Provisional certificates are not degree certificates
Indian universities routinely issue a provisional certificate immediately after results, with the formal degree certificate following at the next convocation — which can be a year or more later. Students apply abroad using the provisional certificate because it is what they have.
Some receiving institutions accept it. Many do not, and a great deal of time is lost discovering which. Before ordering a translation, check whether the institution will accept a provisional certificate at all. If it will not, translating it achieves nothing except proving you do not yet hold the final document.
If you hold both, translate both. The pair together tells a complete story — results declared on one date, degree conferred on another — and pre-empts the question about why the dates differ.
Do not translate the degree into a local equivalent
This is a common mistake that can be tempting to make.
If your certificate says “Bachelor of Technology”, the translation says Bachelor of Technology. It does not say “equivalent to a Bachelor of Science” or map the qualification onto the destination country’s framework. Translators sometimes do this believing it is helpful.
This can cause problems for two reasons. The translator has no authority to make an equivalence determination — that is precisely the job of the credential evaluator receiving the document, and they will do it themselves using their own framework. And a translation that asserts an equivalence the original does not state is inaccurate, which undermines the certification.
The same applies to grading. A CGPA is rendered as the CGPA that appears on the document. Converting it to a foreign percentage or letter grade is an interpretation, not a translation, and the evaluator will do their own conversion with their own methodology.
Convocation dates and award dates
Degree certificates frequently carry more than one date: when the examination was passed, when the degree was conferred, when the certificate was issued at convocation. These are distinct and the translation must keep them distinct and correctly labelled.
Visa applications and employment checks often hinge on when a qualification was actually obtained. A translation that collapses three dates into one, or labels the convocation date as the award date, may create a discrepancy in your application.
Seals, signatures and the reverse
University certificates carry embossed or dry seals which photograph poorly — they are raised impressions without much colour contrast, and a flat phone photo can render them invisible.
Photograph the certificate in raking light, angled so the embossing casts a shadow, or use a flatbed scanner. If the seal cannot be read, it cannot be translated, and an official looking for evidence of authenticity finds a gap where the seal should be described.
Check the reverse as well. Many Indian universities print a registrar’s authentication, a serial number or verification instructions on the back, and it is often overlooked.
Sending documents directly
Several foreign universities and most credential evaluation bodies require academic documents to arrive directly from the issuing institution, sealed, rather than from the applicant. Where that is the case, a translation you commission separately may not satisfy the requirement on its own.
Check the receiving institution’s process before spending money. We will happily prepare a translation to accompany a sealed set, but we cannot make a document count as institutionally issued, and no translation agency can.