IMPORTANT NOTICE: As of January 11th, 2024, the Apostille Convention will come into effect in Canada.
For more information visit this page.
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Dichiarazione di Valore (DV) (literally “Statement of value”) is an official document written in Italian and issued by the Italian authority of the country where you have studied. It is required to verify the authenticity of the academic credentials obtained abroad and their correspondence into the Italian educational system. A DV also provides information about the validity of the qualification concerned in the country where the applicant studied, confirms the legal status and nature of the awarding institution and indicates the length of the programme/s concerned.
All students who want to study in Italy and those who need to have their credentials recognized in Italy for any other purpose, must therefore obtain a Dichiarazione di Valore.
If the applicant moves to Italy to continue to study without having obtained a prior diploma, upon request, the Consulate can issue a Consular Declaration (CD) that states both his/her attendance and any credits earned or, depending on the circumstances, the legalization of the school document.
PROCEDURE:
- Find the Italian Consulate under whose territorial jurisdiction your school/university is located; for requests to the Embassy of Italy in Ottawa, download the appropriate form to request the DV, CD or legalization of the school document.
- Obtain from the school/college/university you have attended the original transcripts and final qualification (secondary school diploma/Bachelor, Master, Ph.D., etc.). The final qualification and transcript must be legalized (in particular the signature of the registrar/principal) by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Ottawa.
- Check with the Italian school/university to find out if they require the translation of the diploma and transcript. If that is the case, please contact one of the certified translators whose specimen of signature is filed at this Embassy.
- Once you have gathered all the above documents (i.e. diploma/degree and transcript), taking care of keeping copies of every document, you can book an appointment to the Consulate to present your request yourself or you can authorize a third party to act on your behalf by proxy. Should you opt to send all the documents by mail, please make sure that everything is included and provide a self-addressed, pre-paid envelope for the return of the documentation. If you reside outside of Canada, we recommend you use a courier service such as Canada Express Post. The Consulate will not return the documents unless a pre-paid and self-addressed envelope is provided.
- The procedure is free of charge if the DV/CD requested is to be used for study purposes (please attach documentation to prove the purpose). For any other use (i.e. recognition of academic credentials or working purposes), a consular fee will be applied. All original documentation will be returned to the applicant. You will then be able to use the DV/CD for the appropriate purposes.
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER:
The DV/CD provides a short description of a given academic or professional qualification awarded by an institution located in a foreign country with a different educational system compared to the Italian one. As such, the DV/CD by itself does not give proof of someone’s competence and/or professional skills acquired through the qualification. Although the document is considered by the Italian authorities a reliable and official source of information pertaining to the academic credentials obtained abroad, the presentation of a DV/CD does not pre-empt the right by the receiving institution/office/school to carry out further independent verifications, for instance through a detailed examination of the official transcript.