Documents Required for the MAECI Scholarship

Where is the apostille obtained?

In Turkey the apostille is free and, in most districts, same-day. For educational documents like the diploma and transcript it comes from the governorship of the issuing province — after you first obtain a wet-signed/certified copy from the university. For civil registry and criminal record documents, the district governorship or governorship is competent. The full matching table is in the apostille guide.

Dichiarazione di Valore or CIMEA

For your foreign degree’s counterpart in the Italian system, either the consulate’s Dichiarazione di Valore or — where the university accepts it — the CIMEA comparability statement is required. Ask the institution you’ll enrol at which one it takes, and don’t pay for both. CIMEA runs entirely online with no consular appointment; the DoV is issued at the consulate and needs one.

Should the translations be done in Turkey?

Yes. The Ankara Embassy and the Istanbul Consulate General accept notarised sworn translations produced in Turkey; commissioning a court translator in Italy is both more expensive and impossible before you’ve arrived. The translation must be prepared in the form the consulates accept. Upload your diploma and transcript and see the price and turnaround instantly — outside Ankara, the process runs identically by courier.

Document preparation checklist

• Diploma + transcript original/certified copy in hand
• Apostille obtained (on the original)
• Sworn Italian translation done
• DoV or CIMEA process started
• Passport validity covers the end of the programme
• Digital copies of everything stored

The timing of document preparation

Trying to squeeze the paperwork into a single week is the commonest mistake. A realistic plan runs: first obtain the wet-signed/certified copy of your degree and the official transcript from the university (this alone can take days); then apostille them at the governorship; then have the apostilled documents sworn-translated into Italian; and last, book the consulate’s Dichiarazione di Valore appointment or start the CIMEA application online. Every link in the chain hangs on the one before — break the order and you start again. The strongest shortcut to completing the chain quickly after winning: have the translation prepared while you wait for the scholarship result.

What matters in the sworn translation?

Translations bound for Italian authorities must do more than be accurate — they must meet the formal conditions too. The translation carries the signature and stamp of a translator sworn before a notary; its cover page is prepared in the layout the consulates accept, with contact details. The consulate and the Italian institutions expect the original and the translation attached to each other, with the apostille order correct. In documents like the full civil registry extract and the diploma supplement, terminological consistency matters: the same concept translated differently in different places raises questions. These are the details where an experienced office shows its worth.

Which document goes where?

Keep a digital archive

Store the apostilled originals, the translations and high-resolution scans of everything in one digital folder. In Italy the same document can be demanded again at an unexpected stage — the scholarship, DSU, residence, the bank — and a good archive saves you paying for the same translation or apostille twice. Carry colour scans of your ID and passport too.

How do you cut the document costs?

The document process costs time and money, and both can be saved. The apostille is free in Turkey, so the only cost is travel and time — apostilling several documents in one round is efficient. In the sworn translation, the biggest saving is batching: the per-page cost falls against commissioning one by one. Since the same translation goes to the consulate and the university alike, one notarised translation used everywhere beats two separate ones. Avoid unnecessary translation too: translate what the institution actually asks for, not everything — course contents, for instance, only where a programme demands them for equivalence or exemption. Upload your documents and see in advance which translations are needed and the batch price.

The problems that come up most

• The apostille–translation order reversed, and the file returned
• Going for the apostille on an e-Devlet printout without a wet signature
• Translating the diploma supplement/course contents unnecessarily
• Booking the consular appointment before the documents are ready
• Keeping a single copy and no digital archive

Related document guides

The apostille, translation and equivalence processes in detail, in our guide library: the apostille guide, sworn translation and the CIMEA statement.

Let us do the translation

We prepare the sworn Italian translations of these documents end to end. For the service, see university application translation; for a firm price, the free quote page.

Frequently asked questions