EB-3 other workers: certified translation of experience letters

A certified translation of an experience letter for an EB-3 other workers petition reproduces exactly what the former employer wrote: the same dates, the same job title, the same duties and the same signature block, in complete English. Foreign-language letters, identity records and family records that go with the Form I-140 or a later adjustment filing each need that kind of translation. The letter is also the document where an added or reworded duty does the most damage, because the duties it lists are read against the job described in the petition.

EB-3 other workers petitions and the foreign documents they carry

The other workers category of EB-3 is for jobs that need less than two years of training or experience, such as caregiving, housekeeping, food processing, farm work and warehouse work. The U.S. employer files the Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers, and the worker later adjusts status or applies for an immigrant visa abroad, with a spouse and children where they come along. The foreign-language papers that appear along the way are mostly experience letters from earlier employers, the worker's passport and birth certificate, marriage and birth certificates for the family, and now and then a vocational certificate.

USCIS regulations require a full English translation of every foreign-language document, with the translator's certification that the translation is complete and accurate and that the translator is competent in both languages. Each paper in the packet goes through the same certified document translation for USCIS process. Which documents the petition needs is a decision for the employer's attorney or accredited representative; the translation company translates what it is handed.

What an experience letter shows and why the translation must keep it

A useful experience letter reads like a record and not like a character reference. A former employer who writes one normally states the following.

• The employer's name, address and contact details, usually printed in the letterhead.
• The worker's job title and a description of the duties the worker actually performed.
• The first and last dates of employment.
• The number of hours worked per day or per week.
• The name and position of the person who signed, with the signature and the date of the letter.

Each of these is a fact an officer can match against the petition. The translation therefore carries the letterhead text, the title, every duty in the order given, every date and the full signature block, including a stamp or a telephone number written beside the signature. If the letter leaves out the hours or the end date, the translation leaves them out as well. A translator does not fill the gap from the job offer or from what such jobs usually involve.

Whether a letter is enough for the labor certification is for the attorney to judge. The translated letter should show what the original shows and nothing more. Pay slips, contracts and other work records follow the same rule, and the post on employment letter translation for USCIS covers them in more detail.

Translating Spanish, Tagalog and Portuguese letters without adding duties

Job titles in these letters are often short and informal, and the English has to stay at the same level. A Spanish "empleada doméstica" becomes "domestic worker", "cuidadora" becomes "caregiver", and the Tagalog "kasambahay" becomes "household helper". A Portuguese "diarista", a cleaner paid by the day, stays a cleaner paid by the day and does not turn into a "housekeeping supervisor". Raising a helper to an assistant, or a household worker to a care aide, changes the record.

Duties follow the same rule. When a Spanish letter says the worker "cuidaba a una señora mayor", the English says she looked after an elderly woman. It does not become "provided personal care and medication management" because that is how a U.S. job description would put it. Cooking and cleaning stay cooking and cleaning, and a stated schedule such as eight hours a day is copied as written.

A numeric date such as 03/04/2019 can be read two ways, so the translator reads it by the convention of the country and the rest of the letter and writes the month in words. Many Philippine letters also mix English and Tagalog in one sentence. The English passages are kept as the employer wrote them and the Tagalog passages are translated, so the officer sees the letter as it was written. Certified Tagalog to English translation works the same way as Spanish or Portuguese: line by line, with nothing added.

Handwritten letters, informal employers and statements in place of letters

Many workers in these occupations were employed by a household, a small farm or a family business, and the letter may be handwritten on plain paper with no letterhead. The translation keeps it that way. Every handwritten line is translated, a signature is shown as [signature], a stamp is described and its text translated, and any word that cannot be read is marked [illegible] instead of guessed. The back of a page is translated if anything is written on it. A letter without a letterhead is not given one.

When the employer cannot be reached or no longer exists, the worker's attorney may decide to file a signed statement from the employer or from someone who worked alongside the worker. A statement written in Spanish or Portuguese is an affidavit translation job like any other, and a Tagalog statement is handled as a Tagalog affidavit translation. The first-person voice stays in the first person: "I employed her" does not become "the employer states that she was employed".

Passport, birth certificate and marriage certificate for the worker and family

The identity and family records follow the standard rules. A passport translation covers the identity page and every other page that carries entries, stamps or notes. Birth certificates for the worker and the children are translated in full with registry numbers and marginal notes. A Mexican acta de nacimiento, for example, is translated with its registry data and CURP, and a Spanish birth certificate translation for a child follows the same layout. A marriage certificate translation for the spouse keeps both surnames in the order the record gives them, since Latin American names often carry two. Philippine PSA certificates are typically issued in English, so the Philippine paper that needs translation is more often a record written in another language.

The Department of State publishes a Visa Reciprocity and Civil Documents by Country schedule that lists which civil documents each country issues and which version is acceptable. Checking it before ordering saves the fee for a translation of the wrong version. Workers who apply through the National Visa Center and a consulate may find that civil documents in the official language of the country do not need translation at that stage, but once the case is with USCIS everything must be in English.

A vocational certificate, when the petition includes one, is translated in full with its course hours, grades, stamps and signatures. The skilled worker category has its own rules for training evidence, so this post stays on the other workers category.

What to prepare before ordering the translations

Gather the original letters rather than photos cropped to the text, and include the back of any page that has writing or a stamp. Keep the passport spelling of every name in front of you, because the letters, the certificates and the petition should all show the same name for the same person.

We prepare each document with its own certification and keep names consistent with the passport. Start with the identity pages, since every other record is matched to them: passport translation.