Law & Legal & Attorney Immigration Law

Certified English Translation Required by United States Organizations, Especially USCIS

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS):

In response to the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Bush government created the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS). On March 1, 2003, the US government created the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) as part of the DHS. Most of the administrative and service functions of the old INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) were moved to the newly formed USCIS. The primary function of the USCIS is to process immigrant visa petitions, naturalization petitions, refugee applications and asylum applications. The priorities of the USCIS are to improve customer services, promote United States national security and to eliminate immigration case backlogs.

When is a certified translation required?:

Persons who want to immigrate to the USA, or those who want to work in the USA, or those who want to study in the USA, need to apply for a relevant visa with the USCIS. When making the application, the applicant may also have to provide supporting documents like birth certificate, marriage certificate, divorce decree, academic records, driver's license, police clearance certificate, etc.

The expectation of the USCIS is that all documents should be in English. If the documents are not in English, then an English certified translation of the documents needs to be provided. Similarly, US organizations and institutions like colleges, schools, courts, passports office, etc required English certified translation of relevant documents.

English certified translation and certified translators:

The English certified translation that the USCIS and other USA organizations require is documented in Federal Regulations (8 CFR 103.2(b)(3)) of the "U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Immigration Regulations/Powers and Duties/Availability of Records". The regulation also states the role of the translator.

It is expected that the translator must certify that he/she is fluent in the source language and in English and that he/she is proficient to care carry out this translation. In addition, the translator has to certify that the translation is both complete and accurate.

Given the importance of these documents, the service of professional Certified Translators, who are experienced in translating documents for USCIS and other US organizations, should be used. Further advise on translating for USCUS is contained here.

You might also like on "Law & Legal & Attorney"

Leave a reply