who can translate the birth certificate?

[KayDeeCee 4,893]

I asked this question before. This is what I got from a translator in the US.

A phone call to the USCIS revealed that you actually can't. I asked if it was okay to self-translate a birth certificate. A very polite representative advised I should seek the professional help of a translator or agency instead. However, reading around the popular immigration forums opens up new interesting stories. For example, there are actually people who have managed to translate and certify their birth certificates themselves and were not turned down. Others talk about having had their birth certificates translated by friends and family and being easily accepted. While their stories may be true, it is still a very chancy situation. Who wants to ruin their application process by receiving an RFE (Request for Evidence) which slows you down by a long time? Simply, noone! Better safe than sorry, you might think to yourself! And you are right, as a professional certified translation only costs $25 saving you from embarrassment and months of waiting!

To certify a translation means, in other words, to guarantee that the translation is accurate. Most birth certificates contain words, terms and expressions that may not be so easy to translate, thus making an ordinary person incapable of guaranteeing the accuracy. Not to mention the names of government institutions whose equivalents are sometimes complicated to find the in the USA.

Another reason why translating a birth certificate yourself is not a good idea raises an issue of credibility. The immigration officials may just reject your translation based on the fact that it casts doubt on the translated information. Understandably, this would be done to prevent fraud. This scenario inludes family members and friends as well.

To summarize, you do not want to slow down getting your emoloyment authorization or permanent residence card (green card) by translating your birth certificate yourself or by your friends or family. Trying to save $25 and hoping the USCIS overlooks it is just not worthy it. You lose time doing it, you lose time getting it rejected and you lose time getting it finally translated by a real professional or agency. It is rather risky! Get it translated properly the first time.

He recommended Dttranslations.com they charge $25 for an entire document.

So, someone from the USCIS misinformation line told you all of this, plus recommended a company and their rate for you to post here? Interesting, and not fishy sounding at all from someone that just joined today only to post on this 6 year old thread.

Show me the cases of people that have received RFEs for following the USCIS's own instructions and translating the documents themselves, or having friends or family do it? Where are all the slowed-down cases? Plenty of people have successfully followed the USCIS's guidelines for translations over the years, so surely there are links to those that have not been as successful. I just perhaps have missed them all. You can show me my 6 years of oversight, yes?

Here it is from the USCIS site. Nowhere does it state you must pay a third party translator. > https://www.uscis.gov/forms/forms-and-fees/general-tips-assembling-applications-mailing

Please submit certified translations for all foreign language documents. The translator must certify that s/he is competent to translate and that the translation is accurate.

The certification format should include the certifier's name, signature, address, and date of certification. A suggested format is:

Certification by Translator

I [typed name], certify that I am fluent (conversant) in the English and [enter appropriate language] languages, and that the above/attached document is an accurate translation of the document attached entitled [enter title of document].

Signature

Typed Name

Address

Date

[Nina Sourez 4]

Listen, you, whatever you are ..... there is no need to be so mean! Your anger blinds your reason!

I did not say USCIS recommended any particular agency or translator.

The translation agency I mentioned on the bottom was recommended by the translator that I asked the same question of.

The whole piece is about that translator's experience with the issue. According to him, the USCIS recommends using the services of translators and/or agencies, but they do not recommend any in particular! Again, I repeat, for the slow ones, it was the translator's recommendation.

Next time, before calling someone fishy, read carefully!

Do not take out your frustarations on people trying to be good and contribute!

Peace!

Edited November 2, 2016 by Nina Sourez

[Nina Sourez 4]

The instructions do not say that you should do it yourself nor do they say you should not hire a translator or agency. In fact, they say Translator which presupposes using one's services.

If you do not believe it, call USCIS yourself and ask them if you can translate your birth certificate yourself! Miss or Mister 6 year experience in oversight! That's not creepy at all, overseeing people's personal businesses.

Edited November 2, 2016 by Nina Sourez

[KayDeeCee 4,893]

Whatever I am? I am a human being, yet you are calling me slow. That was a pretty easy one.

Not sure why you are jumping on me and being insulting and extremely defensive. I am not frustrated. There was nothing mean and angry about my response, but there sure is in yours. Still not sure why you joined this forum yesterday just to post an ad for a translator.

I won't be calling the misinformation line. I know the USCIS accepts translations from anyone fluent in both languages that does the translation well, and adds that certification to the translated document. I know from first hand experience, and from seeing all the others here on VJ over the years that have reported also having successful first hand experiences translating their own.

