Key Takeaways
- Every foreign-language document filed with Form I-589 needs a full English translation and a translator certification of completeness, accuracy and competence in both languages.
- A separate certification for each document is the safer practice, and it should come from a translation company with no stake in the case.
- Machine translation carries no human certification and mishandles names, dates and abbreviations, so it does not meet the requirement for asylum evidence.
- A handwritten threat letter is translated together with its envelope, postmark, return address, signatures, crossed-out words and any writing on the back.
- The English keeps the writer's wording, including bad grammar and vague threats, and does not soften or sharpen what the original says.
- Membership cards, hospital discharge papers and relatives' death certificates are translated in full, with stamps, abbreviations, marginal notes and issue dates reported as they appear.
- For a newspaper clipping only the relevant article is translated, together with the publication name, date, headline, byline and photo caption.
- Undated, torn or faded items are marked with notes such as undated and illegible, and the translation never guesses a date or a word.
- Immigration court requires a typed, signed certificate of translation with contact information, while the affirmative USCIS filing asks for the same statements of accuracy and competence.
Every document filed with Form I-589 that contains foreign-language text needs a full English translation with a translator's certification, and evidence sent from the home country is no exception. Threat letters, summonses, membership cards, hospital papers, relatives' death certificates and community letters each get their own translation, and each one follows the writer's wording.
I-589 certified translation: what the form requires for each document
USCIS regulations require every foreign-language document to be accompanied by a full English translation that the translator has certified as complete and accurate, together with a statement that the translator is competent to translate from that language into English. The I-589 instructions apply the same requirement to supporting evidence. In practice the certification carries the translator's typed name, signature, date and contact information, a statement of competence in both languages, a statement that the translation is complete and accurate, and an identification of the document. A separate certification for each document is the safer practice.
The certification is the translator's own statement, so it works best when it comes from someone with no stake in the case. An applicant who certifies his or her own evidence is vouching for it in his or her own case, and an officer may give it less weight or question it. A translation company provides a certification that is independent of the case. Machine translation carries no human certification and mishandles names, dates, abbreviations and legal terms, so it does not meet the requirement either. Evidence from abroad goes through certified document translation for USCIS in the same way as a passport or a birth certificate does.
When a translation is missing, incomplete or uncertified, USCIS may issue a Request for Evidence or a Notice of Intent to Deny. Policy also allows an officer to deny a filing without first asking for more when the initial evidence is insufficient.
Threat letter translation for I-589: envelopes, postmarks and handwriting
A threat letter is often handwritten, short, and unsigned or signed with a nickname. The translation covers everything on the sheet. When the envelope was kept, it is translated as its own page, because the postmark, the stamp and the return address connect the letter to a town and a date. Anything the sender wrote on the back of either piece belongs to the document as well.
A translated letter normally shows each of the following in the place where it appears in the original:
- The letterhead, or a note that the sheet has none.
- The greeting and the closing exactly as the writer put them.
- Signatures and initials, described as "[signature]" or "[initials]".
- Handwritten additions, crossed-out words and marginal notes, each marked as such.
- Stamps and seals, with their text translated and their position described.
Threats are frequently vulgar, ungrammatical or vague, and the English stays that way. If the writer misspells a name, uses a slang word for a militia or leaves a sentence unfinished, the translation shows the same thing, with a short bracketed translator's note only where the reader would otherwise be confused. A translation that fixes the grammar, softens an insult or sharpens a vague threat changes the evidence. The asylum officer or judge reads it next to the applicant's statement, which is covered in the post on translating asylum declarations.
Summonses, police notices and warrants follow the layout of the office that issued them. File numbers, article numbers of a criminal code, officer names and ranks, printed boxes with ticked or blank fields, and the signature of the person who received the notice are all reported. A rank or an office with no English equivalent is translated by its function, with the original name kept beside it.
Membership cards, hospital papers and death certificates of relatives
A party or union membership card is small but has several parts. The front and back, the photograph (described as "[photograph]"), the card number, the issue date, and any dues stamps or renewal entries on the inside pages are translated. The name of the organization is given in the original with an English rendering beside it the first time, and the same rendering is used for every later document in the packet.
Hospital discharge papers carry diagnoses, abbreviations, drug names, doses, ward names and physician signatures. The translation keeps each of them as written. A doctor's handwritten note is either translated or marked "[illegible]". The medical records translation of a discharge paper follows the same completeness rule as any other page.
A relative's death certificate is translated in full: the place and date of death, the cause as the registry recorded it, the name of the person who reported the death, the registry stamps, and any marginal note added later. A death certificate translation adds no detail that the register does not contain. A date in a calendar other than the Gregorian one is shown as written, with the Gregorian equivalent added in brackets.
A single file can mix languages, such as a civil record in French next to a letter in Haitian Creole, or a Spanish police notice next to a clinic report. Each piece is translated from its own language. Language-specific work is available as Haitian Creole asylum document translation and through Spanish translation services.
Church letters and news items in an asylum file
A letter from a pastor, a union representative or a neighbor is translated in the voice of its writer. A letter in the first person stays in the first person, and titles stay as the writer used them. The letterhead, signature, address, telephone number and any stamp are translated or described.
A newspaper clipping is the one case where less than the whole page is translated. Only the relevant article is needed, together with the name of the publication, the date, the headline, the byline and any photo caption. If the clipping has no visible date or publication name, the translation says so instead of supplying one.
Some applicants left without any of these items. The situation of an applicant with no papers is covered in the post on asylum identity documents without a passport.
Undated or partly legible evidence: how gaps are marked
A translation never supplies information that the page does not contain. An undated letter is translated with a note such as "[undated]". If the day and month are visible but the year is torn away, the translation reports the visible part and marks the rest as missing.
The markers are short and used consistently across the packet:
- Text that cannot be read is marked "[illegible]" instead of guessed.
- A damaged edge or missing piece is marked "[torn]" at the point where text is lost.
- A section of the form that was left empty is marked as blank.
- A stamp with unreadable text is described by its shape and position.
A clearer scan is often better than a longer list of markers. When a better copy exists, the translation company can work from it.
Affirmative I-589 filings and court filings: what changes in the certificate
An affirmative application is filed with USCIS and reviewed by an asylum officer. A defensive application is made in immigration court before an immigration judge. USCIS asks for the full English translation with the translator's certification described above. The Immigration Court Practice Manual, published by the Executive Office for Immigration Review, requires an English translation and a certificate of translation that is typed, signed and gives the translator's contact information with statements of competence and accuracy. Court exhibits are also paginated and indexed.
A declaration written in English and signed by a person who does not understand English needs a certificate of interpretation in court, which is a different document from a certificate of translation. The translation itself is prepared the same way for both systems. Only the packaging differs.
Before ordering, the applicant gathers the best available copy of each item, including envelopes and the backs of pages, and gives the translation company the spelling of names used on the passport and the I-589. The attorney or accredited representative decides which items are filed. We prepare certified translations of asylum documents for both USCIS and court filings.