Bonafide Certificate for Students and Employees

What is Bonafide Certificate?

Going back to the origin of the word “bonafide”, it is a Latin origin word which means without any intention to deceive and that which is true or “in good faith” and a Bonafide certificate is an official document and is issued by the school or college and is basically a proof that the applicant or the student has studied in the school or the college for the mentioned time period. In other words, bonafide certificate is an official document which is issued as a proof that an individual belongs to the particular education institute or a particular organization. So, a bonafide certificate is basically a proof of association of or with a particular school or college or company, in case of an employee and contains basic information such as name, date-of-birth, father’s name, course pursued/designation of the employee etc.

Generally a bonafide certificate includes contents such as name of the school, information of the student, the duration for which he or she has studied in the school or the college, his entrance number, the class or course he or she has graduated from the mentioned school/college. An applicant seeking for a bonafide certificate might need it for various reasons such as seeking employment, applying for educational loan, applying for visa etc.

Sample of Bonafide Certificate

Here is a sample of a bonafide certificate: -

Documents Required for Bonafide certificate

Bonafide certificate forms part of mandatory documents while applying for a fresh passport, which are as below:

1. Bonafide certificate from the college
2. 12th mark sheet
3. Address Proof
4. Bank account statement with one year statement, which also serves as an address proof.

A bonafide certificate issued by a school or educational institute contains following contents:

• Name of the student
• Date of birth
• Nationality
• Father’s/Husband Name
• Passport No.
• Passport Issue Date and Valid till
• Student Visa No; Visa Issue Date; Valid Till
• If applying for extension, date up to which extension recommended
• Previous Residential Permit Validity
• Present Residential Address in India
• Name of the Course
• Institution Registration Number of the Student
• Name and Reference No of the Recognizing Authority of the Institution/Course Offered
• Course Period: From: and To:
• Year and Semester of Study
• Attendance Percentage in Figures (for extension only)
• Purpose of Issue of Certificate (Registration/Extension/Exit/Return Visa/Others)
• Remarks, if any:

Every state has its own set of rules for issuing a domicile certificate and since it is issued with the purpose mentioned on it, one cannot use it for any other purpose other than for what it is issued.

Bonafide Certificate for Students

If you are a student seeking for a bonafide certificate, you have to follow the below mentioned steps in order to obtain one from your school or college:

• Write to the head of your department citing the reason of why you need bonafide certificate. It has to be a simple request letter to the head of department as per the prescribed standard format available at the resource centre of every college/institute.
• In case you are a first year or direct second year student, you need to attach leaving certificate of your previous college along with the application form.

• For students applying to get a bonafide certificate from their institution or college, they have to submit the following documents along with the duly filled application form with their respective head of department/institution:

  • Photo Copy of ID Card
  • Fee receipt which is obtained once you have paid the fees at the counter of your respective college or school.

• A student can use the bonafide certificate for following purposes:

  • To apply for educational loans
  • To visit an industry for project
  • To attend a seminar or conference or workshop in other colleges
  • For availing travel concessions to students
  • To apply for passport
  • To join public library
  • For getting visa extension
• As per the Indian scheme, if a student is studying at a different address from the address as per his address proof, he would require to produce a bonafide certificate as a mandatory procedure. For example: if a student is studying in Maharashtra but address in his address proof such as Aadhar Card, Voter ID is stating that he is from a different state, let’s say Madhya Pradesh, then he would be required to provide a bonafide from his college in Maharashtra as a proof that he has completed the mentioned course in that particular college or institution. This also implies that if you are studying in the same city as per the address mentioned in your address proof, you don’t have to submit bonafide certificate as a mandatory procedure.

Bonafide Application Format for Students

Download Bonafide Application Format for Students by clicking below link –

Download Bonafide Application Format for Students

Bonafide Certificate for Employees

If you are an employee seeking for a bonafide certificate from your organization, you have to write to the head of the institute/organization citing the reason of your application.

• For employees applying to get a bonafide certificate from their organization, they have to submit the following documents along with the duly filled application form to the concerned person of their organization:

  • Photo Copy of Employee ID Card
  • Copy of Pay Slip

• As an employee, you can use the bonafide certificate for following reasons:

  • To take a loan from a bank
  • To open a bank account
  • To attend an official conference or seminar

• For an organization consisting of several employees, bonafide certificate plays quite a vital role in ensuring the salary payments to the employees and in case of employees, a bonafide certificate consists of three important things about the employees, such as:

  • Contact details and some other instructions about the employees.
  • Employee details need to be checked.
  • The last thing includes the certification which needs to be signed by the site manager.
• Bonafide certificate issued by an organization to its employees is on the official letter head of the organization.

Employee Bonafide Requisition Letter Format

Download Employee Bonafide Requisition Letter Format by clicking below link –

Download Employee Bonafide Requisition Letter Format

Difference between Bonafide Certificate and Domicile Certificate

A bonafide certificate is often mistaken with the domicile certificate, whereas both are quite different from each other. Where a domicile certificate proves the residence status of a person and makes him eligible to avail various benefits based on his or her domicile such as education, job and other benefits such as resident quotas in the government service and educational institutions, a bonafide certificate is issued by the applicant college ( if the applicant is a student) or the organization ( if the applicant is an employee) and proves that the student/employee has studied or is a part of the organization and has a limited use, unlike domicile certificate. Also, a bonafide certificate mentions that the particular student has studied in the school or college for a specific period; it does not tell if the student is a local student or belongs to other state. Obtaining a domicile certificate is not as easy a process as it is in the case of obtaining bonafide certificate and as mentioned above, a domicile certificate is issued as per the State or Union Territory as per its rules and regulations and the applicant has to submit the relevant documents in order to obtain a domicile certificate. Although list of documents may vary depending on the State or Union Territory, general list of documents for obtaining the domicile certificate is as below:

1. Residence proof such as ration card or driving license.
2. Age proof such as birth certificate, school certificate (Class 10th Admit Card) etc.
3. Passport size photographs
4. Identity proof such as Aadhar Card, Pan Card etc
5. Self-declaration form
6. Duly filled application form
7. Attested photocopies of all documents
8. Affidavit from court or tahsil
9. Marriage certificate, in case the wife would like to change her domicile to her husband’s domicile;

Whereas in order to issue a bonafide certificate, one would need to submit only 3-4 documents as mentioned below:

• Photo copy of student ID card or employee ID card, if the applicant is an employee.
• Fee receipt in case the applicant is a student, and salary slips in case the applicant is an employee.

Difference between Bonafide Certificate and Study Certificate

Likewise, a bonafide certificate is quite different from study certificate; however both are interlinked in a way or the other. While both the study certificate and the bonafide certificate is issued by the school or the college and proves that the student has studied in the particular school or college for the specified duration of time, scope of a bonafide certificate goes much beyond school and college, which means that an employee working with an organization can also seek for a bonafide certificate from his organization, scope of study certificate is limited to the schools and colleges. Also a study certificate is required only to get a local government jobs which are meant specifically for the local candidates and is mainly provided by the Board of education of the state you belong to. Also there is a different format which is to be used depending on if you are applying for a bonafide certificate or study certificate.