Passport Translation

When you probably do not need a passport translation

Passports that follow the international standard for machine-readable travel documents (ICAO Doc 9303) label the fields on the data page in the issuing country's language and in English, French or Spanish, and print the machine-readable zone at the bottom in Latin letters. If the copy you are submitting is the data page alone, and every label and entry on it is in English, there is nothing to translate.

A translation is needed when any part of the pages you submit is in another language, which is more common than it sounds:

• The labels are in French or Spanish only, not English. That is allowed under the international standard and still counts as a foreign language for USCIS, which requires a full English translation of any document containing one (8 CFR 103.2(b)(3)).
• Endorsement or observation pages record name changes, a spouse's name, children travelling on the passport, or restrictions, in the national language.
• Entry and exit stamps and visas are filed as evidence of travel dates: for continuous residence or physical presence, for an asylum timeline, or to show when someone entered a third country.
• Internal passports, such as the domestic passports of Russia and several other former Soviet states, are written entirely in the national language and record marital status, children and registered address. They need a page-by-page translation.

How we translate passport pages

Each page is translated in order, with every stamp identified by country, port or checkpoint, direction (entry or exit) and date where they are legible. Overlapping or faded stamps are described as such, and anything we cannot read is marked [illegible] rather than guessed. Names follow the spelling in the passport's machine-readable zone. If you are using stamps to prove dates, tell us which trips matter so we can flag pages where a stamp is too faint to be sure.

A US passport going abroad

Some foreign authorities, such as civil registries handling a marriage or residence permit offices, ask for a translation of a US passport into their language. The same rules apply in reverse: we translate the pages they ask for, usually the data page, with a certificate of accuracy. Some countries require their own sworn translators instead; see sworn vs. certified translation.

Passport or birth certificate?

A passport proves identity and nationality; it does not replace a birth certificate where a form asks for proof of birth or parentage. For those, see birth certificate translation.