DGES became IES, I.P.
If an old checklist tells you to obtain DGES authentication, the authority name is out of date.
Portugal created Instituto para o Ensino Superior, I.P. in 2025 and extinguished the former Direção-Geral do Ensino Superior. IES, I.P. now carries the relevant higher-education functions.
Older instructions and older apostille material can still use the DGES name. The practical question is not which old acronym appears on the checklist. It is whether the Portuguese academic document needs the higher-education authentication step before apostille.
Which documents can fall into this route?
The route is relevant to documents issued by Portuguese private higher education institutions, including:
- diplomas and degree certificates
- transcripts and academic records
- certificados de habilitações
- academic declarations
- course-completion documents
- other official academic records issued by the institution
The document and institution determine the route.
Public universities follow a different apostille path
Documents issued by Portuguese public higher education institutions are public educational documents for apostille purposes.
That means a public-university diploma or transcript does not use the private-institution pre-authentication route simply because it is an academic document.
We check the issuing institution before the file moves so the document is not sent through an unnecessary step.
IES authentication is not the same as an IES degree declaration
These are two different jobs.
Pre-apostille authentication concerns the academic document issued by a private Portuguese higher education institution.
An IES declaration used for recognition of a Portuguese qualification abroad is a separate procedure that confirms information about the Portuguese institution or degree-awarding course.
If the receiving authority has asked for a specific declaration, send us that request. We build the file around what it actually requires.
What Portugal Papers handles
We review the document and institution, prepare the current IES authentication step and keep the same file moving into the next Portuguese stage.
Your case can include:
- university document retrieval if you do not yet have the correct record
- IES authentication
- Hague Apostille
- certified translation
- international delivery
You deal with one team in Portugal instead of coordinating each stage separately.