Degree, Diploma and Transcript Apostille for Singapore Qualifications

Universities and polytechnics SAL accepts directly

SAL treats qualifications from Singapore's public institutions as public documents and legalises them directly if they are original and verifiable:

• Autonomous universities: NUS, NTU, SMU, SIT, SUSS and SUTD
• Polytechnics: Singapore, Ngee Ann, Temasek, Nanyang and Republic Polytechnics
• ITE and NIEC

For these, you do not need to contact the registrar or book a notary. SAL checks the certificate and attaches the apostille for SGD 10.70.

Certificates that need an endorsement first

• UniSIM (SIM University): certificates issued before the university became SUSS need SUSS's physical endorsement (a stamp, seal or embossment) on every page before SAL will accept them.
• MOE schools and junior colleges: SAL accepts documents printed on MOE letterhead. Anything else needs MOE's physical endorsement on each page.
• Madrasahs: certificates from full-time madrasahs need MUIS endorsement on each page.

Private institutions

Diplomas and degrees from private schools, including local campuses of foreign universities, are not public documents. They go through a notary public first, who certifies a copy, and SAL then authenticates the notary's signature for SGD 87.20.

OpenCerts digital degrees

OpenCerts is Singapore's open-source platform for issuing tamper-evident digital certificates. Graduates receive a .opencert file by email, and anyone can upload it to opencerts.io to confirm that it is unaltered, that it came from the named institution and that it has not been revoked. NUS issues e-scrolls and e-transcripts this way (to bachelor's students admitted from August 2005 and higher-degree students admitted from August 2004), alongside a hard-copy scroll, and NTU has done so for graduates from 2014 onwards, combining certificate and transcript in one file.

The difficulty for an apostille is that SAL only processes hard copies, while the universities themselves warn that printing an OpenCerts file removes its cryptographic protection. SAL's rules say digital certificates must meet its verification requirements before legalisation, and an OpenCerts file is verified by uploading the file itself, so a plain printout gives SAL nothing to check at the counter. In practice, the reliable routes are:

1. 1Use your paper scroll if the university also gave you one, and apostille that original directly.
2. 2Notarised copy of the OpenCerts: a notary public verifies the file on opencerts.io, certifies a printout, and SAL authenticates the notarial certificate.
3. 3Certified copy from the university, then notarisation, if the receiving office wants something issued by the registrar.

NUS also issues e-scrolls as Verifiable PDFs, which are checked by dropping the file into NUS's online viewer. SAL's published guidance does not mention OpenCerts or Verifiable PDFs, so we confirm the current position with SAL before submitting any printout; otherwise we use the notarised-copy route. The generic rules on printing and QR codes are in our digital certificate apostille guide.

Keep your original: apostille a certified copy of your degree

Many graduates prefer not to hand over their only degree scroll, particularly when a foreign employer or university will keep the document. A notarised certified copy solves this:

Each extra page of a certified copy adds SGD 2 in notary fees. Before choosing a copy, confirm that the receiving office accepts one; some recognition bodies ask to see an apostilled original. Notary bookings on their own are handled by our sister site notarypublicservices.sg.

Transcripts alongside your degree

A degree scroll only shows the award. Universities abroad, professional bodies and ministries often also want the transcript to see the modules and grades, especially for:

• admission to further study, where credit transfer or grade conversion is involved;
• professional registration (engineering, teaching, nursing) that assesses course content;
• degree equivalence or recognition procedures.

Official transcripts from the institutions listed above are also public documents, so an original transcript can go to SAL directly for another SGD 10.70. Transcripts are often several pages, so the notarised-copy route costs a little more per document. For NTU graduates, the certificate and transcript sit in the same OpenCerts file, so one notarised copy can cover both if the notary certifies all pages.

Degree apostille for jobs and study abroad

Typical destinations and what they add after the apostille:

• China: Hague member since November 2023; an apostille is enough, and many employers also want a Chinese translation. See apostille for China.
• Spain, South Korea, India: the SAL apostille completes the Singapore side. See apostille for Spain, apostille for South Korea and apostille for India.
• UAE: not a Hague member. After SAL, the UAE Embassy in Singapore legalises the degree, and it is finished by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The embassy does not publish a document list, so we confirm its current requirements, such as a passport copy, before submitting. See UAE embassy attestation.
• Malaysia and Thailand (until 28 February 2027): embassy or high commission legalisation follows the apostille. See embassy legalisation service.

Check any destination on the apostille countries list.

Degree apostille price and time

Time: originals are usually apostilled within 1–2 working days of reaching us. The notarised-copy route, including the notary step, also usually takes 1–2 working days. For urgent job or visa deadlines, see our same-day apostille service. All fees are on apostille price.