Translations

[Susita 175]

I'm fully fluent in Spanish and English... is it a conflict of interest to do the translations myself and write a letter and have it notarized??? It's such a waste of money for me to pay someone to translate when I know how!!

And do the police records / birth certificate have to be translated into English???

[NCWife 0]

I am not sure about the rules for Peru but for Malaysia, the consulate requires that I get all my non-English documents translated into English by an official translator, namely the birth certificate, the police record etc.

[JeroenAndMichelle 28]

From what I read it should indeed be done by an official translator.

[BRIAN AND ISA 0]

I would have someone else do it just to be safe. I had all of her documents that I had translated into English because I thought that I had read that somewhere. I did not translate her medical exam or the federal police certificate that she got in Lima because there was not enough time and everything was OK. Good luck with everything.

[Eric-Pris 1,607]

Here's what we did:

I translated the emails that we submitted as evidence of ongoing relationship.

But you have to include this statement on everything you translate yourself (or another person who isn't licensed):

I, (your name), certify that I am conversant in the English and Spanish languages,

and that the above is an accurate translation of the attached document.

Signature

Date

I had a professional translation company translate her birth certificate and husband's death certificate and certify it.

You don't have to translate the document in the US either. US firms charge a lot for this service. Look for a translator who has experience with "official" documents and can certify it (usually a seal/stamp, and signature). If you find a translator/firm in your fiancee's country who can certify the translation, you will be ok. I paid $25/document in Costa Rica instead of $80-100/page in the US. Here is the company I used. Everything was done thru email from the US. First they scanned and email me the translated docs, then they mailed me the originals with stamps in about 10 days.

To give you an idea of what I mean, here's what a certified BC looks like: http://home.nyc.rr.com/orange/bc.jpg

Edited March 30, 2008 by kid brooklyn

[Eric-Pris 1,607]

Here is the company I used to translate our docs: http://www.solucionesidiomaticas.com/trans...rpretations.php

[Shannon and David 0]

I'm fully fluent in Spanish and English... is it a conflict of interest to do the translations myself and write a letter and have it notarized??? It's such a waste of money for me to pay someone to translate when I know how!!

And do the police records / birth certificate have to be translated into English???

You do not need to have the police records / birth certificate translated into English for the Embassy phase of the process at all. All of these materials can be in either English/Spanish.

The only thing that I have translated up until this point is our evidence materials (emails) for the initial submission to the Service Center for the K-1 (to go along with the I-129F). I also wrote in English next to all receipts for the evidence the basics of: item, date, etc.

That was it for translations!! I also wrote the "I can translate this" letter that Kid Brooklyn mentioned to go along with the I-129F packet, initial submission to the Service Center. Yes, I had this letter notarized.

I'm at the Embassy phase of this journey as of now. Maybe later for the American phase (AOS) of it you'll need translations?? I personally am worrying about this part of it later. I've got enough to do!

[bora bora 1]

The only documents/e-mails/letters that need to be translated into English are those that are being seen by USCIS. I was told by USCIS NOT to translate anything by myself so I asked a friend to do it (although I'm fluent in Portuguese). I felt it's better to not risk translating anything myself - although I see now that tons of people do it from VJ.

We did pay to have my husband's BC translated since it's a government document and we did it in Brazil so it's super cheap.

You don't have to translate anything at the interview stage UNLESS it's NOT in English or Spanish.

[Gringita/Morenito 0]

I'm fully fluent in Spanish and English... is it a conflict of interest to do the translations myself and write a letter and have it notarized??? It's such a waste of money for me to pay someone to translate when I know how!!

And do the police records / birth certificate have to be translated into English???

You do not need to have the police records / birth certificate translated into English for the Embassy phase of the process at all. All of these materials can be in either English/Spanish.

The only thing that I have translated up until this point is our evidence materials (emails) for the initial submission to the Service Center for the K-1 (to go along with the I-129F). I also wrote in English next to all receipts for the evidence the basics of: item, date, etc.

That was it for translations!! I also wrote the "I can translate this" letter that Kid Brooklyn mentioned to go along with the I-129F packet, initial submission to the Service Center. Yes, I had this letter notarized.

I'm at the Embassy phase of this journey as of now. Maybe later for the American phase (AOS) of it you'll need translations?? I personally am worrying about this part of it later. I've got enough to do!

This is a good point. Depending on what step you are at you may or may not need translations. For filing with USICS, you do. For a K-1 Interview in Peru, you do not. For AOS, you do.... Just depends. Translations can be done by you as long as you certify to the acuracy and it is not specifically stated that a certified translator is needed.

Best of luck!

Sam

[Ovaltine Jenkins 5]

Official documents like birth certificate and stuff like that? If you have it translated by an official translator I´m not sure it´s enough cuz that is just a translated piece of paper which you can do yourself. We took a notarized copy and the translation was done by an approved court translator. Then they sew the documents together and give it some stamps and such. We still have it and whenever someone needs something like that we take a copy of it.

[Kotenochek 0]

In russia they dont care about translations being notarized..I think you could do it yourself..But you better ask people from your country thread...

[NCWife 0]

In russia they dont care about translations being notarized..I think you could do it yourself..But you better ask people from your country thread...

Agreed. The best is to consult the consulate in Peru since each consulate has their own set of rules. I

have just received my packet 4 here in Malaysiaand it says there that "All documents not in English must be accompanied by a certified translation into English. Translations must be certified by a competent translator"

Anyways... good luck

[suzukiwookie 1]

I emailed the embassy in Montreal and asked them about the translations (and some other things) and here is what they responded:

"Do not obtain anything [police records, etc..] before you receive a packet. Every document is time sensitive and may be expired by the time you have a visa appointment.

Medicals must be done by one of our panel physicians only, information will be sent in your pkt. Your birth certificate must be translated by an official translator.

Thank you

Operator 6"