Keeping a Document File That Still Works Five Years From Now

What to keep

• Colour scans at 300 dpi of every submitted page, front and back where anything is stamped.
• The certified translation as certified, not the working draft.
• Official receipts and appointment reference numbers.
• A dated note of which authority accepted the file and any conditions attached.
• Correspondence containing a requirement in writing — this is the evidence that a rule applied on that date.

How to structure the file

One folder per person, one sub-folder per matter, file names beginning with the ISO date. This survives changes of device and is readable by anyone you later ask to help.

Keep originals physically separate from the working set, and never send a sole original by courier when a legalised copy is acceptable.

What can and cannot be reused

• Translations can often be reused if the original is unchanged and the destination does not require a recent certification date.
• Legalisation seals are tied to the specific document copy they were applied to and cannot be transferred.
• Civil-status and criminal-record certificates are usually required to be recent, so plan to reissue rather than reuse.

Next step

If you would rather not learn the rules the expensive way, send us photographs of your documents first. Our advisory team will map the correct route, the order of steps, and the specific risks in your case before you pay any government fee on the wrong path.