Validity period of a certified copy of a work book: how to obtain it, how to notarize it

I have repeatedly had to get a copy of my book at work. I ordered it for various situations when it was necessary to document my employment. I especially remember the incident with the bank. I wanted to get a loan, and the bank asked me for a copy of the book, as well as a certificate of my income. But since the lending conditions are different in different banks, I decided to contact several banks.

The process of choosing the most favorable conditions took me about a month and a half. And when I contacted the chosen bank again, I was informed that my copy was no longer valid and I needed to provide a new one. And in this article I will tell you how long this document is valid.

The procedure for registration and issuance of copies of the work book

In order for your employer to issue all the necessary photocopies of the work record, the employee will need to submit a written application. The employer is obliged to issue it within no more than three days. The employer can issue two different types of document - an extract or a copy.

How to correctly and legally certify photocopies of a work record book

Each of these documents must be properly executed and in accordance with certain rules. That is, the authorized person puts the signature and seal of the organization on the photocopies, his last name, first name and patronymic, and indicates the date of issue of the document. A note is made on each page of the photocopy that the copy is correct.

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An extract is a copy of the required individual pages of the work book. This document is issued if it is necessary to provide information, for example, for a separate period, and the activities for the rest of the time are not important for the institution.

Other structures

To apply for a visa, you also need to provide a copy of your work record. In this case, slightly different rules apply. If all documentation has a deadline of up to three months, then for labor documentation it is again a month. However, some pages need to be translated into a foreign language.

Those who have encountered the registration of social security benefits know that it always involves collecting a huge number of documents and certificates. A work record book is no exception if you need to apply for child benefits or a lump sum payment. The validity period of a copy of a work record for social security is the same as the validity of a copy of a work record for a loan - 30 days. The same deadlines apply to documents collected in court.

What is the validity period of a certified copy of a work book?

A copy of the work book is a photocopy of all pages of the document, which are certified by the employer and are an official document. The expiration date of a certified work book is often determined by the institutions that require this document. That is, it can be either 14 calendar days or 1 month. This is associated only with the specifics of the requests of these authorities.

How long is a copy of your work record valid?

Typically, a copy of the work book, certified by the employer, has a validity period of one month. If during this period any changes were made to the work book, then the copy of the work book will be invalid and a new copy will need to be issued.

If a person is not working at the time when he needs a copy of his work record, and accordingly, he does not contact the employer, then it can be certified by a notary. But this procedure will cost you financial expenses. If a working person turns to an employer for this service, then this document is certified completely free of charge.

If you are not sure or doubt how long a copy of the work record book is valid, you can clarify the information at the institution that requires it from you.

Important points

A copy of the labor report for all organizations must be made in accordance with all the rules (by law). Organizations require approval of each page using the company seal and the signature of the responsible person.

A significant point in providing such a copy is its validity period. Each company puts forward its own conditions on this issue. Basically, a photocopy of an employment document is valid only for one month from the date of its approval by the company. Some banks reduce this period to two weeks due to the issuance of a large amount of money on credit. There are also organizations that allow this document to have legal force for three months. And only in one case does the law not limit the validity period of a copy of a citizen’s book before new information is added to the original - if it is certified by a notary.

After the expiration of the permitted period, a copy of the citizen’s labor document becomes invalid. In this case, the employee can take another copy or (if the authority allows) extend the validity period by contacting the employer. Also, the validity of such a document may expire if, after making a photocopy, new information was recorded in the book.

Validity period for a copy of a work book in Russia in 2021

This is important to know: Hiring without a work book

For FMS

You can apply for a foreign passport at the Federal Migration Service. To do this, among other lists of documents, the citizen must provide a copy of the employment document. However, it is provided only to employed persons. If a citizen is unemployed, then he is obliged to show the original form where his last job is recorded.

How long is a copy of a work book valid for a foreign passport? The same as for obtaining a mortgage – a month. But unlike banks, FMS allows you to renew your copy. To do this, you need to contact the employer with an already made copy of the document and re-stamp it.

All information must be easy to read and recognize.

Procedure for approving a copy

The main reason for issuing copies of books is that the employer is responsible for them. They must be kept by the organization as long as the employee is employed there. The only case when the original book can be given to an employee is when it is required by Social Security. In all other situations, upon request, only a copy of the original book is issued.

An employee cannot make a copy of the document on his own, since it must be certified in the prescribed manner:

All sheets of the book that contain entries are copied . It is necessary to check not only the sheets with the place of work, but also the pages indicating the person’s awards. It is also important not to forget to photocopy the first sheet, which contains information about the owner of the document.
A record is made that the copy is correct . It can be affixed with a special stamp or simply written in text.
The seal of the organization, signature and position of the employee who certified this document are affixed. If the company does not work with a seal, it is necessary to record “Believe without a seal.” Only the employee who has the authority to do so is required to certify. They are usually vested in accounting staff, human resources departments, managers and entrepreneurs themselves.
The date of certification must be indicated. It is from this that the validity period of the issued copy will be counted.
Information is provided that the employee is still working for the company. This means that he was not fired earlier or on the last day and is on staff as of the specified date.
Since July of this year, it has become mandatory to indicate an additional entry about where the original book is kept. Here you can indicate the employee’s safe or personal file, as well as the department where this document is located.

