Chinese to English
Certified Birth Certificate Translation, Chinese to English
A certified Chinese to English translation of a birth certificate costs $24.95 per page of the source document, whatever the number of characters on it. A typical birth certificate runs 1 to 2 pages, so most orders come to $24.95 to $49.90. Certified orders are delivered in 2 to 3 business days as a PDF containing the complete translation and a signed Certificate of Translation Accuracy from the qualified professional translator who completed or reviewed the work, prepared for official use including USCIS filings.
Pricing
Exact prices, shown before you pay
Most birth certificates fit in one page of up to 250 source words; long form certificates with marginal annotations, legalization stamps, or a filled reverse side can reach two. Certified translation is $24.95 per page, so a typical order of 1 to 2 pages comes to $24.95 to $49.90. The exact total is measured from your document and shown before payment.
Standard
$19.95 per page
3 to 5 business days
A professional translation with digital delivery.
Certified
$24.95 per page
2 to 3 business days
A certified translation accepted for official use.
Premium
$39.95 per page
1 to 2 business days
A certified translation, translated first.
One page is up to 250 words.
Requirements
What reviewers require for a certified birth certificate translation
- Any document in a foreign language submitted to USCIS must be accompanied by a full English language translation which the translator has certified as complete and accurate, together with the translator's certification that he or she is competent to translate from the foreign language into English (8 CFR 103.2(b)(3)).
- For immigrant visa processing, the Department of State requires that documents not written in English, or in the official language of the country where the applicant is applying, be accompanied by certified translations that include a statement signed by the translator confirming the translator is competent to translate. NVC asks applicants to upload the foreign language document and the English translation together in a single file, original first.
- For an immigrant visa, the birth certificate itself must be issued by the official custodian of birth records in the country of birth and must show the date and place of birth and the parentage of the applicant, based on the original registration of birth. A translation cannot substitute for a certificate that lacks this content.
- The translation must be word for word and complete. Every element on the record is rendered, including headers, form numbers, registration numbers, seals, stamps, the registrar's signature block, marginal annotations, and any entries on the reverse side.
- Seals, stamps, and signatures that cannot be reproduced are described in brackets in the translation, for example [round seal of the Civil Registry Office] or [illegible signature], so the reader knows they exist on the original.
- Illegible words or damaged portions are marked as [illegible] in the translation. A qualified professional translator does not guess at unreadable text, because a guessed name or date that later conflicts with other evidence creates a discrepancy in the file.
- Personal names are transliterated consistently throughout the translation and should match the spelling used in the person's passport and other filings wherever the source script allows. Dates are rendered unambiguously so day and month cannot be confused.
Common reasons translations get rejected
- A summary, abstract, or partial translation is submitted instead of a full word for word translation. USCIS regulation requires a full English language translation, so an extracted or condensed rendering can be rejected.
- Seals, stamps, marginal notes, or text on the reverse side are left untranslated, so the English version does not account for everything visible on the original.
- The underlying document is wrong for the purpose, for example a hospital souvenir certificate or a baptismal record instead of the civil registry certificate. Translating the wrong document does not cure the problem; consular posts and USCIS expect the record from the official custodian of birth records.
- A short form extract is submitted for a process where the country-specific guidance in the Department of State reciprocity schedule calls for a full form certificate showing parentage, leading to a request for the correct version.
- Name spellings in the translation do not match the passport or earlier filings because of inconsistent transliteration, creating an identity discrepancy the adjudicator has to question.
Good to know
About Chinese-language birth certificates
The mainland Medical Certificate of Birth (出生医学证明) is issued by the hospital or licensed midwifery institution where the child was born, and it exists only for people born on or after 1 January 1996. People born before that date do not have one. Older applicants therefore usually present a notarial birth certificate (出生公证书, chusheng gongzhengshu) prepared by a notary office from household register and archive records. Where the father's details were not supplied, the certificate shows 未提供 (not provided), which a qualified translator renders literally.
The current Medical Certificate of Birth is the seventh edition, in use since 1 April 2023. Each certificate has three parts, the main page (正页, zhengye), the counterfoil (副页, fuye) and the stub (存根, cungen), and its serial number is one letter followed by nine digits, with a barcode and a yellow background added in the seventh edition. A qualified translator copies the serial number exactly and translates every Chinese entry and seal, not only the printed English labels.
