Declaration of Value for Italy.

A Declaration of Value — Dichiarazione di Valore — is an official statement issued by an Italian Consulate that describes a foreign academic qualification and explains its level, duration and legal value inside the Italian education system. Italian universities, ministries and employers use it to understand what a U.S. high school diploma, bachelor’s degree or master’s degree represents in Italian terms.

The Consulate does not evaluate your grades. It confirms the school was legally recognized, that the qualification was genuinely awarded, and how many years of study it represents. Because the statement is issued by the Consulate itself, every supporting document must arrive apostilled, translated and assembled exactly the way that Consulate requires.

A DOV is normally requested when a U.S. qualification has to be recognized in Italy for:

• Enrolment in an Italian university, conservatory or academy (laurea, laurea magistrale, master).
• Medical, dental, nursing and other regulated-profession applications.
• Teaching positions and public competitions (concorsi) requiring a recognized degree.
• Employment or professional licensing where an Italian employer must verify a foreign degree.
• Italian citizenship, residency and family files that include academic records.

Students applying through Universitaly are usually told to upload the Declaration of Value together with the apostilled diploma and translated transcript, so the DOV timeline should start well before the enrolment deadline.

Most Consulates expect both the diploma (or degree certificate) and an official transcript listing the courses, credit hours and grading system. Records must come from the registrar, not from a student portal printout, and the school must confirm the qualification was actually conferred.

• Diploma or degree certificate showing the full legal name of the holder and the date awarded.
• Official transcript with course titles, credits and the school’s grading scale or rubric.
• Double-sided copies and the grading key when the reverse of the transcript carries the legend.
• Registrar signature or a school attestation letter where the Consulate requires it.

We review the complete academic file first through our diploma and transcript apostille service so nothing is rejected after the apostille has already been issued.

Italy is a Hague Convention country, so academic documents are legalized with an apostille rather than embassy legalization. The apostille has to be issued by the authority in the state where the document, notarization or attestation originated — the Pennsylvania Department of State for Pennsylvania records, or the relevant Secretary of State elsewhere.

• Private-school and university documents are usually notarized or attested first, then apostilled.
• Public-school records may require a state department of education attestation before the apostille.
• Every page that the Consulate needs must be covered by the apostilled set — not just the diploma.

We hand-courier Pennsylvania filings in Harrisburg and coordinate every other state through our 50 state apostille service.

The Consulate reviews the file in Italian. Diplomas, transcripts, attestation letters and, in most jurisdictions, the apostille cover pages must be translated into Italian by a translator the Consulate accepts. Course titles, credit hours and the grading scale are translated faithfully so the Consulate can state the qualification’s duration and level.

Our in-house certified Italian translation team prepares the translated set to match the apostilled originals page for page, which is what Consulate clerks check first.

Each Italian Consulate in the United States sets its own DOV rules: consular district by residence or by school location, appointment or mail-in intake, cover-letter wording, payment method and consular fee. Filing in the wrong district, or with the wrong form, is the single most common reason a Declaration of Value stalls.

We prepare the application package, confirm the current requirements for your Consulate, and submit on your behalf — including Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Washington D.C., Miami, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Several Consulates require a double statement letter: the school confirms in one statement that the diploma was awarded and the program completed, and in a second statement that the attached transcript is authentic and issued by the institution. Both statements are signed by the registrar or an authorized school official.

• Signed on school letterhead by a named, titled official.
• Notarized when the Consulate or the apostille authority requires it.
• Apostilled with the academic set, then translated into Italian.

We draft the wording for your school so the registrar only has to review and sign.

Our complete workflow, from first review to the issued Declaration of Value:

1. Academic Document Review
2. Diploma & Transcript
3. School / Registrar Requirements
4. Notarization When Required
5. Secretary of State Apostille
6. Italian Translation
7. Italian Consulate Submission
8. Declaration of Value Issued
9. Return Shipping

You approve each stage, and every order is tracked from intake through consular submission and return delivery.

Cost depends on how many documents the Consulate needs, whether notarization or a school attestation is required, how many pages are translated into Italian, and the consular fee charged by your Consulate. Return shipping is quoted separately based on destination and carrier.

Translation-only service starts at $50 per page. For a complete or partial DOV file, use the builder to select only the services you need and receive a written custom quote before anything is filed.

A realistic Declaration of Value timeline has four moving parts: obtaining school records, the state apostille, the Italian translation, and the Consulate’s own processing time.

• School records and attestation letters: a few days to several weeks, depending on the registrar.
• Apostille: typically 2 to 4 business days for hand-couriered Pennsylvania filings.
• Certified Italian translation: usually 24 to 72 hours once the apostilled set is final.
• Consulate issuance: varies by consular district, commonly a few weeks.

Start as early as possible when an enrolment or competition deadline is fixed — the Consulate’s stage is the one nobody can accelerate.

U.S. students heading to an Italian university normally need the high school diploma or degree certificate, an official transcript, the apostille, the Italian translation and the DOV itself. We coordinate directly with the registrar, keep parents copied on every update, and prepare files for Universitaly and pre-enrolment deadlines.

Documents issued anywhere in the United States are accepted — we route each one to the correct state authority.

International and American-curriculum schools abroad often hold accreditation through a U.S. body, so their diplomas and transcripts are legalized in the United States before reaching an Italian Consulate. We handle these school-by-school, including the accreditation attestation and the registrar statements the Consulate expects.

Schools and administrators can place group orders through our Middle States attestation service, with one packing slip and one tracked return per school.