Authenticating/Certifying American Educational Documents

Bismillaah, ar-Rahmaan, ar-Raheem

The authentication (attestation) of your American educational documents (degrees, diplomas, transcripts) are done by the Office of Authentications in the U.S. Department of State.

Before you can submit your documents to the Office of Authentications, they must go through the following three (3) steps:

1. You will need to get the documents notarized from a Notary Public. Just in case you do not know what a Notary Public is, it is well known so just ask around [or search on the Internet] and you should be directed to one. Make sure the one who notarizes your documents is from the same county that you live in [you will know why when you read step # 3].
2. After having the documents notarized, you will need to go to the ‘County Clerks Office’. They certify documents according to the county which your document was notarized in. As for me, they did not certify my documents because they were from a different city, so I had to get them re-notarized from a Notary Public that they were familiar with and that was in the same county as well.
3. After getting the documents certified by your county, you need to get them certified by the state as well. So you need to get the number for the ‘Secretary of State’ and have them certify your documents by the state.

You can read about these requirements in brief form [I tried to elaborate and explain above] on the section “Authetications Requirements” at the official website of the Office of Authentications (under the U.S. Department of State) here:

http://www.state.gov/m/a/auth/c16920.htm

After you have fulfilled the above three (3) requirements for each of the document which needs to be authenticated, you may mail/post the documents to the Office of Authentications, which is under the ’United States Department of State’. The address is as follows:

United States Department of State
Authentication Office
518 23rd Street, N.W. SA-1
Washington, D.C. 20520 

The Authentication of documents takes approximately 5 business days to process from the time of receipt [Please note: U.S. Postal mail entering the U.S. Department of State must go through a screening process which may delay the time in which they will receive the document]. You must include a cover-letter (see here) with your name, telephone number, address and email address. You must also indicate the name of the country where the document will be used. Use a self-addressed stamped envelope for faster return of your documents. Documents received without a return evelope and postage will be returned through the State Department regular mail, which can result in a 2-3 week delay. You can use DHL, Fed/Ex, UPS and express mail services for faster receipt/return of your documents. However, you must enclose a prepaid airbill and envelope with the documents.

The authentication fee is $8.00 per document. A personal check or money order made payable to the U.S. Department of State must be submitted with the documents. Visa and Mastercard are accepted for Walk-in Service only.

For those living in the D.C. area or willing to travel personally to the U.S. Deparment of State, then you can submit your documents in person. If you have 15 documents or less, they will be processed while you wait. You may do this from 7:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m, Monday to Friday, except Federal Holidays.

The location for the walk-in service is:

Authentications Office Columbia Plaza Store Front
518 23rd Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20520

For more information, please see the following section “Office of Authentications” at the official website of the U.S. Department of State:

http://www.state.gov/m/a/auth/

Obtaining the Letter of Approval (No Objection Letter) for Americans

Bismillaah, ar-Rahmaan, ar-Raheem

To obtain the letter of approval (no objection letter) granting you permission to study in Saudi Arabia from the American government:

1. You will need to write up a letter of intent, which should be short and to the point. Mention the duration that you plan on staying for (number of years) and the location [keep it general and just say you plan on studying in Saudi Arabia, that way you can still use that letter for multiple universities]. You also need to put your name, passport number, and date of birth on it.
2. After printing out this letter that you just wrote [as mentioned above], you will need to get it notarized from a Notary Public. Just in case you do not know what a Notary Public is, it is well known so just ask around [or search on the Internet] and you should be directed to one. Make sure the one who notarizes your document is from the same county that you live in [you will know why when you read step # 3].
3. After having the letter notarized, you will need to go to the ‘County Clerks Office’. They certify documents according to the county which your document was notarized in. As for me, they did not certify my letter because it was from a different city, so I had to get it re-notarized from a notary republic that they were familiar with and that was in the same county as well.
4. After getting the letter certified by your county, you need to get it certified by the state as well. So you need to get the number for the ‘Secretary of State’ and have them certify your document by the state.
5. After getting the letter certified by both state and county, you need to send this document to the Authentication Office (Department), which is under the ‘United States Department of State’, to have your letter authenticated. The address is as follows:

   United States Department of State
   Authentication Office
   518 23rd Street, N.W. SA-1
   Washington, D.C. 20520 

   For more information regarding this step, please see the following section “Office of Authentications” at the official website of the U.S. Department of State:

   http://www.state.gov/m/a/auth/

This might seem pretty overwhelming, but if you know the addresses of the places you need to go, then it should be very easy and simple, by the will of Allah.

