Employment record books and service certificates are usually translated for a pension claim, and whether a period of service counts depends on how complete the set is. One untranslated page is a gap in the file, and gaps mean further evidence and a longer wait. One thing is worth knowing at the outset: only periods up to 31 December 1998 have to be evidenced with documents. From 1999 onwards, pensionable service is calculated from social tax paid, and the Social Insurance Board already holds that data.
| Institution | What it requires |
|---|---|
| Estonian Social Insurance Board | Certified translation into Estonian. |
| A pension authority in another country | As that country requires, often a sworn translation with an apostille. |
| Employer | A standard translation is normally enough. |
| Court in a service dispute | Sworn translation. |
An employment record book is a chronological document, and its whole point is continuity. An official reads it entry by entry: when the employment began, when it ended and why, when the next one started. Leave one page untranslated and a gap appears in the record of service — a gap created by the translation rather than by your working life.
So we scan and translate every page in sequence, including those carrying only a stamp or a correction note, and the inserts. Blank pages matter too: they show that nothing is missing between entries.
Stamps that cannot be read are described as illegible. A sworn translator may not supply text, even where the company name is obvious from context. This is not a formality: in a pension case, an entry whose content has been guessed is worth as little as a missing one, and it can turn into a dispute later. When a stamp is illegible, the right answer is an archive certificate, not a guess.
A factory that operated in the Soviet period may have been renamed after 1991, converted into a company, split up or ended up in a different country. The same workplace can therefore appear in the record book under two names — one in the entry, another in the stamp.
The translation renders both names as they appear, without harmonising them. Whether this is one and the same employer is for the Social Insurance Board to decide, and the archive certificate on the renaming exists precisely for that purpose. It ties the two names together, so it is worth obtaining before the set goes for translation and translating alongside the record book.
Where a period of work falls in another country, certificates from that country are ordered separately. Documents from Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine need no apostille; documents issued in Russia have required one since 19 March 2025, and obtaining it can take time, so start early.
Yes, when it is submitted as evidence of pensionable service. A selective translation creates a gap that will be queried later.
They are marked as illegible in the translation. To evidence the period, obtain a separate certificate from the employer or an archive.
For submission in Estonia, usually not, as it is not a public document in the ordinary sense. For archive and institutional certificates it depends on the issuing country; check with the Social Insurance Board.
Yes, when certified by a sworn translator. Ask the Board whether certification is required for your particular documents.
Then the archive holding its records is the place to apply. We translate the archive certificate together with the record book, in one consistent spelling.
Send us the scans and we will reply with the price, the deadline and the requirements of the institution you are filing with. The form takes a minute: contacts, languages and files.
Or write to info@tradux.ee