If the copy is not formatted correctly, it will not be accepted at the destination. Therefore, every employee who has the authority to issue copies must know what requirements are established for the certification procedure. Also, upon receipt of the document, the employees themselves should check that it is correctly formatted so that they do not need to apply for it again.

A copy must be issued based on the employee’s application no later than 3 days. But in small companies you can request such a document orally. There are no strict requirements for completing such an application.

Who assures

A copy of the work record book must be certified either by the head of the organization or by a notary office.

On the last page of the copy you must indicate whether the citizen is currently working in the organization or has already been fired.

How long is a certified copy of a work book valid? As much as required by organizations requesting such documents.

It is only necessary to have your work record certified by a notary when applying to a pension fund.

Validity

The law does not establish a specific validity period for a copy of the book, so this point causes controversy among many. Each organization requesting a copy must establish its own requirements for it. Depending on the purpose for which it is needed, the validity period of the copy may vary. In most cases it is required:

in credit institutions when submitting a request for a loan or credit;
to the Pension Fund to confirm your work experience;
at the Embassies of different countries to obtain entry permission;
in social authorities for registration of benefits;
in courts to confirm the place of employment.

Expert opinion

Novikov Oleg Tarasovich

Legal consultant with 7 years of experience. Specializes in criminal law. Member of the Bar Association.

Previously, this document was needed to obtain a foreign passport. But now it is not required. You can learn more about this from the video presented.

Banks

Here a copy is required to verify the person's employment in a particular position. Using information from the book, they receive the following information important for determining the solvency of a potential client:

Permanence of employment . The book shows how long a person worked at his last place of work, as well as his total length of service. By analyzing this information, we can conclude how long a person can stay at work and how long he works in a team. There are people who have only changed 1-2 jobs in their entire lives, and there are people who change employers every 3-6 months. Of course, a reliable client will be a person who has not changed his place of work for a long time.
Last date of work . Most banks will not issue loans if a person has just recently gotten a job. This is due to the fact that the first 3 months are often probationary, and during this period the employee can be dismissed under a simplified scheme. Therefore, the standard requirement of credit institutions is employment in the last place for more than 3-6 months.
Job title . The employee's salary mainly depends on it. And, based on average statistical data, bank employees can determine the average earnings of such a person. In addition, a person holding serious leadership positions will inspire more confidence, since only responsible people who have achieved their position through certain merits can work in it.
Place of work . There are many organizations where employees are not paid promised bonuses, salaries are delayed, and staff can easily be laid off. In addition to them, there are reliable large companies that have been operating for a long time. It is easy to check the reliability of an organization by knowing its name and TIN.

Based on the information that banks need from books of potential clients, in most credit institutions the validity period of a copy is set to 1 month. I also faced such a deadline when I was told that my copy was overdue. But in some credit institutions I also saw that the copy was required to be valid for no more than 2 weeks.

Government agencies

In the Pension Fund of Russia and social security, the validity period of a copy is usually set at 3 months. Although you will need a more recent copy of the book to apply for a pension if you decide to continue working at retirement age. Therefore, before submitting documents, it is imperative to check the requirements for this book.

This is important to know: Information about disciplinary sanctions in the work book

A copy may also be useful to restore a duplicate if your original is lost or damaged. In this case, its validity period will not matter. But the restoration of records on it will be carried out only until the moment when the copy is certified. All other records made in the original after this date will have to be certified by other documents confirming them.

Embassies

Entry for Russian citizens to different countries of the world can be carried out on the basis of agreements with Russia or with a visa. To obtain a visa to enter, you must provide the embassy of that country with a strictly defined list of documents. In most cases, a copy of the book is a mandatory document to confirm that a person has a job. With the help of this copy, embassy staff make sure that the person has a stable income and is attached to his country. Thus, the chances that he will remain illegally in another country are considered minimal.

The validity period of the copy in most embassies is also 1 month. But before submitting documents to obtain a visa, you must clarify all the requirements in advance, as they can be changed at any time.

Is an application necessary?

In order to receive a copy of the work report, an employee of the organization must write an application.

The application itself can be written in free form, but it must indicate:

full details of the head of the organization;
employee details;
request for a certified copy of the work book;
the reason why the copy should be issued;
date of document preparation;
employee signature.

Since the information about how long a copy of the work record book is valid is known to both the manager and the personnel, an application of this nature is considered quite quickly. Verbal requests are not accepted.

Recommendations

Taking into account the fact that Russian legislation does not establish the exact validity period for a copy of the book, I recommend:

Always check with the agency requesting the copy for expiration dates.
Make it a habit to order a copy of a document every time a new entry is made to it. In this case, it will be easy for you to restore it if you lose it.

