Bi Lingual Marriage and Birth Certs

[cbro 59]

Hello!  I am a US citizen living in Hong Kong and my spouse was born here in HK but also has Australian citizenship.  Her original birth cert and our original marriage cert are both in English and Chinese (interestingly her birth cert is English first then Chinese right below, and on the marriage cert it is Chinese first and then English right below - I am assuming this is pre/post handover of HK back to China).

 

Anyways - should we be worried about getting them translated by a certified translator?  Will them being in both English and Chinese be good enough?  (I would assume yes for sure but have seen/been told otherwise - that we might get an RFE asking for them to be translated anyways).  Seems silly but wondering if anyone has any personal views on/experiences with this topic?

 

thanks!

Edited August 7, 2019 by cbro

[USS_Voyager 1,972]

14 minutes ago, cbro said:

Anyways - should we be worried about getting them translated by a certified translator?

No, it’s already in English. Yes, in rare cases there have been RFEs issued but those were mistakes, and definitely not the norm. I have heard an RFE issued for translation of the birth certificate from a guy who was born in England. You can’t get more English than someone born in England. That’s like the original English right there

[cbro 59]

Cheers, mate!  

[HRQX 4,145]

10 hours ago, USS_Voyager said:

I have heard an RFE issued for translation of the birth certificate from a guy who was born in England. You can’t get more English than someone born in England. That’s like the original English right there

Some silly RFEs:

 

[cbro 59]

So... does an RFE extend the overall timeline or can we respond to one in parallel and it doesn't hold up anything on the processing side of things??

 

If it will prolong overall timeline, I don't mind paying some dough now for, looks like 33 bucks a page at https://www.rev.com/translation, as an insurance policy... 

 

Thanks!

[Just Paul 4,595]

4 hours ago, cbro said:

So... does an RFE extend the overall timeline or can we respond to one in parallel and it doesn't hold up anything on the processing side of things??

 

If it will prolong overall timeline, I don't mind paying some dough now for, looks like 33 bucks a page at https://www.rev.com/translation, as an insurance policy... 

 

Thanks!

RFE does extend the time . . .

 

Our marriage certificate was from Hong Kong, english/chinese, and we had NO ISSUES. 

[cbro 59]

20 minutes ago, Paul & Mary said:

RFE does extend the time . . .

 

Our marriage certificate was from Hong Kong, english/chinese, and we had NO ISSUES. 

Great to hear thank you!  Did they also translate what I would have translated to "single" as "spinster" for your wife's "marital condition before marriage"?   still cracks me up

 

[Just Paul 4,595]

2 minutes ago, cbro said:

Great to hear thank you!  Did they also translate what I would have translated to "single" as "spinster" for your wife's "marital condition before marriage"?   still cracks me up

 

Yes I posted a picture of my spinster the night before we got married.  She didn't what that was!

 

We had to get the marriage certificate translated into spanish for her Mexican visa and it was "Old Maiden Lady"