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Translating the Documents in a Cuban Asylum File

Cuban files rest on certifications transcribed from registry books that are often decades old and handwritten, plus whatever documentation an applicant was able to bring or have sent. This page covers the documents and their translation.

Certifications from the registry books

Cuban civil records are held by the Registro del Estado Civil of the municipality, and what is issued is a certificación transcribed from the register — the tomo and folio, the registered person, the parents. Older entries are handwritten, and the ink and paper of decades-old books photograph badly.

Documents reaching the United States frequently carry legalisation pages attached, which are part of what you are submitting and are translated with the certification. See our Cuban birth certificate page.

What these files contain

Beyond civil records:

• Police and state security documents, summonses and warnings (actas de advertencia)
• Court documents and sentences
• Employment records, expulsion and dismissal documents, including from state workplaces
• University and professional records, and expulsion letters
• Medical reports
• Membership documents, and correspondence submitted as evidence

Legibility, and what we will not do

On a handwritten certification from an old register, some entries genuinely cannot be read. We translate everything legible and mark the rest as illegible rather than reconstructing a plausible version. On a document establishing a family relationship, or a date that a timeline turns on, a guess is the most expensive thing a translator can offer.

Two surnames are carried across in the order given, and the tomo and folio references reproduced exactly.

Translated as written, because credibility is the issue

An asylum file is judged largely on whether the account holds together. That makes a translation unusually consequential, and it makes the temptation to improve things actively dangerous. A vague sentence rendered precisely, a torn line reconstructed from context, a threat translated more fluently than it was written — each of those creates a discrepancy between the document and the testimony that was never in the record.

So: everything legible is translated, at the register it was written in. Anything genuinely illegible is marked illegible rather than guessed at. Nothing is softened and nothing is heightened. Where a document is damaged, partial or a photograph of a photocopy, the translation says so plainly — which is worth far more to the person reading the file than a clean-looking rendering of something nobody can actually read.

One packet, both forums

An affirmative application goes to USCIS under 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3). A defensive one is filed with the immigration court, where 8 CFR 1003.33 and the EOIR practice manual also want the translator's name, address and telephone number attached. Our certification carries both, on letterhead and page-numbered, so the same translation serves either — see what it states. Where one certification needs to cover a bundle of exhibits, it will list them.

Files here name people who may still be at risk. Everything is translated by professional human translators and handled confidentially — never pasted into a public machine-translation tool. What we do not do is advise on the claim, tell you what evidence to gather or assess whether a document helps you. That is your attorney's work, and this is the point in a case to have one.

How it works

Upload a photo or a scan of your document, pick the language pair and check out online. You never have to mail originals: a legible copy is all we need.

A professional human translator, never machine translation, translates the document word for word and mirrors the layout of the original. Every certified translation ships with a signed Certificate of Translation Accuracy that meets the requirements of USCIS, courts and universities.

Your translation is delivered digitally, usually within 24 hours for documents of one to three pages, and same-day delivery is available. If anything needs adjusting, we revise it.

Certified vs. standard translation

A certified translation is a word-for-word translation accompanied by a signed statement attesting to its accuracy and completeness. It is what official bodies require: USCIS, courts, universities and government agencies. Certified translations are $24.95 per page, where a page is up to 250 words.

A standard translation is for business or personal use where certification is not needed, such as CVs, client intake forms or marketing material, and is billed at the same $24.95 per page of up to 250 words.

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