k-1 interview in Moscow: english translations of birth, divorce, police certificates. need to be certified in any way or just accurate?

[coreyjschmidt 0]

Hello,

My Russian fiancee happens to have studied and worked as a translator. she translated her prior divorce certificate for the I-129f, and I want to know if her translations or her birth, divorce, and police certificates will be sufficient for her interview in Moscow, of the translations need to be 'certified' in some special way, and if so what is the procedure?

thanks very much.

Corey Schmidt

[STACEY&MISHO 103]

Yes. It needs to be certified. Usually the process is similar to here. Have to go to some sort of notary and have it stamped (authenticated). I think that's what they call it. When my husband and I got married in Bulgaria we had to go to The Ministry of Foreign Affairs to have that done. It could be different in Russia though.

[STACEY&MISHO 103]

She could probablly call the embassy ahead of time and find out.

[EndlessStory 53]

I think it all needs to be certified by court/actual licensed translator. If your fiance has a license for it, she could probably stamp and sign it by herself.

[Loving_girl 38]

i am a translator too, BUT at least in Ukraine you (being a translator) can not certify at nottary (attorney) you own tranlation cos they ask for translators diploma (number and other data) and put it in the nottary (attorney) book in order to register translated papers, and on translated paper it says "Present translation is performed by.........name of person etc...) so normally embasy will not accept her own translation that is certified at nottary office. And I agree with the previous post where they say it should be normally certified translator (with license) to be able to visit nottary and certify translated papers. (in ukraine those are translaters who are at translation agency and normally take all pepers to nottary office and certify them). I do recommend to call the consulate and clarify this question with them cos each place has different rules. (for example US consulate does not need translated into english birh certificate...). Hope my comment gives u slight idea of the process.

Good luck!

[TBoneTX 45,304]

*** Thread moved from K-1 Process forum to the Russia/Ukraine/Belarus regional subforum for country-specific advice. ***

[vbtwo 54]

Most of the stuff for immigration does not need to be translated at an "official translating company" or notarized or anything like that. It's enough if the translator just puts at the bottom a notice that they are fluent in both languages and that this is a correct translation.

See here under translations:

http://www.uscis.gov/forms/forms-and-fees/general-tips-assembling-applications-mailing

I assume if it's good enough for USCIS, it should be good enough for the embassy, but you can call them and ask directly.

[baron555 934]

Hello,

My Russian fiancee happens to have studied and worked as a translator. she translated her prior divorce certificate for the I-129f, and I want to know if her translations or her birth, divorce, and police certificates will be sufficient for her interview in Moscow, of the translations need to be 'certified' in some special way, and if so what is the procedure?

thanks very much.

Corey Schmidt

She merely signs a statement that she is fluent and that the translation is correct. No special certification required.

[jmana 2]

I don't understand why people are having things translated into English? It states right at the beginning of the "fiancee" page on the Moscow Embassy site that "All documents not written in English or Russian must be accompanied by certified translations." So I'm assuming that birth certs, etc would be in Russian and not need any kind of translation? The only thing that it specifically states needs to be in English is the police report, but it also says that doesn't need a certified translation, so I assume anyone can do that?

Edit: Although below that I do see where it says the birth certificate must be accompanied by an English translation. I love the conflicting info on their own site. So does that mean the police cert doesn't need certified, but the birth cert does?

Edited December 3, 2013 by jmana

[SMR 368]

We translated the birth certificate and police certificates ourselves and then just signed a statement that we were fluent in both languages (I can't actually remember if I or my wife signed it, since we are both fluent). We did not do any sort of certified/notarized translation. It is not required. Our interview was at the beginning of 2009, so that may be dated information, but it sounds like things haven't changed.

[baron555 934]

A translated birth certificate is required as part of the AOS submittal.

[vbtwo 54]

I don't understand why people are having things translated into English? It states right at the beginning of the "fiancee" page on the Moscow Embassy site that "All documents not written in English or Russian must be accompanied by certified translations." So I'm assuming that birth certs, etc would be in Russian and not need any kind of translation? The only thing that it specifically states needs to be in English is the police report, but it also says that doesn't need a certified translation, so I assume anyone can do that?

Edit: Although below that I do see where it says the birth certificate must be accompanied by an English translation. I love the conflicting info on their own site. So does that mean the police cert doesn't need certified, but the birth cert does?

Yes, Moscow embassy's website is self-contradicting. I assume the top statement means they'll accept relationship evidence or anything like that in Russian. For every other document on the checklist it says they also require an English translation. I don't know why. Kiev didn't require any English translations of anything that's in Russian or Ukrainian. Moscow does for some reason.