Chinese to English
Certified Marriage Certificate Translation, Chinese to English
A certified Chinese to English translation of a marriage certificate costs $24.95 per page of the source document, whatever the number of characters on it. A typical marriage 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 marriage certificates are one page of up to 250 source words; civil registry acts with witness details, marginal annotations, or legalization stamps 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 marriage certificate translation
- Any foreign language marriage 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 documents not in English or in the official language of the country of application, including a statement signed by the translator that the translator is competent to translate, uploaded together with the original document in one file.
- The translation must be complete and word for word, covering the spouses' names, the date and place of marriage, the registering authority, registration numbers, officiant and registrar signature blocks, seals, stamps, and any marginal annotations, which in many countries are where divorces, name changes, and corrections are recorded on the marriage record.
- Where the country of marriage requires civil registration, US immigration authorities expect the civil marriage record, not only a religious ceremony certificate. The translation must be of whichever document the process actually requires.
- Seals, stamps, and signatures are described in brackets in the translation, and illegible portions are marked [illegible] rather than reconstructed.
- Both spouses' names must be transliterated consistently and should match their passports, birth certificates, and prior filings. Maiden and married name forms are rendered exactly as they appear on the record.
- USCIS requires certification of the translation, not notarization.
Common reasons translations get rejected
- Marginal annotations on the marriage record are left untranslated. In many civil law countries divorces and corrections are annotated in the margin of the original act, so an untranslated margin can hide legally decisive information and undermines the claim that the translation is complete.
- Only a religious ceremony certificate is submitted and translated when the country of marriage requires civil registration, leading to a request for the civil record.
- Prior marriage termination documents are missing or untranslated, so the file cannot establish that the current marriage is legally valid.
- Spouses' names in the translation do not match their passports or birth certificates because of inconsistent transliteration, creating identity discrepancies across the file.
- A partial or summary translation is submitted instead of the full word for word rendering the regulation requires.
Good to know
About Chinese-language marriage certificates
On the mainland, the marriage registration authority registers a qualifying couple on the spot and issues the marriage certificate (结婚证). It is a red booklet issued to each spouse, with the couple's photograph overlapped by an embossed steel seal, the registration authority's red seal, the registration date and a certificate number (字号, zihao) that usually begins with J. A qualified translator renders the printed text, every handwritten entry, the certificate number and the seals, and notes the embossed seal over the photo.
In Taiwan, a marriage must be in writing, signed by at least two witnesses and registered by both parties at a household registration office. The civil proof of marriage is therefore the household registration transcript showing the spouse and the marriage registration, together with the couple's signed marriage agreement (結婚書約, jiehun shuyue) when it is requested. Dates on the Chinese transcript are in Minguo years.
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
- Which USCIS filings need a certified translation of my marriage certificate?
- Any filing where the certificate is evidence and it is not in English, most commonly the I-130 spousal petition, marriage-based I-485, I-751 removal of conditions, and N-400 naturalization under the three-year rule or to document a name change. The regulation requiring the certified translation, 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3), applies to every foreign language document submitted to USCIS.
- We married in a religious ceremony abroad. Is a translation of the church certificate enough?
- Usually not on its own. Where the country requires civil registration of marriages, USCIS and consular posts expect the civil registry record, and a translation cannot substitute for the correct underlying document. Confirm which record your process requires, then have that document translated.
- Does the certified translation need to be notarized for USCIS?
- No. USCIS requires the translator's signed certification that the translation is complete and accurate and that the translator is competent, not a notarization.
- There are handwritten notes in the margin of our marriage certificate. Do those get translated?
- Yes, and they matter. In many countries divorces, name changes, and corrections are recorded as marginal annotations on the marriage act, so a complete translation must include them. Anything unreadable is marked [illegible] rather than guessed.
- My marriage certificate was issued in China. What should I know before ordering?
- On the mainland, the marriage registration authority registers a qualifying couple on the spot and issues the marriage certificate (结婚证). It is a red booklet issued to each spouse, with the couple's photograph overlapped by an embossed steel seal, the registration authority's red seal, the registration date and a certificate number (字号, zihao) that usually begins with J. A qualified translator renders the printed text, every handwritten entry, the certificate number and the seals, and notes the embossed seal over the photo.
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.
Start an order