diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/certificates/api.py b/lms/djangoapps/certificates/api.py
index 774647f295..5ec18c5185 100644
--- a/lms/djangoapps/certificates/api.py
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/certificates/api.py
@@ -158,6 +158,11 @@ def generate_user_certificates(student, course_key, course=None, insecure=False,
         generate_pdf=generate_pdf,
         forced_grade=forced_grade
     )
+    # If cert_status is not present in certificate valid_statuses (for example unverified) then
+    # add_cert returns None and raises AttributeError while accesing cert attributes.
+    if cert is None:
+        return
+
     if CertificateStatuses.is_passing_status(cert.status):
         emit_certificate_event('created', student, course_key, course, {
             'user_id': student.id,
diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/certificates/tests/test_api.py b/lms/djangoapps/certificates/tests/test_api.py
index dc65f50ffe..7b4580d5be 100644
--- a/lms/djangoapps/certificates/tests/test_api.py
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/certificates/tests/test_api.py
@@ -348,6 +348,23 @@ class GenerateUserCertificatesTest(EventTestMixin, WebCertificateTestMixin, Modu
         self.assertEqual(cert.status, 'error')
         self.assertIn(self.ERROR_REASON, cert.error_reason)
 
+    def test_generate_user_certificates_with_unverified_cert_status(self):
+        """
+        Generate user certificate will not raise exception in case of certificate is None.
+        """
+        # generate certificate with unverified status.
+        GeneratedCertificateFactory.create(
+            user=self.student,
+            course_id=self.course.id,
+            status=CertificateStatuses.unverified,
+            mode='verified'
+        )
+
+        with self._mock_passing_grade():
+            with self._mock_queue(is_successful=False):
+                status = certs_api.generate_user_certificates(self.student, self.course.id)
+                self.assertEqual(status, None)
+
     @patch.dict(settings.FEATURES, {'CERTIFICATES_HTML_VIEW': True})
     def test_new_cert_requests_returns_generating_for_html_certificate(self):
         """