The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) is the governmental authority in charge of processing applications for visas, green cards, and citizenship in the United States.

As part of their application, applicants are required to submit copies of their vital statistics documents, such as birth certificates, medical records, police records, marriage certificates, etc. When issued in a foreign language, applicants need to submit an English version of the document.

According to the official bylaws of the USCIS, “All documents submitted in support of an application or petition must include complete translation into English. In addition, 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.”

Effectively, this means that applicants cannot translate their supporting documents themselves, in order to prevent immigration fraud. The translator must attest that he or she is competent in both the source and target languages, and that the translation has been completed to the best of his or her ability. This statement will be issued on a separate page from the translation, and will make specific reference to the languages, document type, and recipient.

It is not necessary to have a notarized translation when submitting to USCIS.