You finish your degree in June. The university gives you a piece of paper saying you have completed it. The real diploma, the big one with the seal, takes months. And you have a procedure in Spain with a September deadline.
That is the situation, and the decision to be made is not about translation: it is about documentation. Translating is the last thing that happens, and it pays to arrive there knowing which document you have and which document they want.
First: identify the piece of paper in your hand
"Provisional certificate" is an informal label applied to quite different documents. Look at yours and find what it actually states:
| Document | What it states |
|---|---|
| Completion certificate | That you have completed the programme and met its requirements |
| Certificate of issue | That the degree certificate has been issued, or is being issued |
| Provisional certificate | A temporary document, to be replaced by the final diploma |
| Receipt for issue fees | That you paid the issuing fee. Nothing more |
That last row is the one that causes grief. A payment receipt proves you paid, not that the university has certified anything about your studies. It looks academic because it carries the university's letterhead and your name, but it does not evidence the qualification. Do not treat it as equivalent to a completion certificate, and if it is all you have, ask your institution for a document that states completion of studies.
The difference matters because what a recipient assesses is the statement, not the format: if a procedure needs evidence that you finished the degree, it needs a document that says so in those words.
What your destination procedure accepts
There is no general rule here, and be wary of anyone offering one.
Some procedures are resolved by a completion certificate while the diploma is issued. Others — especially where the degree certificate itself is what is being assessed, as in qualification recognition — accept nothing but the final document. And some universities decide programme by programme.
So the check is twofold: the procedure's instructions and, if the destination is a specific institution, what that institution says. For degree recognition, the conditions of the procedure are published: we cover it in translations for degree recognition.
And one question almost nobody asks, which often settles everything: can the recipient accept your submission with the provisional document and the final one later? Many allow you to complete the file afterwards. If yours does, you have room to manoeuvre rather than an emergency.
Prepare the complete original before translating
Once you know you are submitting the provisional document, it has to go in whole. What usually goes missing:
- The reverse side. Many certificates carry conditions, a legend, or a notice that they will be superseded by the diploma on the back. That is text, and it is part of the document.
- Stamps and signatures, legible. If the certificate is electronic, the verification code.
- The institution's identification in header and footer, uncropped.
- Legalisation or apostille, if the procedure requires it for that document. As with the final degree, the order saves money: legalisation first, translation second.
One point of form that causes trouble: provisional certificates often carry an expiry date or a note about their temporary validity. Check it will still be current on the day you submit, not just on the day you translate it.
When the final diploma arrives
The final diploma does not automatically replace anything you have already submitted. What happens next depends on the recipient:
If the procedure accepted the provisional document and asks for nothing further, you are done. If it accepted the provisional one on condition that you supply the final one, you will have to submit the diploma — and, where the procedure requires the Spanish version, its own sworn translation, because it is a different document with different wording and a different date.
That is where a translation of your university degree comes in, and often a supporting academic transcript, which some procedures require alongside the degree.
The decision tree, in four questions
Put in order, all of the above resolves like this:
- Have you finished your studies? If not, no document is going to evidence that you have.
- Has the degree certificate been issued? If it is issued and only needs collecting, waiting a few days sometimes beats translating a provisional one.
- What does your document actually say? Completion, issue, provisional status, or just a paid fee. Read the statement, not the heading.
- What does the recipient accept? Ask in writing, naming the document you hold.
If all four answers point to submitting now, translate it and submit. If the fourth says they want the final document, translating the provisional one is money gone.
Send us the complete document — reverse side included — the body it is addressed to and your deadline, and we will give you the exact price and turnaround.