Official Certification, Pre-Certification and Translation

An official certification confirms that the copy of a document is identical to the original. It contains the following: a statement confirming that the copy of the document exactly reflects the content of the original, the signature of the attester, and an official stamp.

The TU Berlin Office of Student Affairs and Examination Office only offer official certifications for documents issued by TU Berlin.

The Office of Student Affairs certifies copies of original documents such as certificates, degree certificates, and diploma supplements for continuing education master’s programs and doctoral programs at TU Berlin. Please note: Official certification is not offered for certificates of enrollment, progress of studies, or exmatriculation. You can print these from your TU Berlin account (tuPORT). They contain a verification number and are valid without signature.

The Examination Office officially certifies copies of original documents such as certificates, degree certificates, and diploma supplements for all other degrees at TU Berlin. Please note: Transcripts of records are not officially certified. You can print these from your TU Berlin account (tuPORT). They are valid without signature. The Examination Office provides stamped and signed transcripts of records for a fee.

You must submit a request and pay a fee for all official certifications.

How to request official certification:

1. Complete and sign the “Application for an official certification and a pre-certification of TU Berlin documents.”
2. Attach the following to your application:
   - original TU Berlin document to be officially certified and
   - the number of certified copies needed and
   - proof of payment.

Important:
- Only documents issued by TU Berlin can be officially certified.
- Documents without a signature will not be officially certified.
- A maximum of 3 official copies per document can be made.
- You must pay a fee of 2 euros per official certification/copy.

Payments are only possible via bank transfer to the following account:
Bank name: Berliner Volksbank
Account holder/recipient: Technische Universität Berlin
IBAN: DE69 1009 0000 8841 0150 03
BIC: BEVODEBB

Please submit your application together with the required documents by mail (TU Berlin, Studierendensekretariat IA, Campus Center / SIS, Straße des 17. Juni 135, 10623 Berlin) or in person at the central counter in the Campus Center. Please note that documents are not officially certified immediately on site. We cannot guarantee that documents sent via mail will not be lost in transit resulting in the issue of replacement documents for a fee.

If you want to use an official document from TU Berlin abroad, you may need to have it certified with an apostille or legalization. Generally, you first require a pre-certification from TU Berlin, confirming that the signature and seal on the original document are authentic and the person issuing the documents had proper authorization.

In principal, pre-certifications are made on the original document. However, some countries accept a pre-certified copy. Please ask the embassy of the country where you want to use the document whether a pre-certified copy or original is required.

The TU Berlin Office of Student Affairs and Examination Office only offer pre-certification for documents issued by TU Berlin and which contain a signature.

The Office of Student Affairs issues pre-certifications for all certificates of enrollment as well as for certificates, degree certificates, and diploma supplements for continuing education master’s programs and doctoral programs at TU Berlin. The Examination Office issues pre-certifications for certificates, degree certificates, and diploma supplements for all other degrees at TU Berlin.

You must submit a request for all pre-certifications. Pre-certifications of original documents are free of charge, while pre-certifications of copies are for a fee.

How to request pre-certification:

• Complete and sign the “Application for an official certification and a pre-certification of TU Berlin documents.”
• If you are requesting pre-certification of an original TU Berlin document, please attach the original document to your application.
• If you are requesting pre-certification of a copy, please attach the following to your application:
  - original TU Berlin document to be pre-certified and
  - the number of pre-certified copies needed and
  - proof of payment.

Important:
- Only documents issued by TU Berlin can be pre-certified.
- Documents without a signature will not be pre-certified.
- A maximum of 3 pre-certifications per document can be made.
- You must pay a fee of 2 euros per pre-certificatication copy. Pre-certification of original documents is free of charge.

Payments are only possible via bank transfer to the following account:
Bank name: Berliner Volksbank
Account holder/recipient: Technische Universität Berlin
IBAN: DE69 1009 0000 8841 0150 03
BIC: BEVODEBB

Please submit your application together with the required documents by mail (TU Berlin, Studierendensekretariat IA, Campus Center / SIS, Straße des 17. Juni 135, 10623 Berlin) or in person at the central counter in the Campus Center. Please note that documents are not pre-certified immediately on site. We cannot guarantee that documents sent via mail will not be lost in transit resulting in the issue of replacement documents for a fee.

