Official Expert Answer
This is more common than it looks and authorities do have a route for it. What usually works:
• Ask the successor institution in writing for whatever they can issue, even if the format differs, and ask them to state on letterhead that they are the legal successor and hold the archived records.
• If they cannot reproduce the original document, ask for a written statement saying exactly that. A refusal on letterhead is itself evidence, and authorities can work with it.
• Check whether your national ministry of health or education keeps a central register. In many countries it does, and a ministry issued extract is often accepted in place of the university document.
• Submit your own certified copies of the original transcript alongside these letters, and explain the situation in a short cover note rather than letting the caseworker discover the gap.
Tell the authority about the problem early and ask which substitute they will accept. Silence is what turns this into a rejection, not the missing paper itself.
• Ask the successor institution in writing for whatever they can issue, even if the format differs, and ask them to state on letterhead that they are the legal successor and hold the archived records.
• If they cannot reproduce the original document, ask for a written statement saying exactly that. A refusal on letterhead is itself evidence, and authorities can work with it.
• Check whether your national ministry of health or education keeps a central register. In many countries it does, and a ministry issued extract is often accepted in place of the university document.
• Submit your own certified copies of the original transcript alongside these letters, and explain the situation in a short cover note rather than letting the caseworker discover the gap.
Tell the authority about the problem early and ask which substitute they will accept. Silence is what turns this into a rejection, not the missing paper itself.