Dutch to English Certified Translation

A certified Dutch to English translation turns a geboorteakte, a diploma, a cijferlijst or a Verklaring Omtrent het Gedrag into English with a signed certificate of accuracy attached, which is what United States agencies, universities and courts ask to see. Eagle Translate produces them from a PDF upload, an ATA certified translator does the work, and the Certified level is 24.95 per page with delivery in two to three business days.

What the certificate of accuracy says

The translation covers everything printed on the page, including the gemeente stamp, the signature of the ambtenaar van de burgerlijke stand, the document reference in the corner and the security text along the edge of the paper. Seals are described in square brackets so the reader sees [stamp of the Gemeente Utrecht] instead of a gap, and anything unreadable is marked illegible rather than invented.

Attached to it is a signed statement naming the language pair, listing the documents translated, and confirming that the translation is complete and accurate and that the translator is competent to translate from Dutch into English. It is issued under the company ATA certificate and carries a reference the recipient can check at our verification page. If certified translation is new to you, start with what is a certified translation.

Dutch documents that come in most often

• Geboorteakte, huwelijksakte and overlijdensakte from the gemeente
• Uittreksel Basisregistratie Personen, the BRP extract, which carries the burgerservicenummer
• Verklaring Omtrent het Gedrag, the VOG, issued by Justis
• Diploma and cijferlijst from a Dutch hogeschool or university, with the diplomasupplement
• Echtscheidingsbeschikking, the divorce order, and akten van naamswijziging
• Jaaropgaaf, loonstrook and the IB-60 income statement from the Belastingdienst
• Uittreksel Handelsregister from the Kamer van Koophandel, for business filings
• Notariële akten, including deeds of gift and estate documents

Afschrift and uittreksel are not the same document

A Dutch gemeente can give you an uittreksel, which is an extract showing selected facts, or an afschrift, which is a copy of the full register entry. They look similar and they cost about the same, and a US recipient asking for a long form birth certificate usually means the afschrift.

The translation states which one it is, using the Dutch term with the English explanation next to it, so nobody has to work it out from the layout. Check what your recipient actually asked for before ordering, because their instructions govern and a translation cannot add facts the Dutch original leaves out.

The VOG and other form names with no English equivalent

The Verklaring Omtrent het Gedrag is a good example of why a literal word swap fails. It is not a police record and it does not list convictions. It is a statement that a screening against judicial data found nothing that obstructs the specific purpose the applicant applied for, and that purpose is defined by a screeningsprofiel printed on the certificate.

A translation that renders it as a criminal record check misleads the reader about what the paper does. The English version gives the sense of the Dutch name, keeps the Dutch term so the recipient can match it to the original, and translates the screening profile in full. The same approach applies to Basisregistratie Personen, burgerservicenummer and other compound official terms that exist only in the Dutch system.

Dutch grades, cum laude and the HBO and WO distinction

Dutch marks run from 1 to 10 with 5.5 as the pass, and 9 and 10 are given rarely enough that a US reader who assumes a 7 is mediocre will misjudge a good student. Credits are counted in EC, with 60 EC to a full academic year. A certified translation reproduces the marks exactly and translates the grading legend so the scale can be read correctly, without converting anything into a grade point average.

Two other things need care. Dutch higher education splits into HBO at a hogeschool and WO at a university, and both award bachelor and master degrees, so the English version keeps the awarding institution exactly as named. Older Dutch qualifications carry pre Bologna titles such as drs., ir., ing. and mr., which have no direct US equivalent, and these are kept with an explanation rather than replaced by an American degree name. Distinctions such as cum laude and met genoegen are reproduced as they appear.

Belgian Dutch documents read differently

Flanders uses the same language and a different administration. A criminal record check is an uittreksel uit het strafregister issued by the gemeentebestuur, in a version chosen according to the purpose it is needed for. Personal identification runs on a rijksregisternummer rather than a burgerservicenummer. Flemish universities mark out of 20 rather than 10, with distinction tiers named onderscheiding, grote onderscheiding and grootste onderscheiding, and the percentage bands behind those names vary by institution, so the transcript legend is translated rather than assumed.

Belgian name conventions differ too. Dutch tussenvoegsels such as van, van der, de and ter are written in lower case in the Netherlands and filed under the main name, while Belgian records capitalise them and file under the tussenvoegsel. Names are reproduced exactly as printed either way, because the recipient is matching them to a passport.

Dates, decimal commas and income statements

Dutch dates run day first, so 03-04-2025 is the third of April. Numbers use a comma for the decimal and a point for thousands, so 12.345,67 is twelve thousand three hundred forty five and sixty seven cents. On a geboorteakte the date convention matters. On a jaaropgaaf or an IB-60 both conventions matter, because a misread separator changes an income figure by a factor of a thousand and those documents are usually filed in support of a visa or a mortgage.

Apostilles from the rechtbank

The Netherlands issues apostilles through the district courts, and Belgium issues them electronically through its foreign affairs service, which suits us well because the result is already a PDF. The apostille is a separate page, it is not written in English, and US recipients normally want it translated with the document.

Include it in the same PDF you upload. It counts toward the page total, and adding it now costs less than placing a second order later.

Price, page counting and turnaround

A page is up to 250 words of real text rather than a sheet of paper, so a short BRP extract is normally one page. Standard is 19.95 per page in three to five business days, Certified is 24.95 per page in two to three business days, and Premium is 39.95 per page in one to two business days. Our services page sets out what each level covers and how it works shows the four steps.

Upload the PDF, see the price measured from the real document, and pay by card. Orders run to 50 pages, and for anything larger use the contact page. Dutch is one of the eight languages on our languages page, and the reverse direction into Dutch is available as well.

If a translation is rejected

If a translation is rejected because of a translation error we made, we correct it at no charge. If the corrected translation is rejected again for that same error, we refund what was paid for it, provided you tell us within 30 days and send the written rejection. The terms are set out on the refund policy page, and the FAQ covers the questions that come up most.

Upload your Dutch or Belgian document at start an order. You will see the price before you pay, and the certified translation comes back with the certificate attached.