I never said I was the overseer of people's personal business. I believe you are the one that needs to read more carefully.

And of course a translation company would tell you that the USCIS won't accept a translation from anyone but a professional. They want people to pay them for translations. That is their business and how they make money.

I am trying to get the facts straight for others that may read this. So, do you, or do you not, have evidence that people get RFEs for not using a third party translation company? Not what the translation company told you. Just personal experiences from those that were delayed for not using a service? You just threw out insults instead of anything else to back up what you posted.

Oh, and while a translator can be a professional one, they are not necessarily one. So don't get so hung up on that word equaling a paid service translator.

https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/translator

A translator is someone who conveys material communicated in one language such as English into another language — like French, Chinese, or Spanish — without losing the literal meaning or nuances of the original work.

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/translator

translator

noun
1.
Also, translater. a person who translates.

[Nina Sourez 4]

Now you are being all nice all of a sudden!

I am not jumping on you! I responded to your comment in the same manner as you did. You called me fishy for joining the forum recently which is quite ridiculous. Is that supposed to mean now nobody who joined recently should contribute by commenting on posts? Only you with your 6 year experience is priviliged to do so? Your response WAS mean and disrespectful! Read it again! If you still can't see it, well then you are blinded by the hate you have for people who have recently joined the forum! You are like a school bully who will not let others express their thoughts and experiences. And by the way, it is none of your business why I joined this forum. It is a free forum and anyone can join it!

It is also ridiculous of you to call the main USCIS's line a misinformation line! As a matter of fact, I have myself called the USCIS main line and asked if it was ok to translate my own birth certificate. They actually said the same thing which is to better use translators or agencies in this regard. Like the translator said to me there had been instances of self translation of birth certificates. If you are so concerned, then do the search for people who got rfes yourself!

You did sound like you know all and everything and that what you say is absolutely indisputable! You said 6 year oversight!

No translation company has told me that translation from anyone but a professional is accepted by the USCIS. Do not put words I did not say into my mouth! I said that the translator had phoned the USCIS and they advised to use a translator or agency to translator a birth certificate!

Do not ask me for evidence that I did not even talk about. I did not say that there were people who got RFEs for not using a third party translation company. Do not mislead this conversation! I wrote that the translator had hypothesized of the possible consequences of a self translated birth certificate! Notice how the comment is written. It says "may just reject". It does not state that the translator had known of certain concrete cases of rejections or RFEs. Nor did I say I had known of any instances of people getting RFEs. It is all conjecture! Because nobody really knows for sure if it is okay to translate your own birth certificate, you can only conjecrure or hypothesize if you will of possible outcomes! If the USCIS itself advises to use translators, agencies or as you say "third party translation companies, then what is there to argue about? If someone manages to get it done themselves, then I am happy for them!

Once again, I did no throw out insults. I answered your comment directed at me with the same attitude as you did. The reason being I felt bullied by you with your, as you say, 6 year experience of overseeing everything! I felt like I had to speak up because you had put me down! Hopefully, this will serve you a good lesson to be respectful of other people's thoughts and experiences irrespective of their status (just joned or joined 6 years ago).

In my opinion, mind you In my opinion, the reason the instructions by the USCIS say the translator must certify means in a way to use the services of a translator and not you yourself certify!

All in all, let's not speculate but rather try confirming that with the USCIS itself! I did! Did you? Call them!

No intentions to be arguing with you further! I respect your position and please do mine too!

Peace!

[KayDeeCee 4,893]

I did not change from mean to nice. I am responding exactly the same way, and so are you.

It is fishy for someone to join the forum just to seek out a 6 year old thread about translations and post an ad for a translation company. That is what you did.

I have no hate for new people or anyone else. You are the one being ridiculous and inventing things about my perspective, thoughts and feelings.

The USCIS customer service line is very well known around VJ as the misinformation line. This is not just me. They are just customer service reps answering the phones in a call center. They read from scripts, are not immigration officers/agents, and very often give out incorrect information. Try researching.

You can also research more on this forum about the translations. There have been other posts on this topic. Plenty of them. Many of them are not this old either.

Yes, all conjecture. Posting that people may get an RFE for following the USCIS's own instructions is pure conjecture, and that is why I corrected you. You do not know of instances where this has happened, but you keep insisting it can if you don't hire a professional.

