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Certified Translation for United States
Immigration
A certified translation for the US immigration services (USCIS) must
be prepared in accordance with the United States regulation, 8 CFR
103.2 (b)(3) and by a professional translator or translation company.
Other organizations, such as WES and various universities and medical
schools sometimes have additional requirements, but basically a
certified translation is made up of four parts which must be in place
in order to be considered a valid certified translation.
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The
certified translation must be on official company letterhead paper
showing the name and address of the translator/translation company.
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The complete word for word
translation of the original text formatted as closely as possible to
the original text.
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A statement signed by the
translator or translation company representative attesting that the
translator or translation company representative believes the
translated text to be an accurate and complete translation of the
source document. Sometimes this statement bears the title
"Certificate of Accuracy."
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A statement notarizing the
translator's signature signed by a Notary Public.
A translator or translation company
does not need to be certified in order to prepare a certified
translation.
What is a certified translator?
Unlike most other countries, in the United States there is no federal
or state licensing or certification for translators. There are
credentials available to translators working in some language pairs in
this country, but they do not carry the same weight--in the market
place or in the translation community--as federal licensing or
certification in other countries.
The American Translators Association (ATA) offers translator
certification in some language pairs. ATA certified translators are
required to specify the language pairs and directions in which they
are certified. For example, a translator certified to translate from
Spanish to English is not necessarily certified to translate from
English to Spanish. |
