• Foreign education documents need a statement of academic recognition issued by the Latvian Academic Information Centre (2 Smilšu Street, 4th floor, Riga, tel. +371 67225155, fax. +371 67221006);
• A duly completed application form 
• An application for dissertation topic ;
• A justification and framework (3-5 pages) for the chosen dissertation prepared and signed together with the prospective thesis advisor;
• Curriculum Vitae
• Notarially certified copies of legalized diploma for academic education and a legalized grade transcript (presentation of the originals is mandatory);
• Recommendations for doctoral studies (if available);
• A copy of passport (presentation of the original is mandatory);
• A copy of application fee payment (LVL 15) document (it can be procured in 19 Raiņa Boulevard, Room 125);
• One photo

Legalization (certification of document authenticity):

• Legalization is not a notarial act. It means verification of signature and seal of a document.
• If education documents are issued in a country which has joined the Hague Convention 1961 (e.g. USA, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Georgia, India, Moldova etc.) they should be certified with an Apostille. The Apostille is issued by a competent institution (usually the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) in the country of origin.
• If education documents are issued in a country that has not joined the Hague Convention 1961 (e.g. Lebanon, Syria, Pakistan, Sri-Lanka etc.) applicants should get a double legalization of their educational documents. The documents need to be legalized either by a competent institution (usually the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) in the country of origin or by the diplomatic/consular mission of the country of origin and either by any Latvian diplomatic/consular mission or by Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Consular Department.