Remember that each organization can set its own expiration date for a copy of the book, so it is better to clarify it before submitting documents.

Alternative assurance

There is an option for document certification, where you do not need to put a stamp and signature on each page. You can do it another way:

each photocopied sheet must be numbered (in the sequence in which they appear in the original);
sew the resulting copy (the thread should go beyond the last sheet);
on the last page, tie a thread and stick a sheet on it, indicating on it how many pages are stitched and numbered, the signature of an authorized person and the stamp of the organization (it must be placed so that one half of it is on the sheet with information, and the other half is on the copy itself );
It is necessary to put the date of certification of the document.

Usually the copy is certified quite quickly, since any authorized person knows how long the copy of the work book is valid.

Requirements of banks for the work activities of clients

Banks need information about the client’s work, first of all, to confirm the veracity of the information provided by the future borrower, and also for:

determining the degree of solvency of the prospective client;
establishing his main stable source of income;
insurance for possible recovery of the loan amount at the borrower’s place of work in the event of non-repayment.

This is important to know: You can get a job without a work book

When making a decision to issue a loan, the bank’s credit commission proceeds from an analysis of the likelihood of debt repayment. An important role in this is played by information about the client’s permanence in labor relations, the source of which is his work book.

Therefore, persons who often change their place of work (who have recently had many entries about employment and dismissal in their work book) cannot always be recognized as reliable clients.

The situation is the same with persons whose work books contain records of dismissal on the so-called guilty grounds provided for in Art. 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation (for systematic violations of labor discipline, absenteeism, appearing at work while drunk, committing theft at the place of work, etc.).

Such clients are often denied a loan, and the reasons may not be explained.

Assurance algorithm and regulatory documents

A clear copy is made of the document, and each page must be stamped “true copy.” Next, the signature of the head and the seal of the organization are affixed. All stamps must capture text.

On the final page they indicate whether the citizen is currently working in the organization or not. If the person is not working and the original document is in hand, it must be certified by a notary office.

How long a copy of a work book is valid was discussed earlier; let us turn to those documents that regulate the procedure for handling work books.

Such regulatory documents include:

Labor Code of the Russian Federation. As a personnel document, a whole article in the Labor Code of the Russian Federation is devoted to the work book - Art. 66.
Government Decree No. 225 of 04/16/2003. This document takes into account the procedure for recording forms, storing and filling them out.

A copy of the work book for the bank

According to labor legislation, the work book is kept by the employer and is issued in cases strictly specified by law. Providing a loan to a bank does not apply to them.

If a citizen needs to provide information about his work activity to the bank, he will need a copy of his work book.

The employee has the right to apply for its issuance to the employer by submitting a written application to this effect, and he is obliged to issue a duly certified copy free of charge within three days from the date of application (Article 62 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

In a copy of a work book for a bank, all pages are usually certified (there can be either one or two spreads of the work book on a sheet). After the last employment record, there should be an inscription in blue pen: “Continues to work in the position of such and such. Record number, current date." This inscription must be certified by the signature of an official (indicating the position).

Responsibility for untimely issuance or refusal to issue a copy of a document

Penalties are provided for delay or refusal of issuance. These measures are regulated by the Code of Administrative Offenses (Article 5.27). For a violation committed for the first time, the penalties presented in the table are provided.

For repeated violations, the amount of penalties increases. The amounts are presented in the table below.

Subject	Amount (rub.)
executive	10000-20000 (can be replaced by disqualification for a period of 1 year to 3 years)
entrepreneur	10000-20000
entity	50000-70000

How can I get a copy?

The fact is that the HR department employee does not have the right to hand over the original work book to the employee while he is registered and working at this enterprise. But if an employee needs to provide information about his work activities, he can ask the employer to make an extract from the work record or make a certified copy of it.

Expert opinion

Novikov Oleg Tarasovich

Legal consultant with 7 years of experience. Specializes in criminal law. Member of the Bar Association.

To obtain the document, you must visit the HR department and leave a statement there asking for a copy of the document. The employer is obliged to issue it within three days. At the employee’s request, the employer can issue one of two types of document – an extract or a copy.

An extract is a copy of part of the pages of the work book. Such a document may be required to obtain a foreign passport; it requires an indication of places of work for the last 10 years. In general, an extract is required if it is necessary to provide information for a single period, and the activities for the rest of the time are not important for the institution.

Step-by-step instructions for restoring TC through MFC

Specialists of multifunctional centers receive visitors using an electronic queue. There are two ways to make an appointment at the MFC:

Visit the center in person and then wait your turn in the hall. The administrator will issue a ticket with the appointment time.
Make an appointment in advance by calling the MFC hotline. The good thing about this method is that you can come at your own time, without wasting it waiting.

The MFC specialist will provide an application form for obtaining information to restore the work record. It must be completed in legible handwriting.

The application is accompanied by the necessary documents (usually a passport, from which a copy is made on the spot), all papers are handed over to a specialist.

The employee will give the applicant a receipt for receiving the papers and tell them when they can pick up the completed certificates.