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Certified Korean Passport Translation
Certified translation of the documents that establish identity and nationality in South Korea, including the registry annotations and endorsements that carry the legal effect and that a reader unfamiliar with the system will otherwise skip.
$24.95/page
Flat rate per page, up to 250 words. No hidden fees.
100% USCIS acceptance
Every certified translation is guaranteed to be accepted by USCIS.
24-hour delivery
Most 1-3 page documents are delivered within 24 hours. Same-day available.
The resident registration number is no longer printed
Korea removed the resident registration number from passports in the design introduced at the end of 2020, on privacy grounds, replacing it with a passport-specific number.
So a current Korean passport does not carry the identifier that every other Korean document uses, and matching a passport to a family relation certificate goes through name and date of birth instead. Older passports do show it. We say which you have.
Romanisation is the holder's choice
Personal names are exempt from Revised Romanisation, so families spell as they please — 이 appears as Lee, Yi, Rhee or Ri, and 박 as Park, Bak or Pak. Siblings can be spelled differently.
A spelling difference between a Korean passport and a US record is therefore usually not a discrepancy at all, and we say so rather than leaving a reader to infer one.
The family relation register is the proof
The passport shows no parents. Parentage lives in the 가족관계증명서, the family relation certificate, which replaced the abolished hoju system in 2008, and past names live only in the detailed version of the 기본증명서.
So for a family matter the passport is never enough, and the general version of the basic certificate is not enough either.
Military service, and the travel permission
Korean men of military service age who have not completed service require permission to travel abroad beyond defined limits, administered by the Military Manpower Administration.
It is not endorsed on the passport but it shapes the file, and documents about it appear alongside. We name them. See our Korean page.
Ordering, and what the certification covers
Upload the document, choose certified translation at $24.95 per page of up to 250 words, and it comes back typically within 24 hours as a PDF formatted to mirror the original, with a signed certificate of translation accuracy on letterhead. Marginal annotations are translated in place, in the margin, and every seal, stamp and registry endorsement is translated with the text. See how we translate and certified versus standard.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the resident registration number?
Removed from passports in the 2020 design on privacy grounds. Older passports show it.
Lee or Yi?
Personal names are exempt from Revised Romanisation and families choose. Usually not a discrepancy.
Does the passport show my parents?
No. The family relation certificate does, and past names need the detailed basic certificate.
Is military service noted on the passport?
No, but travel permission applies to men who have not completed service, and documents about it appear in the file.
Ready to get started?
Upload the document and receive the certified translation, typically within 24 hours.