Taiwan does not issue a separate government birth certificate in the US sense. Births are registered at a household registration office, and the usual civil proof is the household registration transcript (戶籍謄本), supported by the hospital's birth certificate (出生證明書). The Chinese transcript dates events in Minguo years, while the official English transcript gives Gregorian dates in month, day, year order but translates only identity-related annotations and the last change of address. A qualified translator converting a Chinese transcript applies the same Gregorian conversion and keeps every annotation (記事, jishi).
A Hong Kong birth certificate is a certified copy of the birth entry issued by the Immigration Department's Births and Deaths registries. It is a bilingual Chinese and English form, so translation work centers on any entries, names and seals that appear only in Chinese.
In mainland China, documents for use abroad are usually produced as notarial certificates (公证书, gongzhengshu) by notary public offices (公证处, gongzhengchu), which the justice administration authorities supervise. Civil affairs bureaus (民政局, minzhengju) register marriages and divorces and issue the marriage and divorce certificates. Hospitals and other licensed birth facilities issue the Medical Certificate of Birth (出生医学证明, chusheng yixue zhengming). Public security organs (公安机关, gong'an jiguan) keep the household register (户口, hukou), issue resident identity cards and answer criminal record queries through local police stations (派出所, paichusuo). In Taiwan, household registration offices (戶政事務所, huzheng shiwusuo) under the Ministry of the Interior record births, marriages, divorces and deaths and issue household registration transcripts (戶籍謄本, huji tengben). In Hong Kong, the Immigration Department's registries issue certified copies of birth, death and marriage entries.
Documents from mainland China arrive in a few recurring formats. Booklets come from the agency that keeps the record, such as the household register booklet (户口簿, hukoubu, also called 户口本, hukouben), the marriage certificate (结婚证, jiehunzheng) and the divorce certificate (离婚证, lihunzheng). Single-sheet certificates include the hospital-issued Medical Certificate of Birth and the Medical Certificate of Death (居民死亡医学证明, jumin siwang yixue zhengming). Notarial certificates (公证书) are bound booklets from a notary public office that pair a photocopy of the underlying record, or a statement of the certified fact, with the notary's certificate and often an English translation. Court judgments (判决书, panjueshu) and mediation statements (调解书, tiaojieshu), university certificates and transcripts, and online verification reports from CHSI (学信网, Xuexin Wang) are also common, and many agencies now issue electronic certificates (电子证照, dianzi zhengzhao) that carry a QR or verification code.
How it works
From upload to certified delivery
Step 1
Upload and get an instant quote
Send us your document, choose your languages, and see your price right away.
Step 2
A professional translator translates it
A qualified professional translator translates your document.
Step 3
Reviewed for accuracy and certified
Your translation is reviewed for accuracy and certified with a signed certificate of accuracy.
Step 4
Receive your certified translation
You receive your certified translation, ready for official use.
Questions
Common questions
- My birth certificate is a multilingual international form with some English on it. Do I still need a translation?
- If any substantive content, entries, stamps, or annotations are in a foreign language, USCIS still requires a full certified English translation. Preprinted English headers alone do not make the document an English document.
- Does USCIS require a certified translation of my birth certificate?
- Yes. Under 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3), any foreign language document submitted to USCIS must come with a full English translation that the translator has certified as complete and accurate, plus the translator's certification of competence to translate that language into English.
- Can I translate my own birth certificate for USCIS?
- The regulation does not name who may translate, but a translation made by the applicant or a family member is commonly questioned because the certifier has a personal stake in the case. A certification signed by a qualified professional translator avoids that objection.
- Does the translation need to be notarized?
- No. USCIS requires a signed certification statement from the translator, not notarization. Some non-USCIS recipients, such as certain courts or foreign authorities, have their own rules, so check the specific recipient if the translation is not for USCIS.
- My birth certificate was issued in China. What should I know before ordering?
- The mainland Medical Certificate of Birth (出生医学证明) is issued by the hospital or licensed midwifery institution where the child was born, and it exists only for people born on or after 1 January 1996. People born before that date do not have one. Older applicants therefore usually present a notarial birth certificate (出生公证书, chusheng gongzhengshu) prepared by a notary office from household register and archive records. Where the father's details were not supplied, the certificate shows 未提供 (not provided), which a qualified translator renders literally.
A translation error is ours to fix
If your certified 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 that same error we refund what you paid for it. Our Refund Policy sets out the conditions and what it does not cover. Your documents are encrypted and kept confidential from start to finish.
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