Hi there, I was awarded the MOE scholarship to pursue my PhD studies in Taiwan. The thing is that the university (National Dong Hwa University) requires a legalized copy of my master’s diploma and transcript. This could be done at my local Taipei Office in my country (Peru), however, my diploma and transcript were issued in Spain (can’t travel there right now), thus the local Taipei Office won’t verify these documents.
Has anyone of you has had this kind of issue? Is there any alternative to solve this problem? Would this pose any trouble when requesting the visa?
Thank you. Yeah, I’m waiting for the Taiwanese university to reply, but I guess I’ll just have to send my papers to the TECO in Madrid and then have them mailed back to me
You have to get the degree authenticated by the closest TECO to the issuing university. It is inconvenient but that is the way it is, I was told by my employer there was no way around it. If you know someone in that town who can help you, that might make it easier.
I was in Canada and had to get my Australian degree authenticated, so I:
Emailed the TECO in Australia closest to the issuing university to check the instructions
Completed the TECO forms, as well as checking with the university to see if I needed to include any of their forms at the same time. This was difficult because the TECO forms required things like a fax number that the university didn’t have. In the end I included a cover letter explaining why the TECO forms were incomplete along with a copy of the email from the university explaining how their process and the TECO form were incompatible
Adding an original copy of my Masters degree with all of the other documents, I sent the entire package by courier to the TECO in Australia as well as a prepaid and addressed return envelope from the same courier (I think it was DHL).
Once they had finished the authentication process in Australia I received an email saying my documents were ready for pickup, so I arranged for DHL to pick up the prepaid envelope which was eventually returned to me in Canada
It didn’t take long because I paid for the express service (it wasn’t cheap, but I got tracking updates). Good luck.
This process is a pain the &ss, but it can be done if you stay on top of things, especially communicating with the university that issued the degree, as they will almost certainly be mystified by the request.
One can only imagine the level of fraud that must have been occurring in Taiwan to lead the authorities to devise this extraordinary degree verification system . . .
Did you have to have your Australian degree authenticated for Visa processing, or was it only required by your Taiwanese employer / university(once you arrived in Taiwan)?
Yes, I needed it for the Ministry of Education to issue my work permit for the residence visa. In your case I imagine there is a student-equivalent document issued by the MoE in order for you to get the visa.
My employer helped guide me through all of the paperwork since they have experience bringing in international professors and this was my first time to Taiwan.
How did you use your degree in Peru? Did you get it authenticated by the Peruvian embassy in Spain? If yes then I think you don’t have to send the document to Spain. Instead you can get it authenticated by the ministry of foreign affairs and then give it to TECO.
The verification scheme was in place long before that guy hit the news.
One imagines that Taiwan’s wild-and-woolly 1980s and 1990s (before digitization really kicked in) would have been fertile ground for scam artists of various kinds. . . .
Yes, as you figured out, the verification needs to happen in Spain, as the TECO office there is the one that can communicate with the university in question.
That is very weird. If the Peruvian foreign affairs authenticates it they should deal with it as if it’s a Peruvian document. I would double check and explain more clearly.
Verification needs to happen at the TECO office closest to the degree granting university.
Hence the office in Spain handles this
It’s not the same as issuing a visa. The verification move is I believe tied up with MOE (Ministry of Education) rules. And: of course it’s weird—it’s Taiwan’s MOE!
I would actually suggest a more direct way, instead of sending the documents you already have and then paying a second time to have them shipped back.
Instead of shipping your diploma and required documents for authentication from Peru to Spain, have your university in Spain send these (original copies) to the Taiwanese office in charge in Spain. After the process is done there, you can then arrange for DHL or other to pick up the documents and ship them to you. Keep in mind, there might be processes in between, depending on the country so this is where you have to plan accordingly with the Taiwan Office in Spain.
My case was possible because my university allowed me to pay online the fees concerning the issuance of a new diploma and transcript and then they themselves notarized it. Then sent it to the Taiwan office for final authentication.
Keep in mind that it could be different, just like in my case, depending on the country. It goes like this:
University issues and notarizes(through an on campus notary public) the diploma and transcript and then sends these to…
the Bezirksregierung or District Government (in the case of Germany) with jurisdiction of the region where your university is who then does a second authentication of the document and then sends these to…
the Taiwan office in charge of doing the final authentication for usage in Taiwan.
Another thing to keep in mind, and this is very important in your case, @lufrco you might have to do an extra step, something that the person with the Australian diploma didn’t have to worry about, and that is translation. Universities in Taiwan require the documents to be authenticated and all, and IF the documents are not in English, they have to likewise be translated into either Chinese or English. I say this because your documents are probably in Spanish and you most likely will have to do that.
This is where things might get a bit tricky. It is the same parallel process for the translations. Basically, I had to:
Translate diploma/transcript from German to English at an official translator, then…
Have the translations be notarized/authenticated at the Landesgericht or District Court where the translator is registered, then…
Take the translations, along with the (already authenticated by the Bezirksregierung) original diploma and transcript to the Taiwan office and then the process is finished.
Although this was the process in Germany, it is very similar in most countries in that it involves the original diploma/transcript being notarized/authenticated, then authenticated again at a government institution with jurisdiction in the region where your university is and then at the Taiwan Office. I hope this is of any help to you. Good luck with the process.
I guess when they mean that they have to legalized by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it means that they have to the (Spanish) Hague Apostille, right?
