Des Moines Field Office
Certified Translation for the USCIS Des Moines Field Office
Eagle Translate prepares certified translations of foreign language documents for filings handled by the USCIS Des Moines Field Office in Des Moines, IA. Located in the Neal Smith Federal Building, 210 Walnut Street, Room 215, Des Moines. Serves most of Iowa; USCIS assigns many western Iowa ZIP codes to the Omaha Field Office in Nebraska. We are an independent translation company and are not affiliated with USCIS or with any government agency. A certified translation costs $24.95 per page of up to 250 words, with no separate certification fee, and is delivered in 2 to 3 business days as a PDF holding the complete translation and a signed Certificate of Translation Accuracy.
Pricing
Exact prices, shown before you pay
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.
Filing locally
Filing at the USCIS Des Moines Field Office
Your certified translation is delivered as a PDF you file yourself, so it works with every office below. Nothing needs to be picked up and there is no local counter to visit, because the whole service is online.
USCIS field offices
- Des Moines Field Office, Des Moines. Located in the Neal Smith Federal Building, 210 Walnut Street, Room 215, Des Moines. Serves most of Iowa; USCIS assigns many western Iowa ZIP codes to the Omaha Field Office in Nebraska.
State rules
Apostilles and notarization in Iowa
Apostilles and certifications in Iowa are issued by the Iowa Secretary of State through its Business Services Division in the Lucas Building, First Floor, 321 E. 12th Street, Des Moines.
The fee is 5 dollars per apostille or certification, payable by check, Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover, per the state's official request form.
As of 2025, Iowa uses a Single Certificate format that certifies documents for any destination country, Hague member or not, with an indicator clarifying its status. The certificate is no longer issued on the office's gold seal paper, and receiving countries can verify the certification number with the office.
Iowa certifies only documents signed by an Iowa notary or Iowa elected official. The certification confirms the signer was commissioned or actively serving on the signing date, and it is issued as a separate page rather than a stamp on the document.
Same-day walk-in service is available 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and requests can also be mailed or submitted electronically through the state's Fast Track Filing system using the Paper Filing Upload option.
USCIS does not ask Iowa applicants for notarized translations. It requires a certified translation with the translator's signed statement of accuracy and competence to translate.
For documents headed abroad, the Iowa Secretary of State authenticates only signatures of Iowa notaries and Iowa elected officials, so a translation that will be apostilled in Iowa needs an Iowa notarization first. Federal documents must instead be authenticated by the US Department of State.
Iowa authorizes remote online notarization, with remote notarial acts performed by Iowa notaries under rules administered by the Secretary of State.
Documents
Documents commonly translated for the Des Moines Field Office
Spanish is the most spoken non-English language in Iowa, with significant communities in Des Moines and in meatpacking towns such as Storm Lake, Marshalltown, Denison, and Perry. West Liberty is widely noted as Iowa's first majority-Hispanic town.
Iowa has well-known Dutch heritage communities in Pella and Orange City, both founded by Dutch immigrants and famous for their annual tulip festivals, which sustains demand for Dutch document work such as genealogy and Dutch civil records.
The Amana Colonies near Iowa City preserve the state's German immigrant heritage and are a National Historic Landmark.
How it works
Order online from anywhere in Iowa
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.
$24.95 per page, certified, delivered in 2 to 3 business days.
Questions
Questions about translations for the Des Moines Field Office
- Will a translation from Eagle Translate be accepted here?
- Every certified translation we deliver carries the translator's signed statement that the translation is complete and accurate and that the translator is competent to translate, which is the certification 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3) requires for a foreign language document filed with USCIS. The officer reviewing your file decides on your evidence, and we do not speak for USCIS.
- Do I file the original document as well as the translation?
- Keep the original. A certified translation is filed alongside the foreign language document rather than in place of it, and it is common to be asked for both. The certificate names the source document it belongs to, so the two can be matched to each other.
- What happens to stamps, seals, and signatures?
- They are not dropped. Stamps, seals, signatures, and reference codes are described in bracketed form at the position they hold in the original, and the page structure is preserved, so a reviewer can set the translation beside the source document and follow it line by line.
- How is terminology from another country's legal system handled?
- A term with no exact United States equivalent is rendered to carry the meaning it has in the system that issued it, rather than swapped for an American term that would change what the document says. Where a term needs explaining, the explanation sits in brackets beside it instead of replacing it.
- A document has been asked for at short notice. How quickly can it be done?
- Certified delivery is 2 to 3 business days. Through 31 December 2026 the upgrade to Premium 1 to 2 business days delivery is applied automatically at the Certified price, so the faster option costs the same as the standard one.
- What does the certificate attest to?
- It attests to the accuracy of the translation. It states in those words that it does not attest to the authenticity of the source document or to the truth of its contents. That boundary is what makes it a certification a reviewer can rely on rather than a claim about your evidence.
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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