May Allah reward the brother Fahmy for collecting the above information from a congressmen in his state.

May Allah help and aid you.

Things of Benefit – For Perspective Students

Bismillaah, ar-Rahmaan, ar-Raheem

All praise is due to Allah Lord of the worlds, and may the Salaat and the Salaam be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family and companions.

Things that Help:

1. Letters of recommendation (Tazkiyahs) by people known to the University, such as present or ex lecturers/professors at the University, or students who have graduated from the University.
2. Having a current student speak to a lecturer/professor in the University so that he [the lecturer] can remind the administration of you as well as give in a good word for you.
3. Having a current student visit the administration once in a while, reminding them about you and asking them about your paper work.
4. Personally visiting the Islamic University of Madinah and getting interviewed. Usually those who personally come to get interviewed are given precedence over those sending applications by mail/post.

May Allah reward our brother Abu Abdul-Waahid Nadir Ahmad (graduate Canadian student from the Islamic University of Madinah) for presenting the beneficial information above. 

Things that Might Help (from Personal Experience):

1. Those who have applied once to the Islamic University of Madinah, and did not receive acceptance, should visit the University to apply again. It seems, Allah knows best, that those who apply for the second time, are usually accepted. We know of three students at the Islamic University of Madinah who were blessed with acceptance from the same city consecutively over the last three years who had applied for the second time. This may be true especially in light of the fact that the official application form for the Islamic University of Madinah contains a question which reads: “Have you ever applied for admission to the Islamic University before?” 
2. From personal experience, it seems, Allah knows best, that presenting your documents in a professional manner seems to impress the people working in the administration. So those who receive recommendation letters in hand-written form may type (word-process) them in Arabic, and print them out on a piece of letterhead paper containing the name, address, and contact information of the masjids or the centers of the Imams or du’aat in question who wrote the letters. Take these word-processed letters back to the Imams or du’aat in question who initially wrote the letters for them to check it and sign it. Also, it may help to translate your documents into Arabic, and word-process them in a professional manner, and Allah knows best. [For those residing in or around the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) in Canada, click here]

Lastly, above all else, the thing of most benefit is Dua to Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) to allow you to be accepted. Indeed He is near and is all able to grant this and make it easy upon whom He Wills – There have been applicants who have provided all the required documents, while also actualizing the above points, without any success, and there are others who have been blessed with acceptance by only sending their applications by mail/post. From personal experience, we know of two applicants from the same city who visited the Islamic University of Madinah to apply at the same time, and one of them was able to attain a recommendation letter (Tazkiyyah) from the governing prince of Jeddah/Makkah region, and he was not granted acceptance, while the other was an applicant who had no recommendation letter and was even missing a copy of his high school diploma, and was blessed with acceptance.

So gather all of the required documents, utilize all of your links and resources, and most importantly put your trust upon Allah and hope for the best from Allah (azza wa jal). Abu Hurairah (radiAllahu anhu) narrated from the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam), that Allah (ta’ala) said [i.e. a Hadith Qudsi]: “I am as My servant thinks of Me.” [Bukhari and Muslim].

Allah is the granter of Success and may the Salaat and the Salaam be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family and companions.

Obtaining the Letter of Approval (No Objection Letter) for Canadians

Bismillaah, ar-Rahmaan, ar-Raheem

To obtain the letter of approval (no objection letter) granting you permission to study in Saudi Arabia from the Canadian government, Canadians should contact the Canadian consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (Consulate of Canada in Jeddah). You can find contact information of the Canadian consulate here:

http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/world/embassies/Saudi_Arabia/about_Jeddah-en.asp

May Allah help and aid you.

Authenticating/Certifying Canadian Educational Documents

Bismillaah, ar-Rahmaan, ar-Raheem

The authentication (attestation) of your Canadian educational documents (degrees, diplomas, transcripts) are done free of charge by the Authentication and Service of Documents Section (JLAC) in the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (Ministry of Foreign Affairs). The educational documents (degrees, diplomas, transcripts) must be issued by Canadian institutions, in the event that the educational documents have been issued by foreign educational institutions, you should contact the nearest embassy or consulate of the country from which the document was issued. That office will advise you of the procedures you will have to follow to have your documents authenticated.

