Documents translations

[christinejohn 0]

Hello,

I have a question about the documents translation.

It's about the documents I will have to bring with me to the interview and my lawyer told me they need to be translated.

He said they don't need to be done by an approved translator and that he can translate them himself for $400 for less than 10 pages... I don't mind paying but don't want to find out that in fact they need to be translated by an approved translator once I arrive at the interview and have to pay again... I have already paid my lawyer $3,000 for the K-3 process and i'lm the one who tells him what to send and when since he screwed up on the I-129F making us lose 3 months in the process... all that to say he is greedy and I want to be sure I don't need an embassy approved translator first.

If I do, where do I find the list of approved translators? The embassy who will hold the interview will be Fiji for me since I'm in the south pacific.

Thank you for your advice,

Christine.

[Alt name 1]

Translated documents should cost you here in the US about $20-$30 per page. A tenth of that using the overseas providers. WOW@$400 (soooo happy I didnt use a lawyer, nearly every foul-up or rip-off I've seen on this forum has been from lawyers)

The embassy sent us a list of authorized translators when we got our electronic Packet III. The embassy there should provide a list or even list them on their website.

[christinejohn 0]

Thank you for your answer.

It costs also $30/40 per translated page here where I live.

I checked the Fiji web site and they give a list of authorised translators for French Polynesia only which is not where I live. I'm in Melanesia, in a french sout pacific territory. It's complicated.

On the Fiji embassy's web site they say that translators must be approved by the government, which one? the Fijian one or the one from the country where I live?

It's all so confusing...

[Alt name 1]

They have to be approved by the US Government. That's why you really want to use one from the list on the embassy web-page, and not your shyster.

I had a weird situation because I married overseas. I had to pay translators here in the US that were approved by the INDO government and get them stamped at the INDO Consulate so that they would be accepted over there by Indo authorities.

Then we had to translate HER documents over there by translators approved by the US government.

Thank you for your answer.

It costs also $30/40 per translated page here where I live.

I checked the Fiji web site and they give a list of authorised translators for French Polynesia only which is not where I live. I'm in Melanesia, in a french sout pacific territory. It's complicated.

On the Fiji embassy's web site they say that translators must be approved by the government, which one? the Fijian one or the one from the country where I live?

It's all so confusing...

[Nutty 2]

Hello,

I have a question about the documents translation.

It's about the documents I will have to bring with me to the interview and my lawyer told me they need to be translated.

He said they don't need to be done by an approved translator and that he can translate them himself for $400 for less than 10 pages... I don't mind paying but don't want to find out that in fact they need to be translated by an approved translator once I arrive at the interview and have to pay again... I have already paid my lawyer $3,000 for the K-3 process and i'lm the one who tells him what to send and when since he screwed up on the I-129F making us lose 3 months in the process... all that to say he is greedy and I want to be sure I don't need an embassy approved translator first.

If I do, where do I find the list of approved translators? The embassy who will hold the interview will be Fiji for me since I'm in the south pacific.

Thank you for your advice,

Christine.

Dear Christine,

Sounds to me like you are throwing money at a bad lawyer. You already mention you paid $3,000 for his assistance and have had to instruct him how to file...Are you crazy to pay $400.00 for 10 pages!!!

Why don't you read the instructions for I-129F (page 4).

Translations:

Any document containing foreign language submitted to the Service shallbe accompanied with a full English langauge translation which the translator has certified as complete and accurate, and by the translator's certification that he or she is competent to to translate from the foreign language to English.

This was on the 129F instructions.....So the pertinent documents you submitted with your I-129F forms should have been translated and certified already.

Are you saying your lawyer submitted your foreign language documents with the I-129F without having them translated?

I had my marriage certificate translated at a local travel agency. But then I had to take the original marriage certificate with the translation to the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs to validate that the translated information was matching the original.

Call the Embassy where you will be processed and ask them what to do. It is cheaper than your lawyer

Edited December 28, 2007 by Nutty

[Mononoke28 134]

Your lawyer sounds like a nice piece of work. Documents that are not in English nor in the local foreign language where the embassy is located have to be translated. Also, they can be translated by anybody who is fluent in both languages, this means that even a family member or friend can do the translations and sign the document saying that they are fluent in both languages.

Call the embassy yourself and find out for sure but paying your lawyer another $400 on top of what you've already paid is a total rip off.

Diana

[LadyJane 1]

Agreeing with Diana,

You can translate the documents yourself if you are fluent in both languages. My husband translated his documents, no problem.

You'll need:

1. Original document

2. Translated document into English

3. Signed affidavit (notarized if possible) that a) you are fluent (conversant) in both language X and English and B) the document is an accurate translation.

IM me if you'd like more details.

[Alt name 1]

To prevent further questions, we did exactly what the instructions said, which was pick a translator off the embassy list, drop the documents off, and have them translated. Multiple copies with nice colored official "certified translator" stamps and signatures. Why get into a scrap over certifications, etc, because the same translations with original stamps are needed for AOS filing anyway. Cost (in Asia) was about $3 a page. At the end of the day, the embassy lists where they want translations to come from and deviating from that seemed to us to invite questions at the interview that we didnt want to open up and deal with.

We've had our document check at the embassy BTW, they're approved and sorted and perused and ready for interview.

[Tyrobe 1]

When I submitted our I-130 for my wife, I translated our marriage certificate by myself. At the bottom of the page I dated, signed and certified, under penalty of perjury, that I am competent to translate and that the translation a complete and accurate translation. We'll see if they accept it without using third-party service when I got NOA2.

[pushbrk 12,277]

Your lawyer sounds like a nice piece of work. Documents that are not in English nor in the local foreign language where the embassy is located have to be translated. Also, they can be translated by anybody who is fluent in both languages, this means that even a family member or friend can do the translations and sign the document saying that they are fluent in both languages.

Call the embassy yourself and find out for sure but paying your lawyer another $400 on top of what you've already paid is a total rip off.

Diana

Whoa! The OP is asking about documents for the interview, not for petition filing. There are some Consulate that will accept birth and police certificates in the local language but usually, they want them translated. The translation requirements vary by Consulate. In China, for instance, they must come from the Gong Zheng Chu office local to the applicant's residence. You could show them communication evidence in Chinese as long as at least some of it was in English but not official documents like police reports, certificate of single status or birth certificates.

USCIS standards don't apply to documents taken to interviews.