Chinese to English
Certified Court Documents Translation, Chinese to English
A certified Chinese to English translation of court documents costs $24.95 per page of the source document, whatever the number of characters on it. 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 Chinese-language court documents
Mainland court case numbers follow a pattern set by the Supreme People's Court, made of the year in parentheses, the court's code, the case type code and the case serial number, ending in 号. In (2023)京0105民初1234号, for example, 京0105 identifies a Beijing district court and 民初 a civil case at first instance, while 民终 marks a civil case at second instance. A qualified translator keeps the original case number and adds a transliteration such as (2023) Jing 0105 Min Chu No. 1234.
Under the Civil Procedure Law, a party may appeal a first-instance civil judgment to the next higher court within 15 days of service, and second-instance judgments are final. A first-instance judgment on its own therefore does not show that it has taken effect, and courts can issue a certificate of legal effect (生效证明, shengxiao zhengming) on request. A qualified translator translates that certificate too when it is supplied.
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 conviction abroad was pardoned years ago. Do I still need the court records translated for my immigrant visa?
- Yes. The State Department requires each court record and any prison record for every conviction even if you later received an amnesty, pardon, or other act of clemency, and English translations must be provided for all court and prison records.
- 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.
- My court document was issued in China. What should I know before ordering?
- Mainland court case numbers follow a pattern set by the Supreme People's Court, made of the year in parentheses, the court's code, the case type code and the case serial number, ending in 号. In (2023)京0105民初1234号, for example, 京0105 identifies a Beijing district court and 民初 a civil case at first instance, while 民终 marks a civil case at second instance. A qualified translator keeps the original case number and adds a transliteration such as (2023) Jing 0105 Min Chu No. 1234.
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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