For Canadian educational documents, one must send these documents along with a covering letter indicating your mailing address and outlining your specific requirements, to the Authentication and Service of Documents Section (JLAC) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Canada at the location below:

Authentication and Service of Documents Section (JLAC)
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada
125 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
K1A 0G2

The Processing time is approximately 20 working days from the date the documents are received. The authenticated documents will be returned by regular mail at the provided mailing address which can take up to 5 working days. If you want your documents to be returned by courier, you must also provide a prepaid envelope from the courier of your choice with your documents.

For those living in Ottawa or willing to travel personally to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then you can submit your documents in person. If you have 10 documents or less, they will be processed while you wait. If you have more than 10 documents, they must be left in the office for authentication and it will take approximately 20 working days to process them. When submitting your documents in person, appointments are not necessary. Simply report to the Reception Desk at the address mentioned above between 10:30 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. or between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m., Monday to Friday. The office is closed on statutory holidays.

For more information, please see the following section “Authentication of Documents” at the official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Canada:

http://www.dfait.gc.ca/common/authentication_documents-en.asp

To contact them via telephone:

1-800-267-8376 (Toll Free in Canada)
613-944-4000 (in the National Capital Region and outside Canada)

Translating English Documents into Arabic for those Residing in or around the GTA

Bimsillaah, ar-Rahmaan, ar-Raheem

For those residing in or around the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) in Canada, then you may attain the professional services of the following registered organization in translating your English documents, such as your high school diploma, high school transcript, birth certificate, and medical letter, into the Arabic language for the Islamic University of Madinah.

They are known as the ‘Arab Community Centre of Toronto‘, and they are funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. They charge a fee per translated document for their services, but do an excellent job in translating and presenting the translated documents in a professional manner, certifying the translated documents in-house. 

You can visit their website here for their contact information:

http://www.arabcommunitycentre.com/

BarakAllahu Feekum. 

Pictures – Islamic University of Madinah

Bismillaah, ar-Rahmaan, ar-Raheem

Pictures of the Islamic University of Madinah campus can be viewed on the official website of the University here:

http://www.iu.edu.sa/iu_web/albumgallery.aspx

Also, a Canadian student at the Islamic University of Madinah has taken some recent pictures which can be viewed here:

http://madeenah.wordpress.com/2008/07/24/some-pics-while-you-wait/

BarakAllahu Feekum.

Application Form, Mailing Address, and Info for Those Wishing to Apply in Person – Islamic University of Madinah

All praise is due to Allah Lord of the worlds, and may the Salaat and the Salaam be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family and companions.

Please download the official application form for the Islamic University of Madinah here:

http://www.fatwa-online.com/downloads/dow001/index.htm

May Allah reward our brother Abu Abdullaah Mohammed Akhtar Chaudhry (graduate British student from the Islamic University of Madinah)  for making the application form available online.

For those who are unable to come to the University personally for an interview, then you may send all of the required documents, along with the completed application form above, by post (mail) directly to the Islamic University of Madinah at the address below:

Deanship of Admissions and Registration

The Islamic University, P.O. Box 170

Madinah Munawwarah, Saudi Arabia

It may help if you write the following Arabic equivalent of the address mentioned above to one side of the envelope:

You may contact the University by phone if you wish:

00-966-4-847-1884 (011 instead of 00 from US and Canada)

For those who would like to come personally for an interview to the University along with submitting your documents, then the University mentions on the official application form that:

• Applicants may apply for admission for all stages in the period between October 23 and January 20 each year.

However, the University usually allows people to apply and grants them interviews as soon as school starts at the beginning of the adademic year. A good time to visit and apply is during Ramadhan, but make sure you get it done before Hajj. Students can still send in their applications by mail after Hajj, or visit to apply and get interviewed after Hajj, but those applications will be processed for the year after the following and not the following year of which the application was given in. However, due to the differences between the Hijri and Gregorian calendar, Hajj season is always being pulled back a few days every year, so dates do change, meaning, there are always exceptions to the rules as to when the exact final cutoff date is for applications to be considered for the following year.

It is highly advisable to visit the University administrative offices with a current student when you go personally for the interview. The current student in most cases will be present with you translating for you the questions of the interviewer if he does not speak English.

Allah is the granter of Success and may the Salaat and the Salaam be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family and companions.

Conditions for Admission and Required Documents – Islamic Universtiy of Madinah

All praise is due to Allah Lord of the worlds, and may the Salaat and the Salaam be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family and companions.

The following conditions of admission and required documents are taken from the official application form for the Islamic University of Madinah.

