Does USCIS accept Google Translate?

The rule a machine cannot satisfy

The regulation is 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3): any document in a foreign language needs a full English translation, plus a certification signed by the translator stating that the translation is complete and accurate and that they are competent to translate. Google Translate can produce the English words, but the certification is a signed statement of personal responsibility, and software cannot take responsibility for anything. No signature, no certification, no valid filing. The same is true of ChatGPT, DeepL, and every other tool.

The twist: the officer can use it, you cannot

Here is the part that surprises people. USCIS officers reviewing a file may run your original document through machine translation themselves to spot-check it against the translation you filed. That is reading, and reading is what these tools are for. Your side of the filing is held to a different standard: the packet must contain the complete English translation with the signed Certificate of Accuracy. The officer can use Google Translate. You cannot.

Where machine translation breaks Brazilian documents

Even when the sentences come out readable, the parts an officer actually checks come out wrong. Registry fields like livro, folha, and termo get mistranslated or dropped. The averbações in the margin, where a divorce or a name change lives, get skipped because the app never saw them in the photo. Brazilian dates flip into the wrong format, and stamps and seals, which must be translated or described, do not survive at all. Each of those is a completeness defect under the rule, and each one can trigger a request for evidence that pauses your case for weeks.

What to do instead

Use the machine to understand your documents, and file the certified version. A certified Portuguese to English translation is $19 a page here, one page being up to 250 words, delivered within 24 hours with the signed certification USCIS requires, and covered by our USCIS acceptance guarantee. Send a photo of the document and you are done thinking about it.

Your translation is handled and signed personally by Ivy, a native Brazilian Portuguese speaker, and it comes with the signed Certificate of Accuracy USCIS requires under 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3).