Enrollment & Degree Verification

International Authentications

Additional authentication may be required for university academic documents that will be used abroad. The registrar prepares a notarized affidavit to attest to the validity of the academic document, which may be an official transcript, official verification, or diploma (original or certified copy). The notarized affidavit with the academic document attached is then returned to the student to obtain additional authentication as described below if required. Authentication of documents may require up to five business days to process by the Registrar's Office.

If the country where the document will be used is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, the Virginia Secretary of the Commonwealth will affix an apostille* certificate and no further authentication is necessary. If the country is not party to the Hague Apostille Convention, the Virginia Secretary of the Commonwealth will affix a state authentication certificate. The document should then be sent to the Authentication Office of the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. to obtain the U.S. Department of State seal. Detailed instructions for authentication processing can be found at the links above. If necessary, authentication of the U.S. Department of State seal should be obtained at the foreign embassy concerned in Washington, D.C.

*What is an Apostille? An apostille is a certificate issued in Virginia by the Secretary of the Commonwealth for documents intended for use in foreign countries party to the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement for Legalization of Foreign Public Documents.

Questions? Contact the Registrar's office at 703-993-2448 or verify@gmu.edu.

REGISTRAR'S OFFICE

PATRIOT WEB