Do I need translations at US embassy abroad?

[Florence & Jos 7]

Hi all,

Opened a new topic because all others were so old.

Still one important question. Had one paper coming in late. My military records. But it is in in Dutch only.

 

When I go to Step 5 "Collect supporting documents" I find there: 

Quote:

All documents not written in English, or in the official language of the country in which you are applying for a visa, must be accompanied by certified translations.

End Quote.

 

I will have my interview in the Amsterdam US Embassy. Is there no doubt Dutch is the official language of the country in which you are applying for a visa?

My wife's reasoning is I apply in the US for a visa to use in the US. So every document would have to be written in English. 

I say no, I apply in The Netherlands for a US visa. So any Dutch paper will work too. I can even mix them up with English.

Will NVC also accept a Dutch document as they stated in Step 5?

 

Anybody to tell us what is right, please? 

 

Thanks by Florence & Jos. 

 

 

[Dutchster 1,107]

It has to be either international or accompanied by certified translations done by a translation agency for example.

[Seth And Quynh 77]

it can be translated by anyone who is competent 

[Florence & Jos 7]

4 hours ago, Dutchster said:

It has to be either international or accompanied by certified translations done by a translation agency for example.

Thanks for your response. Can you refer to USCIS or NVC or other official sources to convince me. I had an opinion also, but referred to the NVC chapter 5 by a quote. There are many opinions here on VJ, but they don't support  to what to do. But thanks anyway.

[Dutchster 1,107]

37 minutes ago, Florence & Jos said:

Thanks for your response. Can you refer to USCIS or NVC or other official sources to convince me. I had an opinion also, but referred to the NVC chapter 5 by a quote. There are many opinions here on VJ, but they don't support  to what to do. But thanks anyway.

Well, as you can see I am from the Netherlands too. I went through the Consulate and USCIS already. Everything I had to show had to be either international version or accompanied with translations on a different page.
In my case, all my documents like birth certificate and VOG could be issued internationally. It stated clearly in my Consulate check list that the documents had to be international or translated.

[mallafri76 1,012]

When I went through the US Embassy in Sweden, I was told that all papers have to be in English. 

 

The US Embassy might be in Amsterdam but I can bet you the CO interviewing you don't speak Dutch. And if you send Dutch papers to NVC, how are they gonna know if you've sent in the right papers or not, they don't speak Dutch?! 

[Dutchster 1,107]

There are a few Dutch people who work at the Consulate. We spoke briefly when he took my paperwork at the first window. But indeed, the CO interviewing you will be American, speak English and all the documents have to be Engels/International (like my VOG and birth certificate were in both English and Dutch and got accepted). Since you are applying for an American visa, at the American consulate, all official documents have to be English. 

In your case, I would get your military documents translated if there is no way of getting them issued in an international version. Your birth certificate and VOG has to be international, too.

[Florence & Jos 7]

12 hours ago, Dutchster said:

Well, as you can see I am from the Netherlands too. I went through the Consulate and USCIS already. Everything I had to show had to be either international version or accompanied with translations on a different page.
In my case, all my documents like birth certificate and VOG could be issued internationally. It stated clearly in my Consulate check list that the documents had to be international or translated.

Thanks again for more information, Dutchster. You delivered all in English so of course you had no problem. This is the statement I find at top of the Amsterdam.pdf checklist. I clipped this as is.

 

Quote

Please use the list below to determine the items that every applicant must bring to the immigrant visa interview:

Reminder: All documents that are not in English or Dutch must be accompanied by a certified translation into English by a
certified/sworn translator.


End Quote

 

Clear enough there. Our question still is, will NVC accept the Dutch language too? I guess they will because the statement here would make no sense if they would not accept this either. Any experience being processed at Amsterdam embassy or whatever foreign embassy and filing with their foreign language documents. Does it slow down the process at NVC? Did you get NVC checklist for that?

 

 

[Florence & Jos 7]

@mallafri76

Thanks for your contribution.

Please read my answer in this topic to Dutchster.

[Dutchster 1,107]

No, the NVC will not accept documents in Dutch. It has to be in either English or International (Dutch/English)

You will have to get everything translated or it will delay your visa process. As the website clearly states, if it's not in English or if it's in original language of the country you are from, it has to be accompanied by a translation. 

All documents not written in English, or in the official language of the country in which you are applying for a visa, must be accompanied by certified translations. 

[Dutchster 1,107]

The NVC is American. They don't have Dutch reading people there, therefore you need to send in your documents translated if it cannot be issued internationally. 

[Florence & Jos 7]

34 minutes ago, Dutchster said:

No, the NVC will not accept documents in Dutch. It has to be in either English or International (Dutch/English)

You will have to get everything translated or it will delay your visa process. As the website clearly states, if it's not in English or if it's in original language of the country you are from, it has to be accompanied by a translation. 

All documents not written in English, or in the official language of the country in which you are applying for a visa, must be accompanied by certified translations. 

Hi Dutchster, you quote the NVC step 5 here about translations. I read there, simplified for my situation: All documents not written in English, or Dutch, need to be accompanied by certified translations. Otherwise they would state: All documents not written in English and not international with English, have to be translated in English. I don't know how NVC solves the problem how to check them, but the statement says so. It doesn't say English or international. Who else have opinions, or preferable experience, about applying documents in official language of country your interview embassy is in?

Maybe this policy is only shortly effective and nobody dares using  it. Anybody else who knows more about the subject?

 

 

[Dutchster 1,107]

Sorry but what do you not understand about providing documents in English? We are dealing with American institutes, not the Dutch ones. 
The NVC nor the US Consulate will not accept Dutch documents. They cannot read Dutch. 

Everyone here dealing with the US Embassy or Consulate or NVC and even the USCIS stage can confirm providing documents in English or accompanied by translations if it cannot be issued in English. But you can go ahead and try providing your Dutch military records, that's fine. I'll just sip and watch how it slows down the process. 

Edited July 14, 2017 by Dutchster

[96987 1]

5 hours ago, Dutchster said:

No, the NVC will not accept documents in Dutch. It has to be in either English or International (Dutch/English)

You will have to get everything translated or it will delay your visa process. As the website clearly states, if it's not in English or if it's in original language of the country you are from, it has to be accompanied by a translation. 

All documents not written in English, or in the official language of the country in which you are applying for a visa, must be accompanied by certified translations. 

I don't think it says that... It doesn't say "if it's in original language of the country you are from, it has to be translated" because that way they just could have said "If it is not in English, translate." (and someone from England would have a really contradictory problem...it is both in English and the official language...lol) What it says is that it has to be either in English or the official language of the country you are applying in. And you are applying during your interview, not in the US.  NVC checks these documents with a reciprocity list I believe, but I think a short description of what the document is will be helpful to them. So in my opinion certified translations are not needed according to both NVC and the Amsterdam consulate. The Amsterdam consulate is even more clear and states "All documents that are not in English or Dutch must be accompanied by a certified translation into English by a certified/sworn translator."

 

The NVC process wiki on here also touches on this subject btw. It also states that translations are not needed if it's in the official language, but sometimes people are getting rfe for translation anyways, so if you want to be on the safe side you could include it even though it is officially not needed.

[Dutchster 1,107]

All I am saying is that my documents say; "It is mandatory requirement to provide English translation of all records" and no matter what visa you do, it's a general rule for those adjusting through the NVC (spousal visa) and those going through the K-1 stage at the Consulate in Amsterdam.

Edited July 14, 2017 by Dutchster