The rule behind
the checklist
USCIS regulation 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3) requires every foreign-language document in your filing to arrive with a complete English translation and the translator's signed certification of accuracy and competence. There is no exempt category — not short documents, not documents with some English on them, not documents you already summarized on a form. If it's in the file and it's not in English, it needs a compliant translation, or you're inviting a Request for Evidence.
The checklists below cover adjustment of status (Form I-485, filed inside the U.S.) and consular processing (immigrant visas through the NVC and a U.S. consulate). The document logic is nearly identical; consular cases upload civil documents to the NVC portal, where reviewers reject non-compliant translations before you ever reach an interview.
The core set:
almost every case
Birth certificate — yours, and each derivative applicant's. The long-form or registry version, not a hospital certificate; if your country issues short and full versions, immigration practice generally wants the full one. Police clearances — from countries where you've lived past thresholds (consular cases; adjustment cases rely more on fingerprints, but foreign records that exist get requested). Passport pages beyond the bio page when stamps evidence your entries. Any name-change document: court orders, amended certificates, deed polls.
Marriage-based cases add: the marriage certificate (civil registry version — church certificates are supporting evidence, not primary); divorce decrees or death certificates ending every prior marriage, for both spouses; and the bona fide marriage evidence, which increasingly includes foreign-language material — joint property documents, remittance receipts, chat histories, letters from relatives. Translated evidence often decides these cases.
Case-specific additions
people forget
Family-preference cases: birth certificates linking the petitioner and beneficiary through the claimed relationship — for sibling cases that means both siblings' certificates showing the common parent, and sometimes the parent's marriage certificate. Employment-based cases: diplomas and transcripts when a degree is part of the eligibility (and remember, translations must not convert grades). Asylum-based adjustments: any document from the underlying asylum case that resurfaces. Military service booklets, common in several nationalities' files, are requested more often than applicants expect.
The special-case landmine: documents in your file that were 'unofficially' translated years ago — by a relative, without certification, or machine-translated. USCIS re-examines the whole record at adjudication; a defective old translation can trigger an RFE even though the new filing's documents are perfect. If you're unsure an old translation was compliant, re-translating a page for $29.95 is cheaper than months of delay.
The consistency rules
officers actually check
Adjudicators cross-reference names, dates, and places across every document in your file — it's how they verify a family tree and detect fraud. Translation inconsistency manufactures discrepancies in honest cases: 'Ciudad de México' rendered as 'Mexico City' on one document and left as-is on another; a maternal surname dropped by one translator and kept by another; transliteration of an Arabic or Cyrillic name spelled two ways. Each mismatch is a question the officer has to resolve, and questions slow cases.
The fix is procedural, not heroic: have the entire packet translated by one provider in one order, so a single terminology standard covers every document. At Selládo, multi-document packets get one translator and a per-case name sheet: every place name, surname, and date format rendered identically, with translator's notes reconciling genuine variations in the originals (a birth certificate that spells grandma's name differently than the marriage certificate does).
Costs, timing, and
how to run the play
At $29.95 per page, typical totals run: spousal I-485 packet (two birth certificates, marriage certificate, one divorce decree, two police records) around $150–$210; parent or sibling petitions with multi-generation certificates similar; single-applicant employment cases often under $100. Rush service exists for the interview-next-week scenario, but the economical path is translating the full checklist once, early — before the filing, not during the RFE.
The play: assemble your document list from the USCIS or NVC instructions for your category; photograph everything completely (all pages, both sides); send the whole set at once; tell the translator your filing type. You'll get one exact quote, one consistent packet, and — with our guarantee — the assurance that if USCIS rejects any translation, correction is free or your money comes back. WhatsApp the stack today; it's typically translated within 24–48 hours.
How to photograph documents
so nothing bounces
Half the delays in translation orders trace to the photos, not the documents. The standard that works: lay the document flat on a dark, plain surface in daylight or bright even light; shoot from directly above, not at an angle; fill the frame with the whole page — all four corners visible, because cropped margins hide registry numbers and marginal annotations; and take a second shot of the reverse side whenever anything is printed or stamped there, even if it 'looks like nothing.' Reverse-side annotations — divorce notes on Mexican actas, correction stamps on older certificates — are exactly the content officers check for.
For multi-page documents, one photo per page in order, named or sent sequentially. For laminated documents, tilt slightly to kill the glare or shoot without flash. For phone scans, the built-in document mode (or any scanner app) beats a regular photo — it flattens perspective and boosts text contrast. Send originals' photos, not photos of photocopies: each generation of copying degrades seals and stamps, and a translator forced to mark '[illegible]' where a stamp was crisp on the original is preventable information loss.
Two final habits that speed everything: send all documents for the case in one batch (so the quote and the name-consistency sheet cover everything), and include a photo of the passport page of each person named in the documents — it gives the translator the authoritative spelling for every transliteration decision, which is precisely the consistency officers cross-check.