telc certificate: how long is it valid? Lost? A duplicate for 40 €

A telc certificate for telc Deutsch B1 or B2, the German exams, has no expiry date: under the telc exam rules no period of validity is printed on it. Whether an older certificate is enough for your purpose is decided by whoever asks for it. If it is lost, telc issues a duplicate for 40 €, for up to ten years.

How long is a telc certificate valid?

For as long as the body that asks for it accepts it. The exam rules put it in two sentences: no period of validity is stated on the certificate, and whether an older one is valid for a given purpose is decided by the institution that requires it. An employer, a university or an authority may therefore ask for proof no older than a set time. telc itself sets no limit.

Retaking the exam does not cost you the old result. A telc exam can be retaken any number of times, and every result stays valid.

What applies to naturalisation and settlement permits?

For both, German law asks for German at B1 and names no maximum age for the proof:

Neither section says how old the certificate may be. How the responsible authority treats older proof is something to ask it directly before you apply, if your certificate is a few years old. What the B1 exam asks for and how many points pass it is on the telc Deutsch B1 exam page.

Lost your certificate: how do you get a duplicate?

Through the contact form on telc.net, for 40 €. telc archives exam results digitally for ten years, and within that time you can order a second copy of the certificate or of the result sheet. What to know:

• Where: directly from telc, not from the exam centre.
• What you get: a document marked as a duplicate, signed and stamped by telc.
• Cost: 40 € including VAT; fees for transfers from abroad and postage abroad are yours.
• For someone else: only with a power of attorney.
• No duplicate: if rule violations were found in the exam.

Since the first quarter of 2026 the result comes as a signed PDF by e-mail. A PDF can be printed again at any time: keep the e-mail with the attachment in two places. The file carries an advanced digital signature; you can send it straight to a university, employer or authority, and the verification portal spots any change to the file at once. How the result comes about and when it arrives is in telc results: when do they come?.

What does the certificate say?

That you passed, and with which grade. Only those who reach 60 % in both the written and the oral exam get a certificate: 135 of 225 and 45 of 75 points. The grade follows the total:

For the law, all that counts is a passed exam at B1; an “ausreichend” meets § 10 StAG just as a “sehr gut” does. An employer may still look at the grade.

How does an authority check that your certificate is genuine?

Through telc’s verification portal. The authority scans the QR code on the certificate or enters three details from it: participant number, date of birth and date of issue. If they match, the certificate is confirmed. Certificates without a QR code cannot be checked this way; older or printed certificates with one can.

An exam can have consequences later, too: if an authority has well-founded doubts about how a certificate was obtained, telc can find cheating after the fact.

What if your name is wrong or has changed?

A mistake can be corrected, a change of name cannot. Your details appear on the certificate as you gave them to the exam centre, and that has to be the spelling in your ID. Report a mistake to the centre within four months of issue. If you marry or divorce, telc does not change the surname: the name that was legally valid on the exam day stays.