Foreign Language Translation of documents

[elgringo954 7]

Quick question in reference to translation of documents. Can the petitioner translate the documents as long as he includes that he certifies and that he is fluent in that language and that it is an accurate representation (I don't remember what exactly I had written but I had followed the proper format. The reason I am now asking is because I had seen somewhere that neither the petitioner or beneficiary may perform the translation. I also read under a USCIS page that the translator must "certify" that it is an accurate representation of what the original document states. The word "certify", tricky word, do they mean that the translator must have a certification or certify in the sense of making the statement and that he states that it is accurate, etc.... ???? Anyone??

[CowBoE 429]

I'm learning as well on this, but here is what I found by digging into it more today.

[1] This is what USCIS says about this...

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

As you can see they don't clearly mention whether petitioner or beneficiary can do the

translation or not.

• 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 ________ languages, and that the above/attached document is an accurate translation of the document attached entitled ______________________________.
  
  Signature_________________________________
  Date Typed Name
  Address

[2] If you look on this site, it says, you don't have to use the professional translator

but the translation has to be notarized.

http://www.***removed***/immigration/document-english-translation.html

[3] This site put a bit more scare and encourage professional translator

(but of course they could be motivated by the business they can generate)

http://www.legallanguage.com/legal-articles/uscis-translation/

[4] This site says, you can translate, and notary is not required, but doesn't hurt to be extra cautious.

http://immigrationroad.com/blog/certification-by-translator-translating-foreign-language-documents-into-english/

[5] Here is a site that can do the translation

http://www.rev.com/translation/certified?gclid=CPu1vcf3378CFaVZ7Aod0D0ARw

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That said, I read plenty of posts here about folks doing their own translation

and certifying it (per USCIS guideline) and got by with it.

However, if the translation does appear accurate or suspicious, they can issue RFE

which will delay the processing.

Between my fiancee and I, we could have translated her (Chinese) documents,

but we didn't want that hassle and also create any risk, so she took her documents

to the professional company that specializes in these type of translation,

and got (at least some of) them notarized as well.

With so many embassies around the world, who knows if they keep the same standard for this.

Some may be more lose, and some may be more stringent. Therefore, we didn't want to take any risks

and cause hiccups or delays in the processing for a small added cost.

If you are tight on budget and can translate pretty accurately, it seems like you could

do the translation yourself. Just certify it per USCIS guideline mentioned above.

Edited July 25, 2014 by johnim

[elgringo954 7]

Thanks for the info. Not tight on the budget but both my English and Spanish are equally as good so at the time of filing my petition in Feb 2014 it seemed like a good idea by following their guide lines. Still waiting on noa2 so I'll leave it all as such for now. Thanks for your time and extra effort