Your documents must be valid on the day you submit, both still in date and within their accepted window.

Some documents have a short life. A criminal record certificate, for example, is usually valid for 90 days, so it has to be inside that 90-day window when you submit. Others are accepted based on when they were issued. An apostille, or an apostilled document, is generally considered valid when it was issued within the last 180 days, so it needs to fall inside that 180-day window at the moment of submission.

The rule of thumb: everything in your file should be current and inside its useful period on submission day.

Good news: in most cases, if everything is valid when you submit, it stays valid for the whole process, even if the document ages while your nationality is being analysed.

One heads-up: depending on how much time passes, the officer reviewing your case may ask for a fresh copy of a document. It does happen. But it is the exception, not the rule.