Certified Translations

[briancole 1]

When I submitted the I-130 for my wife and stepson last year I went with Ultra Translate. They did a good job and I would recommend them. Now I need to submit some follow-up documents that further explain my relationship to my wife's son which need to be translated from Spanish to English. Ultra Translate was good before, since I only had about 3 documents which cost $50 a pop. Now I have 8 pages worth to translate! That's $400 worth! I expect to pay a lot for immigration, I know this, but I'd like to save where I can. Does anyone know of a good certified translation service that costs less? Or maybe there's someone in this community who is a certified translator and likes to help out? I speak Spanish fluently and am studying so I can be certified, so maybe someday I'll offer my services here, but for now, does anyone have some help or advice they can give me?

[Done--Really 331]

Just not necessary to have a professional translator who is " certified" -- here are the exact words form the USCIS website--they simply have to be competent--not "certified" !! A friend did it for us, and I think if you took a poll, that would be the overwhelming outcome for people on this website.

From the website:

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

Edited June 4, 2011 by magical

[BocaChicaBabe 6]

The VJ guide says...

Per the USCIS, documents not in English must be translated. The policy states as follows: "All documents that are in a language other than English must be submitted with a translation. The person translating the document must certify that the translation is complete and accurate and that he/she is competent to translate from the foreign language into English."

All translations must include a statement...

Nowhere does it say that the documents need to be translated by any particular person. I took from that the person needs to be able to speak/understand the language well in order to translate. That said, I used the sample statement provided in the guide and had my friend (who is NOT certified, but speaks Spanish fluently) translate my documents and provide his signature. I had no problems with the translations or the signed statement I provided with my I-130 submission. My petition was approved with no problems. I plan to use the same person to translate the documents I need to submit to the NVC and provide the same statement, UNLESS someone here says the NVC is a lot more picky about who translates.

[Done--Really 331]

Hey BocaChica

No need for any translations at the NVC level--they only require that documents be EITHER in English OR the language of the country where you are doing consulate processing--in your case and mine, Spanish docs are just fine !!

[briancole 1]

Wow, okay, that's something I never considered. I suppose I could do it. Either that or I'll see if one of my friends who's more fluent than I could do it.

I could do it, right? Or maybe I can't because I'm the petitioner.

[Done--Really 331]

Nothing prevents you from doing it yourself, but most people don't take the chance that the USCIS folks might think it is fishy, so the vast majority of us used a friend.

[BocaChicaBabe 6]

Hey BocaChica

No need for any translations at the NVC level--they only require that documents be EITHER in English OR the language of the country where you are doing consulate processing--in your case and mine, Spanish docs are just fine !!

Thanks magical! I was just concerned because I've read it's better to translate the documents because there might be a delay if there are no translations because only at the consulate is it guaranteed that both English and Spanish will be spoken. And at the NVC it's possible to have to wait on your documents to get processed until someone that speaks Spanish is available to handle them. I read that somewhere else and wanted to see what others here had to say to that.

[El Cachalote 12]

Okay,

Have your documents translated from castellano/spanish into english in Peru if possible. Our certified translator (my wife and I)is located in Miraflores and his rates are reasonalble.....no....his rates a cheap! Here is the info: Jose Nino de Guzman (Certified Translator) at www.jantraducciones@gmail.com.

Jose is professional, certified, and cheap. All of our documents have been translated by him, and they are true and accurate....and beautifully assembled.

Best Wishes,

M

When I submitted the I-130 for my wife and stepson last year I went with Ultra Translate. They did a good job and I would recommend them. Now I need to submit some follow-up documents that further explain my relationship to my wife's son which need to be translated from Spanish to English. Ultra Translate was good before, since I only had about 3 documents which cost $50 a pop. Now I have 8 pages worth to translate! That's $400 worth! I expect to pay a lot for immigration, I know this, but I'd like to save where I can. Does anyone know of a good certified translation service that costs less? Or maybe there's someone in this community who is a certified translator and likes to help out? I speak Spanish fluently and am studying so I can be certified, so maybe someday I'll offer my services here, but for now, does anyone have some help or advice they can give me?

[jthai 0]

Brian,

If you still want to try a language translation service out, check out www.foxtranslate.com

- Cheap: We charge $29 per page with zero hidden fees

- Fast: On Spanish, we can guarantee a 48 turnaround

- Reliable: We've done thousands of these and guarantee that they'll be accepted by the necessary authorities or your money back. We run a two-step process where a professional translator does the initial translation and then another professional translator reviews the document for accuracy

Good luck to you with your translation needs.

[cup1981 0]

I translated mine via Google Translate and had my wife review them and sign off on a statement saying "I am competent in both English and Indonesian, and this is a correct and true translation." One thing we have going for us is that my wife speaks three languages fluently: Sundanese (local dialect), Indonesian (National language) and English.

That little blurb was copied and pasted right off the Consulate's website. No need to pay for professional translation.

Edited June 5, 2011 by cup1981

[briancole 1]

The wording on the format you gave me makes me think maybe I could translate it myself and have someone else review and sign it. I actually for my own sake to see if I could went ahead and translated a few of them this afternoon and it was kinda fun. I'll work on getting them certified. I know it's risky, but I do wonder about signing it myself. I probably won't do it, but I'd like to ask someone to post on this thread if you've had success translating and certifying the documents yourself. I'm mostly just curious to see if someone actually tried it and had success.

[Done--Really 331]

I personally know several people who signed it themselves, but I was chicken and had a friend do it.