Stage 3 of 7 · 6 lessons · ~2 weeks

Degrees, attestation and documents

Get your degree, transcripts and other papers into a form your destination accepts, before an offer arrives. Attestation, apostilles and recognition checks run through offices you do not control, so they belong early in the plan.

Start: Why your degree must be recognised

Lessons· one lesson for each topic, in this order

Do this

Find out whether your destination accepts an apostille or needs embassy legalisation.
Start degree and transcript attestation at your home country's education authority.
Check your degree in the destination's recognition system, if it has one.
Request experience letters from every past employer while contacts are still there.
Check passport validity and apply for a police clearance certificate if needed.
Scan everything into one folder and note each document's expiry date.

Start with

GuidePaid
HEC degree attestation, IBCC and MOFA apostille (Pakistan)
Higher Education Commission (HEC), Pakistan · Government fees per document
How Pakistani degrees are attested by HEC, IBCC and the Foreign Office, step by step

Practise

Notion
Track each document, the office that handles it, its status and its expiry date

Keep handy

UAE Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE)
Check which documents your UAE work permit needs before you start attestation
Qiwa (Saudi Ministry of Human Resources platform)
See what a Saudi employer needs from you to issue a permit

Also worth your time

Apostille Convention status table (opens in a new tab)Read
Check whether your home country and destination are members, and since when
Sefism 1:1 MentorshipGo deeper
Ask someone who did the attestation chain recently what slowed them down

Before moving on: A document plan: each document you need for your destination, the office that issues or attests it, whether you need an apostille or legalisation, recognition steps such as anabin or verification, and a start date for each, with the slowest ones already started.

Tauseef's advice

Start the paperwork the week you choose a destination. I have seen good offers delayed by months because a degree was stuck in attestation. And never pay a "fast-track" agent who promises stamps without your originals: forged attestation is a fast way to a ban.