Conditions of Admission:

1. An applicant must be a holder of the general certificate of secondary education [high school diploma] or its equivalent obtained from any of the kingdom’s secondary schools, or from abroad.
2. Not more than 5 years should have passed since the applicant obtained the general certificate of secondary education or its equivalent.
3. An applicant should get the approval of his employer in case he is working with the government or in the private sector. [This is generally not requested from the applicant, however, in the case that it is, a memo indicating your notice of terminating employment from your employer should be sufficient]
4. An applicant should not have been dismissed from another university on disciplinary or educational grounds.
5. An applicant should not exceed the age of 25 years.
6. An applicant seeking admission to the Faculty of Qur’an should have memorized the entire Qur’an.

An applicant must present the following documents with his application, as indicated on the official application form:

Required Documents:

1. A copy of the high school diploma. [For those residing in North America, a GED is also accepted. For those residing in Europe, a GCE/A Levels is accepted. Please note that those who do not possess a high school diploma/GED/GCE/A Levels at the time of application, are considered for admission to the Thanawiyyah (high school/secondary) branch of the University. This is a pre-university stage that one would join after completing the two (2) year Arabic program, and it lasts three (3) years, after which one would join one of the faculties of the University]
2. A copy of the high school transcript. [also known as grades report/report card/mark sheet]
3. A certificate bearing witness to the good character and religious practice of the applicant from a reliable source. [This is known as a tazkiyyah, you may acquire one from the Imam of your local mosque or from most reputable callers to Islam (du’aat)]
4. A copy of the birth certificate.
5. A medical certificate from a reliable source, testifying that the applicant is physically fit, with good eyesight, and is free from any infectious diseases. [Basically conduct a physical check-up at the doctors and get him to write a letter on his official letterhead that you are free of any infectious diseases and are in good health]
6. Six recent passport-size photographs (4×6) and a copy of the passport. [A copy of the front page containing the picture]
7. A letter of introduction issued by an Islamic institution in the applicant’s country of residence, or by two Muslim personalities well known to the University testifying that the applicant practises religious devotions regularly, and adheres to high Islamic morals. [This is the same as #3, so if you are able to acquire two tazkiyas from Imams from the masjids in your area or from the du’aat in your community, it will suffice inshaAllah]
8. Letter of approval (no objection letter) from your government. [Canadians please click here Americans click here]

Note: Some instructions for these required documents have been provided by the University as indicated on the official application form:

1. A certified Arabic translation of all documents should be provided by the applicant in case these documents are written in a language other than Arabic. [Try to attain the help of people competent in both Arabic and English in translating your high school diploma and transcript into the Arabic language. For those residing in or around the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) in Canada, click here. At the very least write on the top of the copy of your high school diploma and transcript what the document is in Arabic. Same with the copy of the birth certificate and the medical letter. You may ask your local mosque/Islamic center to stamp the Arabic translated documents in order to “certify” them. The tazkiyas should be in Arabic]
2. All documents presented to the University should be attested by the foreign ministry of the applicant’s country. [Contact the foreign ministry of your respective country and ask them about the procedure to get your high school diploma and transcript authenticated/certified. For those from Canada wishing to authenticate their Canadian educational documents, click here. For those in the States wishing to authenticate their American educational documents, click here]   

Among the numerous benefits and advantages offered to the University students are the following:

Benefits and Advantages:

1. Paid airline tickets to accepted students for their introductory arrival, and upon the completion of their studies. 
2. Paid round-trip airline tickets annually for students wishing to travel to their home countries at the end of the academic year [in the summer holidays], according to University regulations.
3. A monthly stipend is paid to each student, the amount of which is determined according to the educational stage he is enrolled in. [840 Saudi Riyals for those enrolled in University-level studies]
4. Free furnished accomodation is provided to single students. [You will share a room with other students, some 4 to a room, and some 2 to a room]
5. The University restaurant offers meals to students at nominal prices.
6. The University hospital provides students with medical care.
7. The University buses carry students free of charge to the Prophet’s Mosque after Asr prayer, and take them back to the University campus after Isha prayer.

Allah is the granter of Success and may the Salaat and the Salaam be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family and companions.

Concise Info – Islamic University of Madinah

Bismillaah, ar-Rahmaan, ar-Raheem

Please find concise information covering the Islamic University of Madinah here:

http://www.bakkah.net/studying/madeenahuniv.htm

May Allah reward our noble brother Abul-Abbaas Moosaa Richardson (post-graduate American student from Umm al-Qura University in Makkah) for compiling and presenting the beneficial info.

Topics covered include overview of the academic program, requirements and conditions for admission, estimated costs and living expenses, and contact information.