公立の小中学校に書類発行を依頼するときの注意点 Points to Note When Requesting Document Issuance from Public Elementary or Junior High Schools

公立の小学校や中学校に対して、卒業証明書や成績証明書、在学証明書の発行をお願いする場合、学校が書類発行に慣れていないため、そのままではアポスティーユや公印確認が受けられない状態の書類を発行されることが非常に多く、そのせいで手続きが遅延するケースが多くみられます。

そのため、このページで注意事項をまとめましたので、ご確認ください。

書類に必ず書かないといけない事項【成績証明書・卒業証明書・在学証明書のアポスティーユ・外務省公印確認】

・学校名＋学長の肩書
　※「〇〇小学校校長」というように学校名と併せて記載が必要です。「校長」とだけ書かれているケースだと手続きで不備を指摘されるリスクがあります。

・書類発行日
　書類発行日は、証明する事項よりも未来の日付では無効となります。
※たとえば在籍期間の証明として、4/1～3/31と記載するのに、書類発行日が3/18になっていると、未来の内容を証明しているので、外務省で公印確認が受けらません。
※この場合では書類発行日が、3月31日以降でないと外務省の公印確認は受けることができません。

・学校の公印

※校長先生、学長の自署サインは不要です。

複数ページある場合の一体性の証明について

成績証明書などは1ページではなく、5枚くらいのボリュームになることが多いです。

この場合、以下のいずれかの方法で文書の一体性を証明しないと外務省の公印確認が受けられないので注意してください。

・契印機（けいいんき）を使って、書類をとじる

・各ページの下部にページ数を記載して、学校印は、最後のページに1か所だけ押印する
　※たとえば、3ページの成績証明書なら、各ページの下部に1/3、2/3、3/3と書く

When requesting a certificate of graduation, academic transcript, certificate of enrollment, or similar document from a public elementary or junior high school, please note that the school may not be familiar with issuing documents for use overseas.

As a result, schools frequently issue documents that do not meet the requirements for an apostille or authentication of an official seal by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. This often causes significant delays in the procedure.

We have therefore summarized the important requirements on this page. Please review them carefully before requesting the document from the school.

Information That Must Be Included in the Document

Name of the school and the principal’s official title

The name of the school must be stated together with the principal’s title, for example:

“Principal of ○○ Elementary School”

If the document states only “Principal” without identifying the school, there is a risk that the document will be deemed incomplete during the authentication procedure.

Date of issuance

The document must be issued after the end of the period or event being certified.

For example, if a certificate states that the student was enrolled from April 1 to March 31, but the certificate was issued on March 18, it would be certifying a period that had not yet been completed as of the date of issuance.

In such a case, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan will not authenticate the official seal on the document.
In this case, the document must be issued on or after March 31 in order to obtain authentication of the official seal by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan.

Official seal of the school

The document must bear the official seal of the school.

Please note that the handwritten signature of the principal or head of the school is not required.

Certification That Multiple Pages Form a Single Document

Academic transcripts and similar documents are often several pages long rather than consisting of only one page. In some cases, they may be approximately five pages in length.

When a document consists of multiple pages, the pages must be certified as forming one complete document. Otherwise, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan may not authenticate the official seal.

Please use either of the following methods:

Bind the pages using a page-sealing machine

Use a page-sealing or perforating machine known in Japanese as a keiin-ki（契印機） to bind and certify the pages as one document.

Number each page and affix the school seal to the final page

Indicate the page number and total number of pages at the bottom of each page. The official school seal only needs to be affixed once, on the final page.

For example, if an academic transcript consists of three pages, write the following at the bottom of each page:

1/3, 2/3, and 3/3