CR-1 and IR-1 spouse visa: certified translation list by country of marriage

A CR-1 or IR-1 spouse visa case needs a certified English translation of every foreign-language document sent to USCIS with the I-130, and the National Visa Center (NVC) and the consulate ask for translations of civil documents that are not in English or in the official language of the country where the interview takes place. Which documents those are depends mostly on where the marriage was registered and where the spouse lives.

The CR-1 category covers marriages under two years old, and the IR-1 category covers longer marriages. The document list is the same for both, and the petitioner's attorney or accredited representative decides what goes into the filing.

CR-1 and IR-1 documents that need certified translation at each stage

A spouse immigrant visa moves through three stages: the I-130 petition with USCIS, document collection at NVC, and the interview at a US consulate. At the USCIS stage, USCIS regulations require every foreign-language document to be accompanied by a full English translation and by the translator's certification that the translation is complete and accurate and that the translator is competent in both languages. The certification carries the translator's typed name, signature, date, and contact information, and a separate certification for each document is the safer practice. When a translation is missing, incomplete, or uncertified, USCIS may issue a Request for Evidence or a Notice of Intent to Deny. Certified document translation for USCIS is built around exactly that format.

NVC and the consulate apply a different test. Civil documents that are not in English, or not in the official language of the country where the spouse applies, need certified translations, each with a statement signed by the translator that the translation is accurate and that the translator is competent. The official-language exception belongs to NVC and consulates only. Once the case is with USCIS, everything must be in English, so a Spanish-language marriage record used for an interview in Mexico still needs an English translation for the I-130. The differences are covered in NVC and USCIS translation rules.

Most spouse visa files contain translated records from the following group:

• The marriage certificate of the current marriage, in the version the issuing country's civil registry provides.
• The birth certificate of each spouse, and of any child included in the case.
• Divorce decrees, annulments, or death certificates that ended an earlier marriage of either spouse.
• Police certificates from the countries named in the visa instructions.
• The vaccination record the applicant brings to the medical exam.

Reciprocity Schedule: check the accepted version before ordering a translation

The Department of State's Visa Reciprocity and Civil Documents by Country schedule lists, country by country, which civil documents exist, who issues them, and which version is acceptable. USCIS adjudicators and consular officers both rely on it. Applicants should read the entry for the country of marriage before ordering anything, because a translation of the wrong version, such as an abridged extract where a full copy is expected, has to be paid for twice.

Marriage records by country: what is translated and where translations go wrong

Each country issues the marriage record in its own form, and each has a usual translation mistake.

Mexico: acta de matrimonio

The Mexican acta de matrimonio is issued by the state civil registry. Spouses and their parents usually appear with two surnames, and the translation keeps both in the original order so the record matches the birth certificate and the passport. Marginal annotations are translated with the main text, and any CURP printed on the record is copied exactly. A Spanish marriage certificate translation follows the same rules.

Dominican Republic: acta inextensa

In the Dominican Republic the full-text record is the acta inextensa, and a shorter extract also exists. The Reciprocity Schedule entry shows which one the consulate expects. The usual mistake is translating the extract and then learning that the full-text record was required, which means translating again.

Haiti: extrait of the civil registry

Haitian marriage records are written in French and are often issued as an extrait from the civil registry. Spellings of Creole names and communes vary between records, so the translation reproduces each name exactly as written, and the attorney resolves any difference from the passport.

Vietnam: giấy chứng nhận kết hôn

The Vietnamese marriage certificate is the giấy chứng nhận kết hôn. Vietnamese names are written family name, middle name, given name, and the diacritics are part of the spelling, so dropping them changes the name. A Vietnamese marriage certificate translation keeps the name order and diacritics of the source.

Colombia: registro civil de matrimonio

The Colombian registro civil de matrimonio carries registration numbers, details of the issuing registry office, and annotations, and each of those is translated. The usual mistake is translating an old copy when the registry has since added annotations.

Brazil: certidão de casamento de inteiro teor

Brazilian registries issue the certidão de casamento in a full-text form, called inteiro teor, and in a shorter summary form. The full-text form reproduces the entire registry entry, including the annotations added after the wedding, which Brazilian records call averbações. A translation of the summary alone leaves those annotations out.

Morocco and Egypt: Arabic marriage contracts

Marriage contracts from Morocco and Egypt are written in Arabic and give dates in the Hijri calendar, sometimes beside Gregorian dates. Names appear as chains of given name, father, grandfather, and family name, and one Arabic name has several accepted English spellings, so the translation uses one spelling and keeps it identical across all records. Arabic translation services convert each Hijri date and keep the original date visible.

Ukraine: records in Ukrainian and in Russian

Ukrainian records issued before 1991 are in Russian, and later records are in Ukrainian, so the same applicant can have both kinds in one file. Names are romanized by the Ukrainian passport standard, and the source spelling stays visible next to it.

Birth certificates and records of earlier marriages in a spouse visa file

Each spouse's birth certificate translation is usually part of the file. The schedule often distinguishes a long-form birth record that names the parents from a short extract. Records that ended an earlier marriage are translated in full as well. A divorce decree or a death certificate carries stamps, registry numbers, and sometimes handwritten entries, and each is translated or described in brackets, such as [signature].

Police certificates and the medical exam in a spouse visa case

The visa instructions from NVC and the consulate say which countries require a police certificate. A police certificate not in English or in the official language of the country where the visa is processed needs a certified translation, and a criminal record translation covers every line, including stamps and sections left blank.

The immigrant visa medical exam includes a review of the applicant's vaccination history. A vaccination card in another language needs an English translation so the examining doctor can read the entries.

Preparing the translation packet before the NVC upload

A machine translation carries no human certification and mishandles names, dates, abbreviations, and legal terms, so it does not meet the requirement at either stage. A complete translation covers everything on the page, including stamps, seals, signatures, handwritten entries, marginal notes, and the back of the page when it carries anything. Illegible parts are marked [illegible] and are never guessed.

Before the upload, collect each record in the version the Reciprocity Schedule lists, scan the front and back of every page, and keep the pages of one document together. Texliff prepares each certified marriage certificate translation with its own certification, and we describe stamps, seals, and handwritten entries as they appear on the source.