Arabic to English Certified Translation

A certified Arabic to English translation is a complete English version of your Arabic document, field for field, with a signed certificate of accuracy confirming that it is complete and correct. It is prepared by a qualified professional translator, checked and certified by our lead translators, and costs 24.95 for a page of up to 250 words, delivered in 2 to 3 business days.

The Arabic documents that usually need certifying

Arabic is the official language of many countries, and their documents differ from one to the next. Most of the files we see are civil records, a birth certificate, a marriage contract, a divorce attestation, a death certificate or a family book, followed by diplomas and transcripts, police certificates, court rulings and bank statements. They come above all from Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Jordan, Lebanon and Morocco, and also from Algeria, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Palestine, Libya and the Gulf states.

Civil records come from each country's civil status authority, usually part of the interior ministry, such as Egypt's Civil Status Organization or Jordan's Civil Status and Passports Department. In Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia the civil status office of the commune issues them, often in Arabic and French on the same page.

Egyptian birth certificates, handwritten and computerized

Egypt issues birth certificates in two forms, an older handwritten certificate from the district Health Office and a computerized certificate printed from the national civil registry, which shows the 14 digit national number of the child and of both parents. The two versions of the same birth can differ in layout and spelling, so we translate the document you actually supply and never merge the two.

The national number is a check in its own right. Its first digit gives the century of birth, the next six the date of birth, two more the governorate, and the thirteenth digit is odd for men and even for women. We copy it digit by digit and convert the Arabic-Indic digits to Western ones without changing any value.

Arabic-Indic digits, Hijri dates and month names

Most Arab countries in the Middle East print numbers with Arabic-Indic digits, ٠١٢٣٤٥٦٧٨٩, while Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia mostly use Western digits. The Arabic zero is a small dot and the five looks like a Western zero, which is exactly where hurried conversions go wrong. Every number, from an ID to a dowry amount, is converted digit by digit.

Saudi documents, sharia court records and many older records date events in the Hijri calendar, marked هـ. A Hijri year is about eleven days shorter than a Gregorian year, so we keep the Hijri date exactly as written and add the Gregorian equivalent in brackets, for example 15/09/1420 AH [23 December 1999]. Month names also differ by region, كانون الثاني for January in the Levant and Iraq, يناير in Egypt and the Gulf, and جانفي in Algeria and Tunisia, so the calendar and the region are identified before any date is converted.

Names, the family chain and the passport

An Arabic legal name is usually a chain, the person's own name, the father's name, the grandfather's name and a family name, so Ahmed Mohamed Ali Hassan is Ahmed, son of Mohamed, son of Ali, of the Hassan family. We never reorder or drop parts of the chain, because those names are what tell two people with the same given name apart. Particles such as bin, bint, Abu and Al are transliterated as part of the name.

One name can appear as Mohamed, Mohammed, Muhammad or Mohamad, and Maghreb documents follow French spelling. US agencies match names to the passport, so every person whose passport is supplied keeps the passport spelling, and everyone else gets one consistent standard spelling throughout the file.

Marriage contracts, family books and divorce documents

An Egyptian Muslim marriage contract is drawn up by a ma'zoun and records the spouses, the witnesses, the guardian where there is one and the dowry, split into an advance and a deferred portion. Moroccan marriage acts are drawn up by two adouls, and in Jordan and Lebanon marriages are concluded in sharia or church courts. Every amount, condition and witness detail is translated in full.

Family books (دفتر العائلة, livret de famille) record the spouses, their children and later events. Every completed page is translated, including stamps and handwritten annotations, and blank pages are noted as blank. Divorce documents name the type of divorce, revocable or irrevocable, by khul' or by court ruling, and those terms are translated precisely, because some offices treat only a final divorce as ending the marriage.

Seals, stamps and verification codes

Arabic official documents rely on round and oval seals, revenue stamps, true copy endorsements and, more and more often, QR or verification codes. None of them are left out. Each is described in brackets at its position, with its legible text, so a reviewer can follow the original line by line.

Diplomas, transcripts and credential evaluation

Degree certificates and transcripts often carry authentication stamps from the university, the ministry of higher education and the ministry of foreign affairs, and each stamp is translated. Grade words are translated literally, very good rather than B, and marks out of 100 or out of 20 are kept as written, because converting grades is credential evaluation, a separate service. Many universities issue an English version of their own certificates, but evaluators such as WES still ask for a translation of the Arabic original.

Apostille, notarization and paper copies

Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Bahrain are parties to the Hague Apostille Convention, and documents from other Arab states are authenticated by legalization instead. USCIS itself requires a complete certified English translation rather than an apostille. If your copy carries an authentication stamp or an apostille, it is translated with the rest of the document.

We do not provide apostille or notary services and we do not mail paper copies. Every translation is delivered as a certified PDF with a QR code, and any institution can confirm it on our verification page.

Price, pages and what happens if something is rejected

One page is a page of your PDF holding up to 250 words of source text, and the count is taken from your file, so you see the exact total before paying. Certified translation is 24.95 a page in 2 to 3 business days, Premium is 39.95 a page in 1 to 2 business days when a deadline is close, and Standard at 19.95 is professional translation without the certificate in 3 to 5 business days.

If a translation is rejected because of a translation error we made, we correct it at no charge, and if the corrected translation is rejected again for the same error we refund what was paid for it, provided you tell us within 30 days and send the written rejection. That is set out in our refund policy.

Ordering an Arabic to English certified translation

Upload your PDF, choose Arabic to English, pick a service level and pay by card. The whole process is described on how it works, and the questions customers ask most are on our FAQ page.

Scan your birth certificate, marriage contract or diploma as a clear PDF and start an order. You will see the exact price before you pay.