Education Document Translation for Lithuania

Enrolment is not completed without the SKVC assessment

The authority competent for the recognition of foreign education documents in Lithuania is SKVC. Its decision states what a qualification corresponds to within the Lithuanian system, and it is in most cases the document looked for before university enrolment can be completed. Some universities may exercise this power in-house; where the power has not been delegated, however, the decision is awaited from SKVC itself. Asking at the outset which route the institution you are applying to follows is therefore the first step towards setting the timetable properly.

The assessment reads the length of the programme, its credit load and the stage of education after which it begins. Because the structure of undergraduate programmes in Türkiye maps largely onto the Lithuanian system, the process usually runs without trouble; the real hitches arise from the form of the documents.

Why each document is asked for

The diploma shows the degree and the institution; the academic transcript, with its record of courses and credits, is the basis of comparison. Undergraduate applications call for secondary education documents and the entrance examination result. A student certificate shows a current enrolment. A language proficiency certificate is a separate threshold on programmes taught in English; on programmes taught in Lithuanian, a Lithuanian certificate is looked for. Course descriptions are asked for only where the matching of the field is open to argument.

Who assesses	When
SKVC	At institutions without delegated power
The university itself	At institutions holding delegated power
The immigration unit	The form of documents at the residence stage

The problem met with most often

Since Lithuania has no sworn translator system, a translation is certified by a notary; the commonest mistake is that this certification is skipped. A translation without notarisation is not accepted in official business. The second frequent problem is not knowing whether the assessment is to be made by the university or by SKVC, so that the application goes to the wrong place. The third is the absence of an explanation of the grading scale from the academic transcript; the grade equivalents cannot be worked out.

Where translation sits in the process

The order: find out which route the target institution follows, gather the originals of the documents, complete the certification step in Türkiye, then have the translation made and certified by a notary. The certification note is included in the translation as well, which is why translation is left to the very end. You will find the levels of certification document by document on our documents page, and the differences between countries in our country guide.

The enrolment timetable and the order of documents

Receiving a letter of acceptance in Lithuania does not end the process; completing the enrolment also waits on the recognition assessment being concluded. Since these two timetables run independently of one another, it is misleading to relax once the acceptance letter has arrived. The right approach is to open the recognition application alongside the admission application and to prepare the documents in one go. As the documents are the same in any case, no extra cost arises; the one thing gained is time, and in the enrolment period that is the most valuable resource there is.

The second detail concerns programmes taught in English. Lithuania has a good many programmes teaching in English, and an academic application can be made with documents in English. Official business and the residence stage, however, may call for a notarised translation into Lithuanian. Asking beforehand which language is needed at which stage prevents needless translation and needless delay alike.

• Open the admission and recognition applications in parallel.
• Prepare the documents as a single set.
• Ask at which stage Lithuanian is required.
• Include the explanation of the grading scale in the translation.

Another thing to watch in Lithuania is programmes in the health field. Candidates applying to these have their documents examined in more detail; course descriptions, practical hours and placement records may be called for. Collecting these documents before leaving Türkiye is far easier than asking for them from a distance afterwards. Where the field is not health, the diploma and the academic transcript are usually enough.

The verifiability of the documents should be kept in view as well. Since the awarding institution may be approached during the assessment, particulars such as the diploma number and the date of graduation need to be legible and to be kept exactly as they stand in the translation. Altering the format of a number, or carrying it across incompletely, draws the verification out to no purpose.

A plan for copies should also be made from the start; a notarised translation may need to be used at more than one institution, and a second copy is prepared far more cheaply in the same round.

It is worth reckoning with the fact that documents stay in use for a long time in Lithuania. A process that begins with student status brings the same documents back onto the table at the post-graduation stages of work, residence and professional registration. Keeping digital copies of the notarised translation and of the recognition decision saves repeating the same work at those stages. Keeping a record of the terminology, likewise, keeps documents added later consistent with the first set. And since originals may be called for at enrolment, having the documents with you is a safer habit than trusting to the scanned version alone, and it leaves you ready for requests that come up at the last minute.

Allowing extra time for the notary step is the most practical way of meeting the enrolment date. You can look at our pricing page and request a quote by uploading your documents.

This content is for information; a country’s practice on apostille or consular legalisation can change. Settling the form the institution requires at the outset saves work having to be done twice.