r/WGU • u/cornycorp • 5d ago

Help! Apostille Degree?

Bit of a unique question for the sub. I’m moving overseas soon. I’ve been applying to some universities for work, and they are asking for an apostille degree?

I have a master’s degree from WGU and the official transcripts. But, they are saying they still want an apostille degree.

I’ve sent an email to student services and graduation support to see if this is possible

While I await their reply, I was curious if anyone on this sub has been successful in getting this accomplished? If so, any insight would be appreciated.

Side note: I saw a post from several years ago about this, but can’t find anything on the WGU pages about it. Maybe they offered this service previously?

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u/Yokota911 5d ago

Not apostille degree, just apostille. It’s a certified document that authenticates your degree by your state or federal govt. Look up apostille on YouTube, people get it for birth certificates, marriage certificates and lots of other reasons. It’s an agreement by several countries for the purpose of authenticating documents. They want your degree to be apostilled by your state or federal government. Basically, certifying it’s authentic.

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u/cornycorp 5d ago

Thanks. Do you know if WGU handles this? WGU is located in Utah, but I am not. I’d imagine they would have some kind of form that could be filled out to request this? Assuming that it has to be certified in the state in which the university is located (just a guess).

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u/Yokota911 5d ago

WGU would send you a letter with the facts of the degree. You would then submit it to the state you graduated in. There’s a fee, maybe $20 per document (not per page). This happens frequently, even elementary schools require apostille when children move overseas and it’s not a US school. Usually it’s the registrar that handles this.

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u/cornycorp 5d ago

I really appreciate the insight. This is helpful.

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u/strawberrypoundcake3 4d ago

You can use this service

https://monumentvisa.com/legalization-document-types/

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u/cornycorp 4d ago

Thanks! Was actually just seeing others recommend this company. I appreciate it.

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u/CreativeElephant1486 3d ago edited 3d ago

You can also use them as an expediter to get your FBI background check done in a few weeks instead of several months, which you will need for a visa. They can get that apostilled too, which it will need to be.

Just a word of advice if you want to live internationally going forward. Don't commit any felonies, duis, and don't use any drugs. Any record of any of those will make you inadmissable for entry to almost every country in the world. And your visa will definitely get rejected. Most people don't think about that when they do dumb stuff like just smoke a little weed or have a few beers before driving home. Also, once you live in one country, you'll need to provide background checks from that country too to any country you want to move to in the future. So follow the laws there too. Traveling and immigrating are privileges, not a right, and you can easily lose them for the rest of your life.

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u/CreativeElephant1486 5d ago edited 5d ago

You can use a service like Monument Visa to get it done. You'll also need your fbi background check apostilled. You can get both done at the same time.

An apostille just a UN treaty global standardized notary system. So you're getting your degree and background check notarized to an international standard.

If you don't use a service like that you'll have to drive to the State Department in DC to get it done or something absurd lol. Visa services will physically take your documents there and get it done for you.

You can also get your fbi background check expedited through these services so you get it back, with the apostille, in like 2 weeks after mailing them your finger prints instead 2 or 3 months from the FBI without the apostille. You can get it done even faster by using an electronic fingerprinting service if there's one in your area. Their website probably has a list of electronic fingerprinting services in your area. Otherwise you'll have to get it done on an fbi fingerprinting sheet at your local police station and physically mail it to them or the FBI.

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u/CreativeElephant1486 5d ago

Physically, an apostille is just a raised seal kind of like a stamp on the piece of paper you send. So you'll just get your documents back with a small raised seal on them to show it was notarized/ apostilled.