I-360 widow petition: certified translation of marriage and death records

A widow or widower who files Form I-360 needs the marriage certificate and the citizen spouse's death certificate in English, and every foreign-language record has to come with a certified translation of the full document. The same requirement covers any divorce decree or death record that shows an earlier marriage of either spouse ended, and the birth certificates of children included on the petition. The petitioner's attorney or accredited representative decides which records go into the filing; the translation work covers whatever is chosen.

Which I-360 widow petition records need translation

USCIS regulations require a full English translation of any foreign-language document, with the translator's certification that the translation is complete and accurate and that the translator is competent in both languages. A widow petition rests on a chain of civil records, and a gap in the chain is easy to see because each record refers to the one before it. The documents most often translated are listed below.

• The marriage certificate that proves the petitioner was legally married to the US citizen.
• The citizen's death certificate, which is foreign whenever the death happened abroad.
• Divorce decrees or death certificates that show how each earlier marriage of the petitioner and of the citizen ended.
• Birth certificates of children who are included on the petition.
• Any statement or secondary record the filing relies on when a primary record cannot be obtained.

Each of these needs its own certification, which is the safer practice because the officer can match every translation to the source record it covers.

Foreign death certificate translation: cause of death and seals

The death certificate carries more text than the other records in the file. Besides the name and date of death, a foreign death certificate translation has to cover the place of death, the cause-of-death entries, the name and title of the certifying physician, and the registry details that identify the record. Many countries issue a medical certificate from the hospital and a separate civil registry entry; when both are in the file, each is translated in full.

Cause-of-death wording is where translators work most carefully. Medical terms are rendered into the English term a physician would use, and an abbreviation is either kept as written with a bracketed expansion or translated with the original shown, so the officer can see what the page says and what it stands for. A diagnosis is never softened, simplified, or reordered. If the certificate lists an immediate cause and an underlying cause on separate lines, the translation keeps them on separate lines.

Seals and stamps from the hospital, the civil registry, or the municipality are described in brackets, with the text inside them translated. Handwritten entries, marginal notes, and anything on the back of the page are part of the record. A word that cannot be read is marked "[illegible]" instead of guessed. Spanish-language records are common in these petitions, and a Spanish death certificate translation follows the same rules, including the registry book and page references that appear on the original. The existing post on death certificate translation for widow(er) cases covers the remarriage question, which this article leaves aside.

Marriage certificate translation and matching names and dates

The marriage certificate translation shows that the petitioner and the citizen were married, and the officer will compare it to the death certificate line by line. The two records should agree on the spelling of both names, the citizen's date of birth, and the relationship between the two people. The translation cannot repair a difference that exists in the originals, but it can avoid creating new ones.

Name spelling is the most common source of mismatch. A woman may appear under her maiden name on one record and her married name on another, and a Latin American record may list two surnames in an order that US forms do not use. Arabic and Korean names can be romanized in several accepted ways. The translation company should receive the spelling on the petitioner's passport and on Form I-360 before work begins, and should use it consistently, while still showing exactly what each source record says when the source differs. Dates are written in month, day, year order in English, and a date given in another calendar is translated as it appears on the page. If the marriage was religious rather than civil, the post on religious and civil marriage records explains what each record is and what is translated.

Divorce decrees and death records for earlier marriages

The petition asks the petitioner to show that any earlier marriage, for either spouse, ended before the marriage to the citizen. A foreign divorce decree translation is translated whole, including the court's name, the case number, the judge's signature block, the grounds stated, and any clause about the date the judgment became final. A decree that carries a stamp stating it is final is translated with that stamp. When an earlier spouse died, that spouse's death certificate is handled like the citizen's.

These records often come from a different country and a different year than the marriage that matters most. The names on them must still line up with the later records, since a first spouse's decree that names the petitioner under another spelling will draw questions. Translating each record on its own terms, with the spelling the source uses, and noting the variants to the attorney in a separate message, keeps the file honest.

Children listed on the I-360 and their birth certificates

When children are included on the petition, each child needs a birth certificate that names the petitioner or the citizen as a parent, depending on the family. The translation follows the standard rules for a birth certificate: full text, registry numbers, both parents' names in the order the source gives them, and every stamp. Where a child's record shows a different spelling of the parent's name than the marriage certificate, the translation reproduces the source as it is, and the attorney decides whether an explanation belongs in the file. The post on stepchildren and legitimation records applies when the child is not the citizen's biological child.

Checking the civil record version before ordering

The State Department publishes a Visa Reciprocity and Civil Documents by Country schedule that lists, country by country, which civil documents exist, who issues them, and which version is acceptable. A long-form record is often preferred to an abridged extract. Checking the entry for the country before ordering a translation avoids paying for a translation of the wrong version.

Before sending records, collect the full set, including the back of every page, and write down the spelling of each name as it appears on the petitioner's passport. Texliff prepares certified document translation for USCIS with one certification per record, and the attorney or accredited representative confirms which records the filing needs.