Every non-EU student who wants to study in Romania needs Ministry of Education approval. Here's what the process involves, how long it takes, and what can go wrong.
You found a university. You got into the program. You think you're ready to book your flight. But there's a step between acceptance and your visa that most students don't see coming: the Romanian Ministry of Education needs to approve your application before Romania will issue you a student visa.
This isn't optional. It isn't a formality. The Ministry reviews your academic credentials, confirms they meet Romanian and EU standards, and issues a document called the Letter of Acceptance — in Romanian, Scrisoarea de Acceptare. Without it, your visa application goes nowhere.
Here's everything you need to understand about what this process is, why it exists, and how to get through it without delays.
The Letter of Acceptance (Scrisoarea de Acceptare) is an official document issued by the Romanian Ministry of Education. It confirms that your prior academic qualifications are recognised by the Romanian state, and that you are eligible to enroll in a specific study program at a specific institution.
The letter is program-specific. An acceptance letter for a medicine program at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy Cluj-Napoca does not allow you to enroll in engineering at Politehnica Bucharest. If you change programs or universities, you need a new letter.
Romanian Law 299/2004 on the recognition of diplomas and qualifications requires non-EU and non-EEA students to obtain this approval before they can legally enroll. The law aligns Romania with EU Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications and the broader framework for academic credential evaluation across the European Higher Education Area.
EU and EEA citizens do not need the Letter of Acceptance — their credentials fall under automatic EU recognition rules. If you hold a passport from an EU or EEA country, this process does not apply to you.
You need the Letter of Acceptance if you are a citizen of a country outside the European Union or European Economic Area. This includes students from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, North America, South America, and non-EU European countries such as Turkey, Ukraine, Moldova, and the Western Balkans.
The requirement applies to first-time enrollments. If you already hold a Romanian study permit and are continuing your studies, you do not repeat the Ministry process for each academic year. But if you transfer to a new program or institution, the evaluation restarts.
Approximately 30,000 international students from non-EU countries study in Romania each year, according to data from the Romanian National Institute of Statistics. Every one of them went through this process. It is standard, manageable, and predictable — as long as you start on time.
The process runs through the university, not directly through you. Here is how it moves:
First, you apply to the university and receive a conditional acceptance. The university's international admissions office then assembles your file and submits it to the Ministry of Education in Bucharest. The Ministry reviews the file, evaluates your credentials against Romanian academic standards, and issues the letter directly to the university. The university forwards the letter to you. You then use it as a required document in your student visa application at the Romanian embassy in your home country.
You never deal with the Ministry directly. Your contact point is always the university's international office — or ScholarPath, if we are managing your application. Read the full step-by-step application guide for context on where this fits in the broader process.
"The Ministry evaluation is a credential check, not an academic selection process. Students with legitimate, properly authenticated diplomas from accredited institutions almost always receive approval. The cases that fail involve fraudulent documents or diplomas from unrecognised institutions — not ordinary students from mainstream secondary schools."
— International Admissions Officer, University of Medicine and Pharmacy Iuliu Hatieganu, Cluj-Napoca
The Ministry examines a specific set of documents. Getting these right is the most controllable part of the process. Errors here cause delays; correct documents move through quickly.
| Document | Requirements |
|---|---|
| Secondary school diploma (or equivalent) | Apostilled and notarially translated into Romanian |
| Academic transcripts | All years, apostilled and translated into Romanian |
| Passport copy | Data page, valid for at least 12 months beyond intended enrollment date |
| Birth certificate | Apostilled and translated into Romanian |
| Medical certificate | Confirming you are free from contagious diseases, issued within 3 months of application |
| University acceptance letter | Official letter from the Romanian institution |
The apostille is a standardised authentication stamp under the Hague Convention of 1961. Your home country's competent authority — usually a government ministry or court — applies it. Some countries that are not party to the Hague Convention use a legalisation process through the Romanian embassy instead. Check the HCCH status table to confirm your country's status.
Translation must be done by a Romanian-authorised translator. Translations done in your home country are only accepted if they are subsequently legalised through a Romanian embassy or notary. The simplest approach: have translations done in Romania after arrival, or use a Romanian-certified translation service your university recommends.