People here on VJ tend to correct any misinformation they see posted. We like to keep to the facts as much as possible. Of course you are free to post, but should not get so outraged when someone responds to it and disagrees. It is a public forum. I have not bullied you. I called you out on your post, which was basically just fear-mongering and an ad for a certain translation company, with correct information from the USCIS website.

You also did not understand my use of the word oversight.

It has been as confirmed as possible through the USCIS website's instructions on the matter plus people's experiences. There are plenty here on these forums that have stated they have successfully used translations done themselves, but there are not plenty of people posting that they received RFEs for doing so. I asked you to show me cases of people being unsuccessful at using their own correctly done translations because perhaps I had missed them over the years, an oversight on my part. (see, that is the context of the word oversight I previously used. Look up the definition of that usage.) You do not know of any, so they still are not apparent. People then are safe to continue using anyone fluent in both languages, adding the certification straight from the USCIS site on their translated documents. To certify the translation, the person states so in writing, signs and dates it. They can follow the certification format laid out by the USCIS. Certify does not mean pay a third party, just like translator does not mean a professional. > http://www.dictionary.com/browse/certify

[Nina Sourez 4]

Yes, you were rude and disrespectful! You turned everything upside down and put words into my mouth. You stated things I did not say or imply. Your comment had an antagonistic sense to it. You did not politely disagree like you are making it appear now, you blatantly attacked me with demands and with an unwelcome attitude.

You are now trying to slowly transition from being antagonistic and disrespectful to being a little bit more informative and educational you should have been from the start! If you are so sick and tired of new people here, then it's time for you to retire from this site. Let other experts politely disagree with others if they so choose. You are not a polite person!

You called me fishy right off the bat for no reason! Is that how you welcome newcomers? And you are calling yourself "we"? You are generalizing now, putting everyone on the site in the same type of social interaction you find yourself in? Do not put other nice members of this site behind your back, you can't speak for them, speak for yourself.

And how exactly do you know what I did or am doing? How do you know what I was seeking out here? Are you somehow stalking me? It is against this site's policy, by the way! Like I said it is none of your business. And if you really want to know, I was concerned about this topic and came across it here on this site and later thought I should contribute in some way too after I got that answer from that translator. And I contributed the same way as other people do with recommendations! I had good intentions! But now I totally regret having joined this forum because of you who made me feel unwelcome!

Do not make people feel unwelcome with your rude, disrespectful and hateful rhetoric which you call "disagreement" even if they are advertizers! They are people too and deserve polite disagreement and not insults and unwelcome attitudes!

You are doing it again, putting words into my mouth - "Posting that people may get an RFE for following the USCIS's own instructions is pure conjecture, and that is why I corrected you".

I did not say that! All I said was that the instructions do not specify exactly who should do the translation other than simply stating "translator". I was confused about that because if it was presupposed that I could do the translation than why would I need to provide my name, address, and signature if it is all in my application already? It appeared to me that it should sooner be somebody else. And then anyone could ask themselves a question who could then expertly do this for them? The first thing that comes to mind is a translator. In my view of this world, be it different from yours or others, a translator is someone who does this for a living. Not everyone calls themselves a translator right? Of course you are going to try to turn this word into something else and prove that it means something different but it will always stay the same in my mind. A translator is a person who does translations expertly! And please do not tell me you corrected me, you do not know more than I do. Do not put me below yourself. I do not know you and you do not come across as an expert at all!

You did not correct my information! You attacked me with demands to correct my own information myself! You told me to go and look for instances of people receiving RFEs! You yourself were hesitant thus you couldn't correct me! You were demanding evidence of something that was hypothetical but still quite possible as you can't be 100% sure of the opposite, or can you?

It was not fear-mongering, as it was simply a hypothesis of two possibile outcomes letting people know of possible unpleasant results that are, if not 100%, still possible. People might still receive a RFE for making mistakes, mightn't they? Why don't you try to disprove this and look for evidence to do that? The fact that people did manage to translate themselves was mentioned too, wasn't it? It is up to them to decide and not for you. You yourself are NOT sure and can't possibly be certain of what exactly needs to be done, can you? You are even now saying that there are not plenty of people who received RFEs. You accept the fact that there might still be people who got RFEs, even though not plenty.

Who said anything about certifying means paying? If people have someone they know that can do it for them for free, then lucky them!!

Edited November 3, 2016 by Nina Sourez

[TBoneTX 45,324]

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