Application for Migration Certificate

What is an Application for Migration Certificate?

An application for a migration certificate asks the university or board you studied under to issue the certificate you need to join a different university. The new university usually asks for it at admission, and your admission can stay provisional until you hand it in. The application gives the issuing office what it needs to find your record and act on it: the course you passed, your registration number, the year, and where you are going next. Fill in the form on this page, or adapt one of the sample applications below.

Students need a migration certificate when they finish a course under one university or board and join another: a graduate starting a postgraduate course at a different university, a student moving to a university in another state, or a student who passed Class XII from one board and joins a university that asks students from other boards for one. The new university asks for it during admission, often with a date for submitting the original. Students who stay within the same university, for example moving from a degree to a postgraduate course there, usually do not need one.

Each university and board sets its own procedure. Some issue migration certificates only through the college you studied at; others take applications at the Registrar’s office or examination branch, or online. The documents, the fee and the time taken all differ, though many ask for copies of your final mark sheet, your provisional or degree certificate and your transfer certificate. The new university decides whether it needs a migration certificate from you and by when. Check the issuing university’s or board’s website, and the admission notice or letter from the new university, before you apply.

A migration certificate is not a transfer certificate. A transfer certificate comes from the college or school you are leaving and records your time there; the migration certificate comes from the university or board and confirms it has no objection to you joining another. It is not a degree certificate or a mark sheet and says nothing about your results. The new university may also need an eligibility certificate or other documents of its own, which this application does not cover. The letter only asks for the certificate; the issuing office decides how and when to issue it.

What to put in an Application for Migration Certificate

These are the details this template asks for. Anything left blank is marked in red on the preview so you can see what is still missing.

How to write an application for a migration certificate

1. Find out who issues it and how

   Check the issuing university’s or board’s website, or ask at your college office, whether applications go through the college, straight to the university, or online. Then choose the addressee: the Principal if your college forwards the request, or the Registrar or the Controller of Examinations if you apply to the university directly. Write the institution’s name and address exactly as they appear on its letterhead.

2. Give your course, year and register number

   Name the course you passed, the year you passed out and your roll or registration number, copied from your final mark sheet or provisional certificate. A university traces its records by the registration number it gave you, so quote that rather than a college roll number if the two differ. Write the course as the university does, for example ‘B.Com (Computers)’, so the clerk can match it to the right register.

3. Name the new university and course

   Say where you have been admitted and to which course, for example ‘M.Com (two-year programme)’, and attach a copy of the admission letter. This tells the office why you need the certificate, and some universities check the request against the letter. If the new university has given you a date by which to submit the migration certificate, mention it at the counter so the office knows the request cannot wait.

4. Attach the documents and the fee

   Offices commonly ask for copies of your final mark sheet or provisional certificate, your transfer certificate and the new admission letter, with the fee and sometimes a no-dues certificate from your college. The exact list and the fee are set by the university or board, so check its website or notice board and bring everything at once. An incomplete application may simply be returned, which costs you days you may not have.

5. Sign, submit and keep copies

   Date the application and sign it with your full name as it appears on your mark sheets. Keep a photocopy of everything you hand in, and note any application or receipt number the office gives you. When the certificate is ready, check your name, course, registration number and year before you leave the counter. The new university usually keeps the original, so photocopy it before you submit it there.

Sample application for migration certificate

Two sample applications: one sent through the college Principal and one sent directly to a university’s Registrar. Replace every detail with your own, and check whom your university wants you to write to.

Common mistakes

• Sending the letter to your college when the university takes migration requests only online or at its own office, or the other way round, so it waits in the wrong place.
• Quoting a college roll number instead of the university registration number, so the examination branch cannot trace your record and sends the application back.
• Applying only when the new university’s deadline is days away, when issuing the certificate can take longer than that and a late submission can hold up your admission.
• Leaving out the admission letter, fee receipt or mark sheet copies the office lists, so the application comes back incomplete and you have to start again.
• Handing the original to the new university without keeping a photocopy, which leaves you with no record if it is mislaid before your admission is confirmed.

Frequently asked questions

This page explains general practice and is not legal advice. Requirements differ between countries and, in some cases, between states — check what applies where the document will be used.

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