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Certified Name Change Document Translation
Certified translation of the documents that prove you and the person named on your older records are the same person — court orders, administrative resolutions, and civil registry certificates carrying a marginal annotation that most translations quietly leave out.
$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.
Three shapes a name change takes
A name change reaches a US office in one of three shapes. In common-law countries it is a court order — a deed poll, a decree, a judgment — that stands on its own. In most of the civil-law world it is an administrative resolution from the civil registry. And in Latin America and much of continental Europe the document you actually hold is a birth certificate reissued with a marginal annotation.
The third kind causes the most trouble, because the certificate still shows the original name in the body. A reader who does not know to look at the margin concludes the document proves nothing.
Why the margin is the whole document
Civil-law registries do not rewrite an entry. They annotate it: the original inscription stays as it was, and every later event — a marriage, a recognition of paternity, a change of name, a court rectification — is written against it in the margin, dated and referenced to the instrument that produced it.
So a marginal annotation is not a footnote. It is the operative text, and it is the reason we translate marginal notes in the margin rather than folding them into the body. A translation that moves the note inline destroys the visual evidence that the change was recorded against the original entry, which is exactly what the reader is trying to verify.
What the receiving office is actually checking
An immigration officer, a registrar, an admissions office or a bank is doing one thing: connecting two names to one person, with an unbroken chain. They want the former name, the new name, the date, the authority that ordered or recorded the change, and a reference number that can be verified.
That is why we reproduce the file, book, folio and entry numbers rather than writing "duly recorded", and why the issuing office is named exactly as printed. A chain with a missing link is the commonest reason a packet comes back.
The documents that keep the old name
A change of name does not reissue your diploma, your professional licence, your old passport, your foreign property deed or your children's birth certificates. Those keep the name they were issued under, and they are frequently the documents you most need.
A complete packet therefore pairs the name-change document with each of them, and the translations have to be consistent — the same rendering of both names, the same transliteration choices — or the reader sees three spellings and one more problem. We keep terminology consistent across everything in an order.
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.
Frequently asked questions
Which document do I actually send?
Whatever records the change: a court order, an administrative resolution, or — most often outside the common-law world — a birth certificate reissued with a marginal annotation. Send the annotated certificate if you have one, because it carries both the original entry and the change.
My new certificate still shows my old name.
That is normal and usually correct. Civil-law registries annotate the original entry rather than rewriting it, so the body shows the name as first registered and the margin records the change.
Do you translate the marginal note?
Yes, in place, in the margin. A marginal annotation moved into the body of the translation loses the very thing it was there to show.
What about my diploma and my old passport?
Those keep the former name and are not reissued. A packet usually needs the name-change document alongside them so the reader can connect the two names to one person.
Is a certified translation enough, or do I need a notary?
Most US offices want a certified translation. Notarisation attests to the signature on the certificate, not to the accuracy, and only some offices ask for it. See notarized translation.
Can you translate a gender-marker change?
Yes. Several countries record a change of name and of registered sex in the same annotation, and we translate the entry as written without editorialising.
Ready to get started?
Upload the order, the resolution or the annotated certificate and receive the certified translation, typically within 24 hours.