Information about apostilles and legalization

You can obtain an apostille directly from the State Office for Resident and Regulatory Affairs (Landesamtes für Bürger- und Ordnungsangelegenheiten - LABO). However, this can only be done for certain countries. For further information and a list of specific countries, please refer to the Federal Foreign Office website.

For all other countries, you require a legalization. LABO will first issue you a further pre-certification. Take this pre-certification to the embassy or other diplomatic mission of the country for which you need the document. The diplomatic mission can issue you the legalization. Some countries require yet another certification from the Federal Administration Office before the legalization. The Federal Administration Office provides comprehensive information about this topic.

Further information about the procedure and costs is available on the State Office for Resident and Regulatory Affairs website (LABO).

All hard-copy documents required for application and enrollment are to be submitted as officially certified copies, unless originals or uncertified copies are specifically requested.

In the case of an online-only application or online-only enrollment, you simply upload all the required documents - without official certification.

For documents issued in languages other than German or English, an additional German or English translation is required – either as an original document or as a certified copy.

What does an official certification look like?

An officially certified copy always includes

• A statement confirming that the copy faithfully reflects the content of the original
• the original signature of the person conducting the certification
• an original official seal

An emblem is generally incorporated into the official stamp. A seal consisting purely of text is not accepted. As a rule, you have to pay for an official certification. Each single page of multi-page copies has to be officially certified, or presented with the seal applied in such a way that it is clear that each page is part of a single official document. If a page is double-sided, then each side must be officially certified or the statement must clearly refer to both sides. Should the certification be provided by a notary (seal with cordon), then a single stamp on just one of the pages of the copy or true copy is sufficient. If the original contains an embossed seal (i.e. one where the seal is merely pressed into the paper), then this will usually not be visible on the copy. If this is so, the statement on the copy must further confirm that the original document bears an embossed seal. Documents containing the sentence “automatically generated and valid without signature” or similar wording can be submitted as uncertified copies or printouts.

Who is permitted to officially certify documents?

• All public offices in Germany in possession of an official stamp are authorized to provide official certifications. These include: public authorities, registration offices, city halls, district and municipal authorities, parishes and boroughs, offices of mayors, courts of law and notaries, as well as churches regulated by public law
• the schools and universities issuing the certificates as well as the ministry of education in your home country
• the diplomatic representation of the Federal Republic of Germany
• the cultural division of the embassy of the country where the certificate originates
• public authorities and notaries authorized to provide official certifications in each respective country = customary certification in the country in question

The following may NOT officially certify documents:

• charities and welfare organizations, translators, associations, student association bodies, the DAAD, lawyers, auditors, accountants, banks or other credit institutes
• Translators may not certify documents in the language in which they were written, but only the translations which they themselves provided.

The following documents are NOT accepted:

• Copies, color copies, screenshots, scans of officially certified copies
• official certifications of officially certified copies

TU Berlin will not accept any certifications failing to meet these requirements. Please make sure that the official certification meets the stated requirements and inform the office certifying your document of these requirements. Official certifications not submitted in accordance with these regulations will result in your exclusion from the application procedure and the rejection of your application. Only in cases of doubt will TU Berlin insist upon presentation of originals.

What does a translation look like?

Certificates must always be submitted in the language of the country of origin. Should this not be English or German, a German or English translation of the certificate must also be submitted.

Translations of certificates must be made by official bodies, such as the authorized department of the institution issuing the certificate, or by sworn translators. Translations undertaken by translation agencies not fulfilling these criteria are not accepted. Translations made abroad must be undertaken by institutions authorized to issue sworn translations (or the equivalent thereof) in their countries. For certificates issued in a non-English speaking country which include an English-language version in addition to the original, the English-language version also counts as an original certificate. The same applies to German-language versions of certificates. For exceptions to this rule, please refer to “Info country by country” on the uni-assist website.

Certificates in French will not be accepted and must be translated into German or English.