Arabic to English
Certified Police Clearance Translation, Arabic to English
A certified Arabic to English translation of a police clearance certificate costs $24.95 per page, where one page is up to 250 words of the source document. A typical police clearance 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
Almost always a single certificate page of up to 250 words; occasionally 2 when an apostille or an annex with record details is attached. 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 police clearance certificate translation
- For consular processing, documents not written in English or in the official language of the country where the applicant is applying must be accompanied by certified translations that include a signed statement from the translator attesting that the translation is accurate and the translator is competent to translate.
- Any foreign-language police certificate filed with USCIS must carry a full English translation certified as complete and accurate by a translator who certifies competence in the language pair (8 CFR 103.2(b)(3)).
- The full certificate is translated word for word, including the issuing authority header, the no-record or record-found wording, reference and file numbers, the validity statement if present, and the date and place of issue.
- All seals, stamps, and official signatures on the certificate, including any apostille attached to it, are translated or described in square brackets so the English version accounts for everything visible on the source.
- The applicant's name, date of birth, and any identity numbers must be reproduced exactly as they appear, with transliteration kept consistent with the passport spelling wherever the source allows, because consular officers match the certificate against the passport.
- Illegible portions, such as a smudged registry stamp, are marked [illegible] in the translation rather than omitted or reconstructed.
- The State Department's country reciprocity schedule specifies for each country which authority issues an acceptable police certificate and how to request it, so the certificate must come from the authority listed there.
Common reasons translations get rejected
- The certificate is expired. Police certificates are considered valid for two years, unless the certificate was issued by a country of previous residence and the applicant has not returned there since it was issued.
- Missing certificates for a country that meets the residence thresholds, such as a country of nationality or current residence with 6 or more months of residence, or another country with 12 or more months, which stalls the case at NVC or the interview.
- Submitting US police records unnecessarily. The State Department instructs present and former US residents not to obtain police certificates covering their residence in the United States.
- The certificate comes from the wrong issuing authority for that country. Consulates check it against the authority named in the reciprocity schedule, and a local station letter where a national-level certificate is required does not qualify.
- The translation omits reference numbers, seals, the apostille, or the exact no-record wording, leaving a completeness gap between the source and the English version.
Good to know
About Arabic-language police clearance certificates
Egypt's police certificate is the criminal record certificate (صحيفة الحالة الجنائية, sahifat al-hala al-jina'iyya), widely called فيش وتشبيه (fish wa tashbih, from the French fiche et signalement). It is issued through police stations in Egypt or through Egyptian embassies and consulates abroad, with the holder's fingerprints on the front and the result of the fingerprint check on the back. A translator translates both sides, including the fingerprint panel labels, the result statement and every seal.
Jordan issues two separate police certificates, a good conduct certificate (شهادة حسن سيرة وسلوك) from the General Intelligence Department and a non-conviction certificate (شهادة عدم محكومية) from the Courts of First Instance, so a translator treats them as two documents. Gulf states issue a single certificate: Saudi Arabia a criminal record certificate (شهادة خلو سوابق) through the Criminal Evidence Division of the police, the UAE a police clearance or good conduct certificate from an emirate's police, Kuwait a good conduct certificate, and Sudan a certificate of good conduct known as the feesh.
In Morocco citizens obtain a police record called the fiche anthropométrique from their local police station, while foreign nationals obtain Bulletin no 3 of the criminal record (casier judiciaire, السجل العدلي) from the central criminal records service in Rabat. Algeria and Tunisia also issue Bulletin no 3, through the Ministry of Justice in Algeria and the Ministry of Interior and police in Tunisia, in Arabic or French versions. A translator checks which language version was issued, translates the Arabic version in full, and keeps the bulletin number in the title.
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 police certificate is in Spanish and my interview is in Mexico. Do I need a translation at all?
- For the consular stage, the State Department requires certified translations only for documents not written in English or in the official language of the country where you are applying, so a Spanish certificate used at a consulate in Mexico may not need one. Any filing with USCIS inside the United States always requires a full certified English translation, and many applicants translate the certificate anyway so one set of documents works everywhere.
- How long is my police certificate valid?
- Police certificates are treated as valid for two years. The exception is a certificate from a country of previous residence, which stays acceptable if you have not returned to that country since it was issued. Check the date before ordering the translation so you do not translate a certificate that will be expired at your interview.
- Which countries do I need police certificates from?
- If you are 16 or older, you need one from your country of nationality if you lived there at least 6 months, from your current country of residence if you lived there at least 6 months, and from any other country where you lived 12 months or more. Consular officers also require one from any country where you were arrested, regardless of how long you lived there. You should not obtain US police records for time lived in the United States.
- My certificate has an apostille attached. Does that get translated too?
- Yes. A certified translation accounts for everything on the document, so the apostille's fields, stamps, and signatures are translated or described in brackets along with the certificate itself. The apostille authenticates the document; it does not replace the translation.
- My police clearance certificate was issued in Egypt. What should I know before ordering?
- Egypt's police certificate is the criminal record certificate (صحيفة الحالة الجنائية, sahifat al-hala al-jina'iyya), widely called فيش وتشبيه (fish wa tashbih, from the French fiche et signalement). It is issued through police stations in Egypt or through Egyptian embassies and consulates abroad, with the holder's fingerprints on the front and the result of the fingerprint check on the back. A translator translates both sides, including the fingerprint panel labels, the result statement and every seal.
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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