Uzbek and Russian into English, certified to the exact standard USCIS requires — $35 per page with notarization included.
A certified translation is the standard form of translation required by USCIS, U.S. courts, universities, licensing boards and most government agencies. Here is precisely what one is, what the law requires, and what you get from us for $35 a page.
The controlling rule for immigration filings is 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3). It says that any document containing a foreign language submitted to USCIS must be accompanied by a full English translation which the translator has certified as complete and accurate, together with the translator’s certification that they are competent to translate from the foreign language into English. That is the entire requirement. There is no approved-translator list, no licence, no ATA membership requirement, and — contrary to what a great deal of marketing implies — no notarization requirement.
The practical consequence: a certified translation is not defined by who did it. It is defined by whether the certification statement is present and whether the translation is genuinely complete. Nearly every rejection we are asked to fix comes down to incompleteness — a missing seal, an untranslated back page, a dropped registry number — not to translator credentials.
Every certified translation we deliver contains three parts, assembled in this order:
These three words get used interchangeably by people who are about to charge you for all of them. They are different things and they stack in a specific order.
| Term | What it actually attests | Who asks for it |
|---|---|---|
| Certified | The translator swears the translation is complete, accurate, and that they are competent | USCIS, universities, WES, most federal agencies |
| Notarized | A notary confirms the identity of the person who signed the certificate — nothing about the translation’s quality | Some courts, foreign consulates, schools abroad, employers |
| Apostilled | A state authority confirms the notary’s commission is genuine, for use in another country | Uzbek, Russian and other Hague Convention authorities |
Note carefully what the middle row does not say. A notary does not read your translation and does not vouch for it. Notarization proves who signed, not that the signer was right. This is why USCIS does not require it — it adds nothing to the accuracy question. We include it free anyway, because the agencies that do demand it will not budge, and you should not have to come back and pay twice. Full comparison here.
If your translation is going into litigation rather than an administrative filing, the standard is higher and the certificate we issue is different. New York and federal courts have struck translations where the translator was not identified by name or where qualifications were not stated on the record — the issue arose in P.K. v. M.P., 2025 NY Slip Op 50673(U), and in Sicom S.p.A. v. TRS Inc. in the Southern District of New York. For litigation orders we issue a certificate naming the individual translator and setting out their specific qualifications, rather than a company-signed certificate. Tell us at quote stage that the document is for court and we prepare the litigation version at no extra cost.
Where a translator signs outside the United States, we use the 28 U.S.C. § 1746 foreign declaration wording (“under the laws of the United States of America”), which is required for an unsworn declaration executed abroad to have the force of an affidavit. The domestic variant omits that phrase. Getting this backwards is a small error that can cost a filing.
If any U.S. agency, court or institution rejects our translation because of the translation itself — its completeness, its accuracy, or its certification — we correct and re-issue it at no charge. If that does not resolve it, we refund you in full. Send us the rejection notice and we act on it the same business day. We do not disclaim this guarantee elsewhere in our terms.
| Service | Price | Turnaround |
|---|---|---|
| Certified translation, notarization included | $35 / page | 24 hours |
| Rush service | +$15 / page | 12 hours |
| Apostille (New York) | +$95 | 2–5 business days |
| Mailed hard copy | +$15 | Ships same day |
A page means one page of the original document up to 250 words. Documents with a high volume of repeated boilerplate — multi-year transcripts, long bank statements — are quoted at a reduced rate; ask. Full pricing · Attorney volume rates
A certified translation is a complete written translation accompanied by a signed statement from the translator attesting that the translation is complete and accurate and that the translator is competent to translate between the two languages. There is no government licence involved. The certificate is the thing that makes it certified.
No. USCIS does not require American Translators Association membership, a licence, or any particular credential. 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3) asks only for the certification of competence and accuracy. Any company advertising that ATA membership is mandatory is selling you something you do not need.
Technically the regulation does not forbid it, but it is a bad idea and we do not recommend it. USCIS officers have discretion to question a translation where the translator has an interest in the outcome, and a self-translated document is the easiest possible thing for an officer to challenge. Use a disinterested third party.
Send it anyway. Most Soviet-era and rural registry documents are partly handwritten, and we deal with them constantly. Where text is genuinely unreadable we mark it [illegible] in the translation, which is the correct practice — guessing at unreadable text is what causes documents to be rejected later.
Yes, and this matters more than most people realise. The English translation must account for everything on the page: round seals, registration numbers, revenue stamps, signatures, marginal notes and back-of-page endorsements. A translation that silently omits a seal is incomplete, and incompleteness is grounds for a Request for Evidence.
Send us a photo or scan of your document. We reply with a firm price and delivery time — usually within one hour during business hours. No payment needed to get a quote.
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