A criminal record certificate has a short shelf life, and that governs the whole sequence of steps. The institution looks at the date the certificate was issued, not the date of the translation, and an expired certificate is not saved by the freshest translation. So the order is always the same: ask the receiving institution what it requires, then order the certificate, then the apostille if one is needed, and only then the translation.
| Institution | What it requires |
|---|---|
| PPA | Certified translation into Estonian, Russian or English. |
| Employers in education and healthcare | Usually a certified translation; the requirement comes from the employer. |
| Licensing authorities | Sworn translation. |
| A foreign authority receiving an Estonian certificate | Sworn translation into the destination language and, as a rule, an apostille. |
The certificate reflects the position on the day it was issued, which is why institutions want a recent document — commonly no more than three or six months old. There is no single statutory period: the requirement is set by the institution receiving the document, and that is who to ask.
The practical consequence is that a translation does not extend a certificate. If an institution accepts documents up to three months old, what counts is the issue date, even if the translation was made yesterday.
So plan backwards. Take your submission date, subtract the translation time, the apostille processing time — five working days in Estonia from when the application is accepted — and the time it takes to obtain the certificate itself. That gives you the date to order it. Order too early and the document expires before your case is reached.
One detail people rarely know in advance: for single-use documents, including criminal record certificates, the apostille goes on the original rather than on a copy. A certificate you have already handed to one institution cannot be reused for another; you will need a new one.
If you have lived in more than one country, you may be asked for a certificate from each. Every country has its own application procedure, its own processing time and its own apostille arrangements, and none of these timelines are coordinated with the others.
The sensible approach is to start with the country where the document takes longest to obtain, then order the rest so that all of them are valid on the same day. Documents from Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine need no apostille; documents from Russia have needed one since 19 March 2025. A criminal record extract issued in another EU member state may be submitted to an Estonian authority in Estonian, English or Russian, and a translation may not be demanded — the EU standard form is issued by the country where the document originates.
There is no single statutory period. Institutions usually accept documents up to three or six months old — ask the receiving side for the exact requirement.
It depends on where it was issued and where it is going. For an Estonian certificate going abroad, a notary issues the apostille: €27.71 including VAT, five working days (notar.ee). We can arrange it.
Yes, when certified by a sworn translator. The PPA sets the requirement for the language and form of the translation, so confirm it before ordering.
It depends on the requirement: some institutions ask for a certificate from every country where you lived longer than a set period, for example six months. Only the receiving side can give you the list of countries and periods.
No. A translation is made from a specific document, with its number, date and stamps. The only thing you can do in advance is clarify the requirement so you order the certificate at the right time.
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
