Do you know where your birth certificate is and the birth certificates of your family? Birth certificates are important documents, but they are rarely ever needed. It’s just that when they are needed, nothing else can substitute for them.
Birth certificates provide information about the country of birth, the date of birth, the place where you are born and the names of your parents. Birth certificates are used to acquire passports, visas and citizenship. Birth certificates are often not in the official language of the country where they have been requested, so that means they normally have to be translated accurately before they can be submitted.
A Birth Certificate Translation is necessary, for example, when you apply for a visa for employment, business or citizenship in the United States if the certificate is not in English.
Birth certificates are not lengthy documents and it doesn’t take too long to get one translated, but it is important to be aware of what the conditions are that must be met when a Birth Certificate Translation is completed. For example, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) does not allow you, or a close family member, to do the translating. It must be someone who is not related to you. There is no requirement in the U.S. for a professional translator to do the Birth Certificate Translation, but it is important to have it done accurately. Once completed, the translated version must be accompanied by a certificate signed by the translator to say that the translation is a “true and accurate version of the original.”
If you have been asked to provide a birth certificate for any other country other than the U.S. you should make sure you find out what the requirements are if it needs translating. It is more than likely that as long as the certificate is not in the same language as that of the country you need it for, then it will need translating. Each country has its own set of requirements, and these may not be the same as for the USCIS.
It is quite likely that if you have been asked to provide a Birth Certificate Translation that there will be some other personal documents that need to be translated too. It makes a lot of sense to wait until you have all the personal documents you need ready and then have them translated by the same translator. You may get a discount for a number of translations all done at the same time. The quality of the translation will be consistent and the translator’s signature will be the same throughout.
When thinking about who to do the translation, it is advisable to choose a professional freelance translator or translation agency that has built up a reputation for the sort of documents that you want translated and in the pair of languages which are involved.
Don’t be tempted to try and take short cuts and use a computer aided translation. Your Birth Certificate Translation will most likely be rejected.
