Chinese to English
Certified Death Certificate Translation, Chinese to English
A certified Chinese to English translation of a death certificate costs $24.95 per page of the source document, whatever the number of characters on it. A typical death 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 death certificates are one page of up to 250 source words; certificates with a detailed medical cause of death section or attached registry transcriptions 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 death certificate translation
- A foreign language death certificate submitted to USCIS must be accompanied by a full English language 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 visa processing, the Department of State requires certified translations of civil documents, including death certificates, that are not in English or in the official language of the country of application, with a signed translator statement of competence.
- The translation must be complete and word for word, covering the decedent's name, the date and place of death, the registering authority and registration data, informant details, seals, stamps, signature blocks, and any medical cause of death section if the certificate contains one.
- The decedent's name must be transliterated consistently and should match the name as it appears in the related file, for example the prior marriage certificate in an immigration case or the estate documents in a probate matter.
- Older or handwritten death registers frequently contain hard to read script. Illegible portions are marked [illegible] in the translation; a qualified professional translator does not reconstruct unreadable names, dates, or causes of death.
- Seals, stamps, and signatures on the certificate are described in brackets in the translation so every element of the original is accounted for.
- USCIS requires certification of the translation, not notarization. Courts, insurers, and other recipients set their own formal requirements, which can differ.
Common reasons translations get rejected
- Only the main data fields are translated and the medical section, stamps, or registry annotations are skipped, so the translation is not the full rendering the regulation requires.
- Illegible handwriting in older death registers is guessed at instead of being marked [illegible], producing a name or date that conflicts with other documents in the file.
- The decedent's name in the translation does not match the name on the related marriage certificate or estate papers because of inconsistent transliteration, so the reviewer cannot connect the death to the person in question.
- A burial permit, funeral home document, or medical certificate of death is translated and submitted in place of the civil registry death certificate that the process actually requires.
- In immigration cases, the death certificate proving a prior marriage ended is missing or untranslated, which blocks a finding that the current marriage is valid and triggers an RFE.
Good to know
About Chinese-language death certificates
Since 1 January 2014, mainland health institutions have used a nationally uniform Medical Certificate of Death (居民死亡医学证明（推断）书, the bracketed 推断 meaning presumed cause), issued by the institution that treated the deceased or investigated the death. It has four parts, the last three identical, and the family uses the later parts for household deregistration and cremation. A qualified translator translates the cause-of-death entries as written and notes which part (联, lian) was supplied.
The Medical Certificate of Death is the certificate a health institution issues to state a death and its cause, and it is the key document for household deregistration and funeral arrangements. From 1 July 2026 institutions use a nationally unified format, and paper and electronic versions have equal effect. Families usually also hold a cremation certificate (火化证明, huohua zhengming) from the funeral home, and a notarial death certificate is common for use abroad.
In Hong Kong, the death certificate is a certified copy of a death entry from the Immigration Department's Births and Deaths registry, applied for with the death registration number or after a search of death records. In Taiwan, a death is registered in the household register on the basis of a physician's death certificate (死亡證明書), and the transcript then shows the person as removed from the household (除戶, chuhu).
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
- The name on the death certificate is spelled differently from the name on our marriage certificate. Will that cause a problem?
- It can, because the reviewer must be able to connect the death to the right person. The translator keeps transliteration consistent across your documents where the source script allows, but cannot change what a record says; genuine discrepancies in the records themselves are addressed with supporting evidence or a correction from the issuing registry.
- Why does USCIS need a certified translation of my late spouse's death certificate?
- Two common reasons. If you are filing an I-360 widow or widower self-petition, the citizen spouse's death certificate is core evidence. If you or your current spouse were previously married, the death certificate proves that the earlier marriage ended, which filings such as the I-130, I-129F, and N-400 require. In both cases a foreign language certificate needs a full certified English translation under 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3).
- The death certificate includes a cause of death section. Is that translated too?
- Yes. A certified translation must be complete, so any medical cause of death section on the certificate is rendered along with everything else. The translation never adds a cause of death the certificate does not state.
- Does the translation need to be notarized?
- Not for USCIS, which requires the translator's signed certification of completeness, accuracy, and competence rather than notarization. Probate courts, insurers, and banks set their own rules, so confirm the specific recipient's requirements if the translation is not for USCIS.
- My death certificate was issued in China. What should I know before ordering?
- Since 1 January 2014, mainland health institutions have used a nationally uniform Medical Certificate of Death (居民死亡医学证明（推断）书, the bracketed 推断 meaning presumed cause), issued by the institution that treated the deceased or investigated the death. It has four parts, the last three identical, and the family uses the later parts for household deregistration and cremation. A qualified translator translates the cause-of-death entries as written and notes which part (联, lian) was supplied.
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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