Further to Case study: Marriage in Dominican Republic here is a guide for anyone who finds they need a certified translation of their marriage certificate for a visa application. We have outlined the quoting and translation procedure, giving as much information as possible. Please get in touch if you have any queries or would like some advice regarding a possible translation.

Case study: Mr and Mrs Dawes

Mr and Mrs Dawes got married in China last month, and were issued with a Chinese marriage. As they are living in the UK, for all official purposes they will require an official translation of their marriage certificate as proof of marriage.

Visa application

As Mrs Dawes as a Chinese national, she needed to apply for a new visa. However, as their marriage certificate was not in English the UK Border Agency wouldn’t accept it as proof of marriage. They were advised that they needed to obtain a certified translation of her marriage certificate into English from a recognised translation company.

Send a copy

TransAction Translators were recommended to Mr and Mrs Dawes by a friend who had found himself in a similar position. Once they had made contact, we told them that they needed to send us a full copy of the marriage certificate booklet, either a scanned copy by email, a fax, or a photocopy in the post. We advised that we did not need to see the original documents –all we needed were clear, full copies.

As the cost for a translation is based on the number of characters or words, we needed to see a copy before we could advise Mr and Mrs Dawes of the cost. The complexity of the layout, the legibility (e.g. if there is a lot of unclear handwriting to decipher) and the urgency was also considered. We also asked the couple for the preferred English spellings of their names i.e. as they appear in their passports.

Preparing a quote

Once we received a copy we counted the number of characters using OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software. We were then able to create a quote for Mr and Mrs Dawes and advise them of the payment options.

Making payment

Mr Dawes paid for the translation in advance via PayPal (www.paypal.com), paying a £4 admin fee for this service. Other payment options included bank transfer, cheque, credit card (£4 charge) and debit card (no charge).

Translation approved

After 3 working days Mr Dawes received a copy of the translation by email for him and his wife to approve before the certified copy was issued. They checked it together that evening, looking in particular at the spellings of their names and dates of birth.

Certification

In order for the translation to be an official document it needed to be certified. We attached a declaration to the translation along with a copy of the original document, stating that a true and accurate translation had been provided, as well as stating the name and qualifications of the translator. This was then stamped, dated and signed by one of the TransAction directors.

Fast delivery

Mr and Mrs Dawes received the hard copy the next morning by special delivery postage. As they needed the translation urgently they paid an extra £6 for this service. Mrs Dawes could then send off her application to the UK Border Agency to apply for residency in the UK.