Can i Translate On my Own

[HRQX 4,145]

9 hours ago, jeaniecz said:

I had a sworn translator do the job for me, on everything I needed to translate...

What documents did you have that weren't in English or Dutch?

[Kaatje 81]

So I guess I wasted 60 euro's on a translation of my divorcepapers, hahaha  

[jeanieCZ 228]

2 hours ago, HRQX said:

What documents did you have that weren't in English or Dutch?

Birth certificate, police certificate. 

[jeanieCZ 228]

41 minutes ago, Kaatje said:

So I guess I wasted 60 euro's on a translation of my divorcepapers, hahaha  

I don't think so. 

I had translations made of all important papers that I will probably need later in the US, too. So I don't need to worry about translating those later. 

[JFH 12,189]

11 hours ago, jeaniecz said:

So how does USCIS verify the translations are accurate? 

 

And once more, the US CG in Amsterdam does require translations by sworn translators.

USCIS only sees a limited number of documents that are mostly uniform in format. They see birth certificates, marriage certificates, divorce decrees, death certificates. Those are about the only official documents they see for this game. The information on such forms is very limited. There’s not much to translate. It’s mostly names and dates. They would soon know if something wasn’t right, especially as they see Spanish/German/Russian etc documents every day. I was a qualified translator in the past (although my registration has lapsed). It takes a few minutes to translate a birth certificate. It’s very simple. Translating books (which I have done in the past) is a whole other issue. 

[Stubmeister 31]

Let me weigh in on this. I am neither a notary nor a lawyer. I am a simple mechanic that works in a pharmaceutical factory. In preparation of the I-129F for me and my fiance, I had to have her Colombian divorce  translated into English. I saw the prices for translation and opted to take the chance. I translated 38 pages of the divorce from Spanish to English. The only exceptions were the certificates. I accompanied the translation with a cover letter stating that I was fluent in both Spanish and English, and that there are some nuances that could be lost during translation but that the intent of translation from the original document was maintained. No notarization, nada! The outcome was that both were accepted by the USCIS and the embassy. Bottom line: You can do your own translations!

[JFH 12,189]

I find it odd that some people are worried that USCIS and NVC night not believe that a translation of a birth certificate, etc is accurate unless it’s signed, stamped and sealed by a professional translator. We are adults and we sign under penalty of perjury that everything in our applications is correct. 

 

They take your word for it that you married for love and not for a green card. Why do you think they are going to have sleepless nights that someone may have mistranslated their own birth certificate? They take your word for it on that also. 

[Cathi 5,610]

My husband translated all of our documents as he is fluent in English and Arabic. Not only is it two different languages, it's 2 different alphabets. We had no problems whatsoever.

[HRQX 4,145]

21 hours ago, geowrian said:

A certification statement is necessary.

Even for English to English translations? (sarcasm)

 

[YecaCruz 374]

I'm also fluent in English and Spanish. I translated my husband's birth certificate no problem. no rfe. no nothing!  

[mytruelove18 607]

22 hours ago, jeaniecz said:

My embassy requires certified translations, that is, made by a sworn translator. 

I think it's very strange that others were able to submit translations made by the applicant/sponsor/friend etc; instead of a certified translations. What's the point of that?? If I translate my documents myself, I can basically enter ANY INFORMATION into the translation that is convenient to me and it might not match the original text.

 

Considering how "suspicious" the USCIS and DOS are, I cannot believe they would accept other than certified translations. 

I guess I would advise anybody to submit only certified translations, if only to make sure the translations won't be rejected. I had a sworn translator do the job for me, on everything I needed to translate and I will certainly do that in the future. 

Certified translation mean that the person who translate certified that he or she is fluent in both language, certified doesnt meant need be a profesional.

[Celie 793]

18 hours ago, jeaniecz said:

Validating a signature and certifying a translation are two different matters. I wasn't discussing a notary's qualification to validate signatures.

 

The instruction clearly says the translation has to be done by a sworn translator. 

 

In the Netherlands, a sworn translator/interpreter is a licenced profession regulated by the law (Wet beëdigde tolken en vertalers) and only translators who are registered in the register of sworn translators, are competent and qualified for that. So, once more, UNLESS YOU ARE A SWORN TRANSLATOR, YOU CANNOT TRANSLATE ON YOUR OWN.

Our embassy requires the same as yours. We had our documents translated by a certified translator in Lebanon and made a million copies to make sure we didn't have to do it again. lol

 

In their case since it's for USCIS, they don't need to do it by a professional, but I can see what you're saying. Come embassy time, each embassy may require something different. When I read on our P3 that all our civil documents had to be accompanied by a "sworn translation" this is what I assumed as well. Our embassy is notorious for keeping people in AP for months over the smallest mistake or technicality and it's just not a risk I would take. It didn't even occur to me that we could do it, tbh. I understood "sworn translation" to be hiring a professional certified for this to do it.

[JunkTardis 183]

10 hours ago, HRQX said:

Even for English to English translations? (sarcasm)

 

Ahhh what a throwback. I had almost forgotten about the ridiculousness of USCIS demanding an English translation of an English issued Birth Certificate, from England 😂😂

[Allaboutwaiting 2,500]

The USCIS policy manual states the following:

"There must be a certification from the translator indicating that the translation is complete and accurate and attesting to his or her competence as a translator."

 

The sworn statement at the end of the document is what they consider certification, but as @jeaniecz shared, some countries have certified translators that need to be registered with the government as such.

For instance, in Mexico, after fulfilling certain requirements, professional translators get a particular stamp that certifies they are certified.

 

In our case, we tried both options: one document was translated by a certified translator for a fee and another was translated by a friend as a favor because that's what friends are for. 😃

Both worked, but the one with the stamp looks better, more "pro". 😅

 

26 minutes ago, JunkTardis said:

Ahhh what a throwback. I had almost forgotten about the ridiculousness of USCIS demanding an English translation of an English issued Birth Certificate, from England 😂😂

#neverforget #wolverhamptoneseisnotalanguage

Edited August 2, 2019 by Allaboutwaiting