What are "of­fi­cially cer­ti­fied" doc­u­ments?

If you apply at the University of Paderborn, you have to submit officially certified documents.

A copy is regarded as officially certified if a public institution (e.g. embassy, consulate, university, police, notary public) confirms that the copy corresponds to the original document. The endorsement has to be written in German, English or French and needs to be stamped with an emblem.

Please note: A copy or a scan of an officially certified document is not regarded as officially certified.

The following table aims to give an overview over which documents are accepted:

  Accepted Not accepted
Original document*          X  
Copy with original endorsement of an official, public institution (in German, English or French), stamped with an emblem          X  
Simple copy of the original document            X
Simple copy of a certified copy            X
PDF of a certified copy            X
Photo of a certified copy on your mobile phone            X
Simple computer printout            X
Certification without an attestation clause or in a language other than  German, English, French            X
Certification by the translator**                   X
Certification by a not public institution***            X
Certification is not readable            X
Copies that have been stapled and certified together, are/were separated              X

*  To reduce the risk that your original documents go lost by sending it through the post, we recomment to submit certified copies.

** Translators can only certifiy the validity of their own translation, but not of other documents. 

*** Certifications by General Students´Committees (AStA) are not accepted either (Exeption: AStA of Paderborn University).