CR1/ DCF at Frankfurt Germany (translation of certificates)

[ditwar 1]

Hi at all,

I have a question concerning the translation of certificates. My wife works as translator and she is American. For the petition she made the translation of some documents and wrote that she was able to do so. Kind of self certification. She got the information this is an accepted practice and it has been accepted by the USCIS in Frankfurt.

Now, the Frankfurt VISA Unit checklist informs the translation has to be certified by a registered translator, which she is not. I do not need to translate german documents, but there is one doc in Spanish, witch has to be translated.

I don't know if we can do it as in the petition or do we have to employ a registered translator?

If so, I got the information that there is no such registration (or sworn translator) in the US. So, where do I get such a registered and competent translator for official documents (Spanish to English)?

Thanks.

[Frankjavir 55]

It is true USCIS does not require certified translators, neither notarized translations.

I believe is not appropriate that the petitioner or beneficiary do their own translations.

The embassies basically do what they want and their requirements vary a lot.

[Ryan H 3,791]

Moved from IR-1/CR-1 Process & Procedures to DCF Discussion.

[awaywego 28]

For the IV step ("Step 2") at Frankfurt, any document not in English or German must be translated to English by "a competent and registered translator," as you've read. This is a different rule than with the USCIS portion of the process. As Frankjavir said, each embassy/consulate has its own rules for translation. I imagine that the text references some registration process for translators in Germany. (I don't know any translators here, so I don't know their registration/certification processes.)

There used to be a list of translators posted to Frankfurt's pages on the immigrant visa process, but they have removed it. You could try contacting Frankfurt directly to ask how to find a translator, or a search of their site does produce a few PDFs of names. (These lists are all old, though, so who knows how accurate they are. Personally, I'd send the email.)

P.S. Would you mind filling in your timeline and/or posting it to your signature? We will be filing via Frankfurt soon, and we're trying to get an idea of how long this process is currently taking. Thanks!