Arabic to English
Certified Court Documents Translation, Arabic to English
A certified Arabic to English translation of court documents costs $24.95 per page, where one page is up to 250 words of the source document. A typical court document set run 1 to 20 pages, so most orders come to $24.95 to $499.00. 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
A single disposition or judgment certificate is often 1 to 2 pages of 250 words, while complete judgments with reasoning, sentencing orders, and prison records can run 10 to 20 or more. Certified translation is $24.95 per page, so a typical order of 1 to 20 pages comes to $24.95 to $499.00. 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 court document translation
- Any foreign-language court document submitted to USCIS must have a full English translation certified by the translator as complete and accurate, with the translator's certification of competence to translate from that language into English (8 CFR 103.2(b)(3)).
- For immigrant visas, convicted applicants must submit each court record and any prison record regardless of a later amnesty, pardon, or other act of clemency, with English translations for all court and prison records.
- Form N-400 instructions require certified copies of the arrest record, court disposition, sentencing, and related documents for anyone ever arrested or detained, and where a record is unavailable, original or certified confirmation of unavailability from the court or agency.
- Two separate certifications are involved. The copy of the court record itself must be certified by the issuing court, and the translation carries its own translator certification. One does not substitute for the other.
- The translation must cover the complete document word for word, including the caption, case and docket numbers, statute citations, procedural stamps, filing stamps, and the disposition and sentencing sections. Statute numbers are reproduced as written and offense names are translated accurately without recasting them as US crime categories.
- Court seals, clerk stamps, judge and clerk signatures, and handwritten registry entries are translated or described in square brackets, and unreadable passages are marked [illegible] rather than omitted.
- Names of parties, dates of hearings and judgments, and case numbers must be reproduced exactly, and each translated document needs its own translator certification or a certification that specifically lists the documents it covers.
Common reasons translations get rejected
- Incomplete records. Submitting the judgment without the disposition or sentencing pages, or only one document from a multi-document case file, leads to RFEs because USCIS and consular officers require the complete arrest and court record.
- Records withheld because the conviction was pardoned, amnestied, or expunged. Immigrant visa applicants must submit court and prison records regardless of clemency, and USCIS naturalization applicants must disclose and document arrests even when charges were dismissed or expunged under state law.
- The underlying copy is not court-certified. A certified translation of an uncertified photocopy does not satisfy the requirement for certified court records.
- Translating only the operative verdict instead of the full judgment. The full-translation rule applies to the entire document, including reasoning and procedural history.
- Mistranslated legal terminology, such as forcing a foreign offense into the name of a US crime or misrendering disposition terms like conditional discharge, which can misstate the severity or outcome of the case.
Good to know
About Arabic-language court documents
Arabic court judgments open with a formula naming the authority in whose name the court rules, such as باسم الشعب (In the name of the people) in Egypt, باسم الشعب اللبناني in Lebanon, a formula in the name of the King in Jordan and in Morocco (باسم جلالة الملك وطبقا للقانون), and the basmala (بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم) in Saudi Arabia. They then give the court, circuit, case number and year, the parties, the facts and reasons (الأسباب) and the operative part, introduced by فلهذه الأسباب (for these reasons) and حكمت المحكمة (the court ruled). Egyptian personal status cases are heard by family courts (محاكم الأسرة) created in 2004. A translator translates the full judgment, including the opening formula and any execution or finality endorsements on the copy.
Saudi court documents and Ministry of Justice records are dated in the Hijri calendar and are increasingly issued electronically through the ministry's Najiz (ناجز) platform with a verification number. Case numbers across the region usually combine a serial number and a year (رقم ... لسنة ..., number ... of year ...), and the year must not be dropped. A translator keeps the case number as written, gives the Gregorian equivalent of Hijri dates in brackets, and translates notarial and probate documents such as powers of attorney (وكالة) and heir certificates (صك حصر ورثة in Saudi Arabia, إعلام وراثة in Egypt) in full.
Official Arabic-language civil records come from each country's civil status (civil registry) authority, usually part of the interior ministry. In Egypt this is the Civil Status Organization (مصلحة الأحوال المدنية, Maslahat al-Ahwal al-Madaniyya) of the Ministry of Interior, which issues the national ID card, birth, death, marriage and divorce records, and family and individual registry extracts (قيد عائلي, qaid a'ili, and قيد فردي, qaid fardi). Comparable bodies are Jordan's Civil Status and Passports Department (دائرة الأحوال المدنية والجوازات), the civil status and national card directorates of Iraq's Ministry of Interior, Lebanon's Directorate General of Personal Status (المديرية العامة للأحوال الشخصية), Saudi Arabia's Civil Affairs (الأحوال المدنية), and in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia the civil status office (الحالة المدنية, état civil) of the commune or town hall. Marriages and divorces are usually concluded before a religious official or court (a ma'zoun in Egypt, sharia or church courts in Jordan and the Levant, adouls in Morocco) and then registered with the civil authority.
Egypt issues birth certificates in two forms, a handwritten certificate from the Health Office (مكتب الصحة) of the district where the birth was registered, and a computerized certificate (شهادة ميلاد مميكنة, shahadat milad mumayakana) printed by the Civil Status Organization of the Ministry of Interior from the national civil registry database. Computerized birth, death, marriage and divorce certificates are printed at civil status offices and self service kiosks from the same database, and they show the 14 digit national number (الرقم القومي, al-raqam al-qawmi). An older handwritten certificate and a newer computerized printout of the same birth can differ in layout and spelling, so a translator translates the document actually supplied and does not merge the two.
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 charge was dismissed. Does USCIS still want the records for naturalization?
- Form N-400 asks about every arrest or detention, and the instructions require certified copies of the arrest record and court disposition. The disposition showing the dismissal is exactly what documents the outcome, and if it is in another language it needs a certified English translation.
- Do I need the court to certify the copy if I am already getting a certified translation?
- Yes, these are two different certifications. The issuing court certifies that the copy is a true copy of its record, and the translator certifies that the English translation is complete and accurate. Immigration authorities expect both for foreign court records.
- The judgment is 15 pages, mostly legal reasoning. Can just the verdict be translated?
- No. USCIS regulations require a full English translation of the entire document certified as complete. A translation limited to the verdict is a partial translation and a common RFE trigger. Pricing is by volume, at 24.95 USD per page of up to 250 source words for certified translation.
- Will the translation state the US equivalent of my foreign offense?
- No. A certified translation renders the foreign offense name and statute citation accurately as written. Determining what the offense corresponds to under US law is legal analysis for your attorney, not something a translation may add or decide.
- My court document was issued in Egypt. What should I know before ordering?
- Arabic court judgments open with a formula naming the authority in whose name the court rules, such as باسم الشعب (In the name of the people) in Egypt, باسم الشعب اللبناني in Lebanon, a formula in the name of the King in Jordan and in Morocco (باسم جلالة الملك وطبقا للقانون), and the basmala (بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم) in Saudi Arabia. They then give the court, circuit, case number and year, the parties, the facts and reasons (الأسباب) and the operative part, introduced by فلهذه الأسباب (for these reasons) and حكمت المحكمة (the court ruled). Egyptian personal status cases are heard by family courts (محاكم الأسرة) created in 2004. A translator translates the full judgment, including the opening formula and any execution or finality endorsements on the copy.
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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