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Certified Japanese Identity Card Translation

Get your Japanese identity card translated into English by a professional human translator, with a signed certification accepted by USCIS, courts and universities. Flat $24.95 per page and a 100% USCIS acceptance guarantee.

Japan has no compulsory identity card

Japan does not require its citizens to carry an identity card. The My Number card (kojin bangō kādo) is voluntary, and many Japanese nationals do not hold one — so its absence in a file is not a gap.

Foreign residents are a different case: they carry the zairyū card, the residence card, which records status of residence, period of stay and work permission. That card is frequently what an office actually means when it asks for a Japanese ID.

What the documents carry

A My Number card carries the individual number, the name, address, date of birth and sex, and a chip. A residence card carries the residence status and its expiry, which is the substantive part — an expiry on it governs the right to remain, not travel.

Japanese official documents date by imperial era, so a card dated in Reiwa or Heisei is converted individually and both shown. See our Japanese birth certificate page.

Every field is translated, including the ones US cards do not have

National identity cards carry fields US documents do not: religion, ethnicity or nationality-within-the-state, blood type, marital status, the father's or mother's name, a registered address, an expiry that governs rights rather than travel. A translator who quietly omits one because it has no US equivalent has edited a government document — and it is frequently the omitted field that a file actually turns on.

So every printed field is translated, labelled as the card labels it, and the identity number is reproduced exactly, never translated. Those numbers commonly encode a date of birth, a sex or a place of registration, so altering the digits alters the record. Both sides are translated, because the reverse is where the address, the issuing office and the machine-readable zone usually sit.

What USCIS requires

Under 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3), a foreign-language document must be accompanied by a complete English translation and the translator's certification that it is accurate. Every seal, stamp and marginal note is part of the document, so every one is translated.

State agencies set their own rules — see government agencies — and what our certification states is on this page.

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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