Key Takeaways
- Every foreign-language document in a Form I-821 TPS filing needs a complete English translation with a signed certification from the translator, whichever country the designation covers.
- Nationality evidence such as passports, birth certificates, and national ID cards is often written in another language, while most proof of entry and residence is already in English.
- A certification carries the translator's name, signature, date, contact information, a competence statement, an accuracy statement, and the name of the document translated, ideally one certification per document.
- An expired passport still works as identity and nationality evidence, and its translation covers every page with stamps, endorsements, or notes, with unreadable parts marked as illegible.
- Names should be spelled the same way in every translated document, following the passport's romanization, because mismatched spellings across a file invite questions about identity.
- Check the State Department Reciprocity Schedule for the TPS country before ordering a birth certificate translation, so the version that gets translated is the version that is acceptable.
- When a primary record is unavailable, the applicant shows that with a statement from the issuing authority and submits secondary evidence, and each foreign-language item needs its own certified translation.
- A translation filed with an earlier TPS application can be filed again at re-registration only if it is complete and its certification is intact, while any newly issued document needs a new translation.
- A certification signed by the applicant or a relative covers evidence in their own case and may be questioned, and machine translation alone carries no human certification and does not meet the requirement.
Every foreign-language document in a Form I-821 TPS filing needs a complete English translation with a signed certification, and that includes expired passports, national ID cards, and civil records. The form asks for proof of nationality and for proof of when the applicant entered and has lived in the United States, so the translation work depends on which of those papers are not in English. USCIS applies the same rules to all of them, and a certified document translation for USCIS is built the same way whichever country the TPS designation covers.
TPS nationality documents that need a certified translation
Proof of nationality on Form I-821 is usually a passport, a birth certificate, a national identification card, or a citizenship record issued by the TPS country. Depending on the designation, those documents are written in Spanish, Haitian Creole, Arabic, Ukrainian, Burmese, Nepali, or another language. Each one that is not in English needs a translation of the whole document, because USCIS regulations require 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.
Proof of entry and continuous residence is a different group. Most of it comes from inside the United States, such as leases, pay records, school letters, and medical bills, and it is already in English. Anything that is not, for example a letter from a congregation that keeps its records in Spanish, goes through the same translation and certification steps as a passport. The attorney or accredited representative decides which evidence goes into a given filing, and the translation company works from that list.
The certification is a separate page or block attached to the translation, and an officer reads it before anything else. It should contain these items:
- The translator's typed name, signature, date, and contact information appear on the page.
- A statement says the translator is competent in both the source language and English.
- A statement says the translation is complete and accurate.
- The certification names the document that was translated.
Putting a separate certification on each document is the safer practice, since each document in the filing can then be read without the others.
Expired passports are still translated as identity evidence
A passport that has expired can still show who the applicant is and which country issued it, so applicants often file a copy, and a passport translation covers it. The translation covers every page that carries anything: the data page, visa and entry stamps, endorsements, amendments, and the inside covers. Stamps and seals are described in brackets, signatures are marked as signatures, and anything unreadable is marked "[illegible]" rather than guessed. A page that is truly blank is shown as blank, so that the officer can match each translated page to the copy in the filing.
Names need particular care. A Ukrainian passport romanizes the holder's name by the Ukrainian passport standard, and the translation of the Cyrillic page should keep that spelling so it matches the machine-readable line and the rest of the file. A Ukrainian passport translation that renders the same name two ways across documents invites questions about identity. Arabic names raise a similar problem, since one name can have several accepted English spellings, and the spelling used first in the file is the one to keep.
A national identification card or a foreign driver's license translation works the same way. Both are short, but they carry a photograph, an issuing office, and often a stamp or a printed code, and each of those elements appears in the translation. If the card has printing on the back, the back is translated too.
TPS birth certificates from countries with weak civil registries
Before ordering a translation of a birth certificate, check the Department of State's Visa Reciprocity and Civil Documents by Country schedule for the TPS country. It lists which civil documents exist, who issues them, and which version is acceptable, for example a long form rather than an abridged extract. Translating the wrong version wastes the fee, because the officer will still need the correct one.
When the registry has damaged or missing records, the applicant has to show that the primary record is unavailable, usually with a written statement from the issuing authority or a Reciprocity Schedule entry saying the record is generally unavailable. After that, secondary evidence can stand in for it. Church or baptismal records, school records, medical records, and affidavits from people with personal knowledge of the birth, commonly two, are the usual items. Every one of them that is not in English needs its own certified translation.
A Haitian record, to take one case, may arrive as a registry extract, a baptismal certificate, and a written statement from a relative, each in French, Haitian Creole, or a mix of the two. A Haitian Creole birth certificate translation has to cover the registry stamps and handwritten entries as well as the printed text, and the companion records need the same treatment. Applicants whose other papers are in the same language can read more about certified Haitian Creole to English translation before assembling the set.
Reusing translations when a TPS registration is renewed
A re-registration filing can include documents that were already filed once. A translation prepared for an earlier TPS filing can be filed again if it is still complete and the certification is intact: the translator's signature, the date, the contact information, both competence and accuracy statements, and the identification of the document must all be there. A translation that was an extract, or whose certification page got separated from the translated pages, should be redone instead of reused.
New documents need new translations. A renewed passport, a replacement ID card, or a late-issued birth record is a different document, even when the holder and most of the data are the same. Keeping the names, dates, and place names spelled the same way as in the earlier translation helps the officer connect the two filings.
Who certifies the translation, and why machine output does not count
The regulation does not name who may translate, but the certification is a signed statement by the translator about the translator's own competence and work. When the applicant or a close relative signs it, that person is certifying evidence in their own case, and officers may give it less weight or question it. A translation company supplies a certification that is independent of the case.
USCIS also does not keep an approved list of translators or companies and does not issue translator credentials. A "USCIS-certified translation" means a translation that carries the certification USCIS asks for, not one that USCIS has endorsed. Machine translation alone has no human certification, and it mishandles names, dates, abbreviations, and legal terms, so it does not meet the requirement. A missing or uncertified translation can lead to a Request for Evidence, and USCIS policy also allows officers to deny a filing without first issuing one when the initial evidence is insufficient.
Before the filing goes out, gather every page of each nationality document, including the back of any page that has stamps or notes, and the secondary evidence for any record that cannot be obtained. We prepare the certified birth certificate translation and the companion records in the same set, with one certification per document.