Ariana MartinsIt can, but that depends on the diploma you have, and it does not count on its own. Your diploma becomes valid in Portugal through an application for equivalence of foreign qualifications. You submit it at a Portuguese basic or secondary school, it is free of charge and it has a reference timeframe of 30 days. That application produces the paper that says which level of Portuguese education your qualification corresponds to (which may not be 12th grade), and with what grade. Without that paper, you have a diploma nobody here can read.
First: it is not the DGES that handles this
This is where many people go wrong. Anyone searching for "recognition of a foreign diploma" lands at the Direção-Geral do Ensino Superior and the Portuguese ENIC/NARIC Centre – which deals exclusively with higher education. Bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, doctorates. An Abitur is not higher education.
It also helps to separate two things with similar names:
- Academic recognition – certifies the level of the qualification, so you can continue studying.
- Professional recognition – is for practising regulated professions, such as medicine or engineering, and follows its own legislation.
Contact Center Agent is not a regulated profession. And 12th grade is not higher education. Your case is neither of the two: it is equivalence of foreign basic and secondary education qualifications, governed by Decreto-Lei n.º 227/2005, de 28 de dezembro.
Where you submit the application
According to the frequently asked questions of the Direção-Geral da Educação, the application is submitted at public basic and secondary schools, or at private and cooperative schools with pedagogical autonomy for the level for which you are requesting equivalence. In other words: a school. And it is the school that decides.
If you do not live in Portugal, you send the application to the Direção-Geral da Educação by post, according to the same FAQ. On gov.pt, the service lists the Agência para a Gestão do Sistema Educativo as the responsible body – the agency created in 2025.
What the application requires
The list, as published by the Direção-Geral da Educação:
- Application on the official form, the annex to Decreto-Lei n.º 227/2005
- Official documents proving the qualifications successfully completed – certificate or diploma
- Legalisation: at Portugal's consular services abroad, at those of the foreign country in Portugal, or through the Hague Apostille, obtained in the country where the document was issued
- Official translation into Portuguese of everything in a foreign language
- Statement of the years of schooling completed, the cycle or course, the final grades and the scale, with the minimum pass mark
Two things worth knowing now, because they save time and money: the process is free of charge and the reference timeframe is 30 days after all documents are received – it can be longer, depending on complexity. At secondary level, equivalence is always granted with a grade.
There is a table for Germany. And for Switzerland. For Austria, I could not confirm it
Portugal does not improvise this conversion. There are comparison tables published by ministerial order (portaria), which say what corresponds to what and how grades are converted.
Portaria n.º 224/2006, de 8 de março, covers Germany, alongside Angola, Cape Verde, the Russian Federation, Greece, Mexico, Mozambique, the United Kingdom, the People's Republic of China and Ukraine. Portaria n.º 699/2006, de 12 de julho, adds thirty countries, among them Switzerland and Luxembourg.
Austria does not appear in either of the two lists I read. That does not mean there is no route – it means I have not confirmed it, and I will not describe it from memory.
I could not read the content of the tables either: the official PDFs are scanned. So I will not tell you here which year a Realschulabschluss corresponds to, or what a German 2.3 is worth on the Portuguese scale. The school does that calculation, with the table in front of it.
What if your qualification does not give you 12th grade?
It can happen – a Realschulabschluss, for example, is not the end of German secondary school. There is then a route that does not mean going back to school full time: Reconhecimento, Validação e Certificação de Competências (recognition, validation and certification of competences), at the Centros Qualifica. The Agência Nacional para a Qualificação e o Ensino Profissional describes it as a process that certifies the skills an adult has acquired throughout life, and secondary-level school certification corresponds to 12th grade.
Don't confuse this with German
They are two different conversations, and mixing them up costs applications.
German is a level requirement: native or C1 at minimum. The postings never ask for a language certificate. Never. Fluent English is also mandatory in the three Roadside Assistance roles; Automotive Service does not require it.
12th grade or equivalent is an education requirement – preferred, not mandatory, in the Roadside Assistance roles – and it is the only one where you may actually need a piece of paper.
What Volkswagen Group Services Portugal accepts
It is not published, and I will not invent it. The Roadside Assistance postings ask for a "high school diploma or equivalent"; the Automotive Service posting, for a "high school diploma". The word "equivalent" is in the former, but what is accepted is decided by the recruiters.
A question worth asking, if you get the chance during the process: I have a German qualification and have submitted the equivalence application – can I go ahead in the meantime? The application starts on the Volkswagen Group careers portal; the later stages are not published.
Does this cost money?
The equivalence application is free of charge, according to the Direção-Geral da Educação. Official translation and legalisation are separate services, with no price published on that page.
How long does it take?
The reference timeframe is 30 days after the school receives all the documents. It can be longer, depending on the complexity of the case.
Do I need the Hague Apostille?
It is one of the three accepted forms of legalisation, for documents from countries that are party to the Convention. The other two are consular.
I have a Berufsausbildung certificate. Does it count?
I have not confirmed in an official source how German dual vocational training is treated, and I will not pretend I know. Ask at the school where you submit the application.
Can I apply before I have the equivalence?
Nothing published says you can't. That is for the recruiters to answer.
- Equivalências Estrangeiras (foreign equivalences), Direção-Geral da Educação, accessed 2026-09-18 – https://www.dge.mec.pt/equivalencias-estrangeiras
- FAQ - Equivalências de Habilitações Estrangeiras (equivalence of foreign qualifications), Direção-Geral da Educação – https://www.dge.mec.pt/faq-equivalencias-de-habilitacoes-estrangeiras
- Requesting equivalence of foreign basic and secondary education qualifications, gov.pt (body: Agência para a Gestão do Sistema Educativo) – https://www.gov.pt/servicos/pedir-equivalencia-de-habilitacoes-estrangeiras-do-ensino-basico-e-secundario
- Decreto-Lei n.º 227/2005, de 28 de dezembro, consolidated version, Diário da República – https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/legislacao-consolidada/decreto-lei/2005-74872637-74891090
- Portaria n.º 224/2006, de 8 de março – comparison tables, includes Germany – https://www.dge.mec.pt/sites/default/files/Equivalencias/2006_portaria_224.pdf
- Portaria n.º 699/2006, de 12 de julho – comparison tables, includes Switzerland – https://dge.mec.pt/sites/default/files/Equivalencias/2006_portaria_699.pdf
- ENIC/NARIC Centre – recognition of higher education qualifications, DGES – https://www.dges.gov.pt/pt/pagina/centro-naric
- Reconhecimento, Validação e Certificação de Competências, Agência Nacional para a Qualificação e o Ensino Profissional – https://anqep.gov.pt/np4/RVCC.html
- Decreto-Lei n.º 99/2025, de 28 de agosto – creation of the Agência para a Gestão do Sistema Educativo – https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/detalhe/decreto-lei/99-2025-933527232
- Volkswagen Group careers portal, Volkswagen Group Services, Palmela – https://jobs.volkswagen-group.com/Volkswagen-Group-Services/