Which Documents Does USCIS Require You to Translate?

Every document you file with USCIS that is not entirely in English needs a complete English translation with a signed certificate of accuracy. That covers civil records, court and police records, financial and education documents, and any foreign language stamp or seal sitting on an otherwise English page. There is no category of foreign language evidence that is exempt, no minimum length, and no allowance for documents you consider self explanatory. 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3) applies to any document containing foreign language, and that includes a one line stamp on the back of a certificate.

What follows is what that covers in a real filing.

Civil records

These carry most family based cases and they are the most frequently translated documents in United States immigration.

• Birth certificates, in the full version that names both parents
• Marriage certificates and civil union records
• Divorce decrees, annulment orders and separation judgments
• Death certificates ending a prior marriage
• Adoption orders and adoption decrees
• Legal name change orders
• Family or household registry extracts, such as the Turkish nüfus kayıt örneği, the Dutch uittreksel uit de basisregistratie personen and the Italian stato di famiglia
• Certificates of non availability where a record cannot be obtained

Birth certificates alone generate enough questions to deserve their own article, which is birth certificate translation for a green card application.

Court, police and military records

• Police clearance certificates and criminal record extracts
• Court dispositions for any arrest, charge or conviction, including cases that were dismissed
• Judgments, sentencing records and probation documents
• Custody orders and child support orders
• Military service records and discharge papers

Court records are the ones most often submitted incomplete, because people file the order without the reasoning or the front page without the back. Translate the whole document, including the court seal and the clerk's certification block.

Financial and tax records

• Foreign tax returns and assessment notices
• Bank statements and account letters used as evidence of assets or of a shared financial life
• Employment verification letters and payslips
• Property deeds and title documents
• Business registration records

These come up most on Form I-864, the Affidavit of Support, when a sponsor's income or assets sit outside the United States, and on Form I-751 when a couple is documenting a real marriage.

Education and employment records

• Diplomas and degree certificates
• Academic transcripts
• Professional licenses and certifications
• Letters from employers describing role, dates and duties

Employment based petitions live on these. A credential evaluation service will usually require the certified translation before it will even begin its own assessment, so this is often the first thing that needs doing.

Identity and travel documents

Many passports print their field labels in English alongside the national language, and where every field, including the values, is legible in English, no separate translation is needed. The parts that catch people out are the pages behind the biographic page. Entry and exit stamps, visas issued by other countries and endorsement pages are frequently in one language only, and when you are relying on them as evidence of travel or of physical presence, they need translating.

National identity cards, residence permits and driving licenses follow the same logic. If it is not in English and you are filing it, translate it.

Which forms ask for what

A rough map of where these documents land.

Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, needs the beneficiary's birth certificate, the marriage certificate where the petition is spousal, and divorce decrees or death certificates ending any prior marriage for both people.

Form I-485, Adjustment of Status, needs the applicant's birth certificate, marriage and divorce records, and court and police records for anything in the applicant's history.

Form I-129F, for a fiancé visa, needs birth certificates and proof that any prior marriages ended.

Form N-400, Application for Naturalization, needs marriage and divorce records, court dispositions for every arrest or citation regardless of outcome, and any legal name change order.

Form I-751, Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence, needs the joint evidence, which is often foreign leases, insurance policies, bank statements and the birth certificates of children born to the marriage.

Form I-589, Application for Asylum, tends to need the widest range, including identity documents, police and medical reports, threat letters, membership records and news coverage.

Form I-864, Affidavit of Support, needs foreign tax and employment documents when the sponsor's income is earned abroad.

This is a description of common document requirements rather than legal advice, and the instructions published for your specific form and the officer reviewing your file both govern over anything written here.

What you usually do not have to translate

Documents already fully in English. USCIS forms themselves. Photographs. Fee receipts issued in English. Medical examinations recorded on Form I-693, since the civil surgeon completes that form in English.

Bilingual documents are the grey area. If a field label is printed in English but the value is handwritten in Portuguese, that value needs translating. If a seal is in Turkish, the seal needs translating. The safe test is whether an officer who reads only English can understand every element on the page.

Consular processing through the National Visa Center

If your case goes to an embassy rather than being adjusted inside the United States, the National Visa Center collects the same civil documents before scheduling the interview, and the translation expectation is the same. Individual consular posts publish their own document instructions, and where a post specifies something particular, that instruction governs for that post.

How pages are counted and what it costs

A page means up to 250 words of actual text, not a sheet of paper. A dense two sided court judgment might count as three pages, while a short birth certificate counts as one.

Certified translation is 24.95 per page with delivery in 2 to 3 business days. Premium is 39.95 per page and returns in 1 to 2 business days when an interview or a Request for Evidence deadline is close. Standard is 19.95 per page and comes without the certificate of accuracy, so it is for business and personal documents rather than a USCIS filing. The three levels are compared on our services page.

You upload PDFs and pay by card, the word count is measured from your real documents, and the total is shown before you pay anything. A single order handles up to 50 pages, which comfortably covers a full civil document set for a family. For larger filings, get in touch and we will quote it.

We translate between English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch and Turkish in every direction, and the full list is on the languages page. More questions are answered on our FAQ page.

If something is rejected

The officer reviewing your file has the final word. If a translation of ours is rejected because of a translation error we made, we correct it at no charge, and if the corrected translation is rejected again for that same error we refund what was paid for it, on notice within 30 days with the written rejection. The full terms are in our refund policy, and any recipient can confirm a certificate we issued is genuine at our verification page.

Get the whole set done at once

Most filings need several documents rather than one, and sending them together keeps the certificates consistent and the turnaround aligned. Start an order, upload your PDFs, and see the exact price before you pay.