USCIS translation requirements, in plain English

The one rule behind everything

Ask USCIS what it wants from a translation and the answer is a single regulation, 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3). It requires a full English language translation of the document, together with a certification from the translator that the translation is complete and accurate and that the translator is competent to translate from the foreign language into English. Everything below is that sentence, unpacked.

Complete means the whole document

Every page, both sides, and every element: stamps, seals, notary marks, marginal notes, and the averbações on the back of Brazilian certificates. Anything genuinely unreadable in the original is marked illegible rather than quietly skipped, because a partial translation is one of the most common causes of a request for evidence.

Accurate means faithful, not improved

Names, dates, and places are copied exactly as the original shows them, even when the original contains a typo; a good translator preserves the error and adds a note. Nothing is summarized, modernized, or corrected, because the officer needs to trust that the English mirrors the Portuguese line by line.

The signed certification

The Certificate of Accuracy is the page that makes a translation certified. It states that the translation is complete and accurate, states that the translator is competent, and carries the translator's name, signature, and date. Every order we deliver includes it, attached and signed.

A competent translator

There is no translator license in the United States, and USCIS does not require ATA membership, a sworn Brazilian tradutor juramentado, or any registration. Competence plus the signed certification is the standard. The one person who should think twice before signing is the applicant, as we explain in can I translate my own document for USCIS.

What USCIS does not require

No notarization, as our notarized vs certified guide covers. No apostille on the translation, since an apostille authenticates the original document. No sworn translator and no ATA badge. If a checklist you found online demands those for USCIS, it is wrong or it is selling something.

Get your document done right

This is our everyday work: a birth certificate, a marriage certificate, a diploma, an academic transcript, a police certificate, or any other Portuguese document, translated complete for $19 a page, delivered within 24 hours, with our USCIS acceptance guarantee behind every order.

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).