle the grunt work for you.

Watch Out for Fake Stamps!

Recently we received a call from a major corporate customer asking about our document legalization services for United Arab Emirates (UAE). He was comparing our prices and processes with his current service provider. As we went into the details, he explained that our National U.S. Arab Chamber of Commerce (NUSACC) stamp was more expensive than the US Arab Chamber of Commerce stamp that his current service provider used.

This was an odd statement because there is only ONE authorized Chamber of Commerce stamp for legalizing documents in UAE: the NUSACC stamp with the green outline (pictured). We contacted the UAE Embassy and were told that the only recognized “Chamber” stamp is the NUSACC stamp and that any other stamp is fraudulent. More importantly, the completed documents could not be legally used in the UAE.

Unfortunately, some providers in this industry are engaged in unethical business practices. They “invent” their own Chamber stamp (see the stamp outlined in yellow) and then convince their customers that the stamp is legitimate.

The service providers using fraudulent stamps are engaging in unethical and possibly illegal practices. More importantly for regulatory professionals, by accepting such a stamp, you may be exposing your company to substantial risks, including the non-recognition of your documents in a foreign country, claims of violating the law in a foreign country, and millions of dollars of lost revenue.

Fake stamps are no laughing matter. If you are concerned about documents that may not have been properly and legally authenticated, contact WCS. We will be sure to give you accurate, trustworthy guidance.

How To Deal With Government Entities To Get Your Documents Legalized:

Regulated industries, including but certainly not limited to, Pharmaceuticals, Medical Devices, Biotechnology, and Consumer Products, have a virtual obstacle course of hoops to jump through in efforts to bring their products to market. Companies that have a global footprint continue the hoop jumping in efforts to get the product onto international “shelves.” It is for those additional steps that companies sending product overseas should outsource.

Document Legalization: a process during which documents are navigated through an assembly line of notarizations, certifications, and authentications so that these documents can be used in foreign countries to transact business. It is a “hurry up and wait” game as the documents are passed around government agencies in hopes of getting their stamps of approval. Notaries, Clerks of Court, Chambers of Commerce, Secretaries of State, U.S. Department of State, and Embassies…Oh my!

It is a necessary evil, a niche administrative task that can be confusing and tedious, and it should be outsourced. Here is why:

Managing Document Legalization Through Mergers & Acquisitions

Businesses growing in global markets must continuously manage the processes associated with meeting countries’ regulatory requirements for the sale and distribution of their products. Over time, a company may establish a significant library of authorizations and authentications for legal operation in each country where it does business. But, what happens when a company merges with or is acquired by another?

Here are a few actions we recommend:

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Your Business Partner in Global Legalization

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