See the full documents checklist for a complete breakdown of what you need and in what format.
Under normal conditions, Ministry processing takes 30 to 60 days from submission. In practice, timing depends heavily on when during the year you submit.
Submissions that arrive at the Ministry between February and April tend to move fastest — civil servants process files steadily during this period and backlogs are manageable. Submissions that arrive in June, July, or August face significant delays. The Ministry receives the majority of applications for October enrollment during this window, and processing times stretch to 60, sometimes 90 days.
This matters for your visa. Romanian embassies require the Letter of Acceptance as part of your student visa application, and visa processing itself takes another 4-6 weeks. If your Ministry letter arrives in late August, your timeline to arrive for a September or October start becomes very tight.
The practical lesson: apply to universities in January or February. Submit your Ministry file by April. This gives you a buffer against delays and keeps your visa application on track. See the admission calendar for exact dates by intake year.
Refusals are rare. The Ministry declines applications in specific circumstances: the applicant's diploma comes from an institution the Ministry does not recognise, the documents are incomplete or improperly authenticated, there are signs of document fraud, or the applicant's qualifications do not meet the minimum academic requirements for the chosen field.
The most common reason for refusal in practice is not fraud — it is incomplete documentation. A missing apostille, an untranslated document, or transcripts that cover only part of the study period will cause the Ministry to return the file rather than approve it. This is not technically a refusal; it is a request for completion. But it costs time.
If the Ministry formally refuses your application, you have the right to appeal the decision within 30 days. Appeals go to the Ministry's legal department and require a written statement explaining why the refusal was incorrect, along with any additional supporting documentation. Genuine appeals based on credential evaluation disputes take several months to resolve.
If refusal is based on your institution not being recognised, the path forward is more difficult. The anabin database maintained by the German Standing Conference provides a useful reference for which institutions are recognised across European countries, but the final authority is the Romanian Ministry itself.
In cases of refusal, contact us immediately. We review the grounds and advise on whether an appeal is viable or whether you should redirect your application to a different program or institution.
We handle the Ministry process for every student we work with. That means we review your documents before submission, identify any authentication or translation gaps, coordinate with the university's international office to ensure the file goes to the Ministry correctly, and track status through the processing window.
Students who manage this independently run into two consistent problems: they submit documents that are correctly apostilled but incorrectly translated, and they submit too late. Both errors are avoidable with preparation.
Our full admissions service covers the Ministry process from document review to letter receipt. If you want to understand how the broader process works before booking, read how to apply to a Romanian university or review what the Romanian student visa process looks like once your letter arrives.
The Ministry process is not complicated. But it has strict requirements, hard deadlines, and no tolerance for missing documents. Start early, get your paperwork right the first time, and the rest moves smoothly.
The Letter of Acceptance (Scrisoarea de Acceptare) is a document issued by Romania's Ministry of Education confirming that your prior academic qualifications are recognised and that you are eligible to study in a specific program at a specific Romanian university. Non-EU students cannot apply for a Romanian student visa without it.
Typically 30 to 60 days from the date the university submits your file. Submissions made during the summer months (June through August) take longer due to high application volumes. Plan for up to 90 days during peak periods.
No. The application goes through your chosen Romanian university. The university's international admissions office assembles and submits the file on your behalf. You provide the documents to the university; they handle the Ministry submission.
Your secondary school diploma and transcripts (apostilled and translated into Romanian), a copy of your passport, your birth certificate (apostilled and translated), a medical certificate, and the acceptance letter from the Romanian university. All documents must meet specific authentication standards.
The Letter of Acceptance is valid for one academic year enrollment cycle. If you receive the letter but do not enroll in the program it specifies, you need to apply again the following year. The letter does not carry over to a different program or institution.
You can appeal within 30 days. Most rejections stem from incomplete or improperly authenticated documents rather than academic ineligibility — in those cases, completing the file and resubmitting is usually sufficient. Formal refusals based on credential recognition disputes require a written appeal to the Ministry's legal department and can take several months to resolve.
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