Questions about document translation

[fandv]

Hi everyone...

Brief info: I'm a Canadian citizen who recently got married to an Indonesian woman. I am planning to sponsor her to Canada (outland, through Singapore). We have no children.

Some questions about translating documents:

1. Guide 3999 says that translated documents have to have an affidavit from the sworn translator. From your experience, is the affidavit usually:

a. printed on the translation; or
b. stamped on the translation; or
c. printed on a separate piece of paper?

This is the first time in my life that I will ever deal with sworn translation, and have no idea what an affidavit (that's produced by a sworn translator) looks like, so I just want to make sure that I will be getting it...

2. About police certificate: looks like we have to provide the ORIGINAL certificate, PLUS the translation. The question is: does the original certificate have to be certified by a notary public?

3. Since my wife is Indonesian, I guess some of the documents that she will have to provide will have to be translated into English. These are what I think have to be translated....could you please verify if I am missing anything??

- our marriage certificate
- her police certificate
- her passport
- her birth certificate (do we actually need to submit this?!)

anything else I may have missed?

4. Quoted from: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/guides/3999Etoc.asp

To have a photocopy of a document certified, an authorized person must compare the original document to the photocopy and must print the following on the photocopy:

“I certify that this is a true copy of the original document”,
the name of the original document,
the date of the certification,
his or her name,
his or her official position or title, and
his or her signature.

See that bit about the name of the original document? Will that have to be in English, or the original language? For example, in Indonesian language, a marriage certificate is called "kutipan akta perkawinan" (literally means "excerpt of marriage certificate"). Will the notary have to write:

I certify that this is a true copy of the original document: kutipan akta perkawinan

OR

I certify that this is a true copy of the original document: excerpt of marriage certificate

?


5. (Not really related to translation): looks like *I* (the sponsor) will have to provide copies of my passport and Canadian citizenship certificate. I assume these copies will have to be legalised by a notary public too?

 

[wilson]

Copy of Marriage certificate
Copy of birth certificate
Copy of passport -
Refer to the requirement on the checklist whether certified copies are necessary or not.
Original PCC
These are required for translation if they are not in English.

Translation should made by a licensed (Accredited) translator.
Usually they translate on their letter head and at the bottom of the translation there should be a declaration with signature and office seal :

"that the contents of the translation are a true translation and representation of the contents of the original document"

 

[frege]

Fandv, I don't know the answers to the first four questions.

However, with respect to your last question, I believe copies don't need to be certified unless the instructions explicitly say so. So for most documents already in English or French, an ordinary photocopy is enough.

Also, I disagree with what wilson wrote. My understanding is that the translator doesn't need to be accredited. However, if they're accredited in Canada, then no affidavit is necessary. Some countries (for example, the United States) have no official system for accrediting translators, although there may be translators' associations.

Another thing. I don't know about Indonesia, but most countries' passports already have a French or English translation of their main contents. So a translation of the Indonesian passport may not be necessary. It depends what there is to be translated.

 

[missmini]

hi fandv

thanks for what u said in ur PM u can be as experienced too with looots of reading from the guides and here
unfortunately i don't know if i can help u much; when we submitted we still used the old guides and all these things that the traslator has to write an affidavit etc were not necessary (although they could still ask us for them); actually in some countries if the translator is already officially recognized by a gouverment body he will laugh in ur face if u ask him to swear again on what obviously he did genuinely translate and stamp; i really don't know how much they enforce this new guideline or not : us we just officially translated our documents and had them stamped so far so good
i also think that the canadian embassy or consulate have translation services - they r more costly but like this the translation is for sure the good one; give them a call or email and see if they do in Indonesia too
the police certificate needs to be sent original and officially translated (from what i remember it's the only original they ask); some police departments in some countries can offer it directly translated in English at some extra cost - see if they have this service in Indonesia too
the passport does not need to b officially translated; as others said it should have already a second language there (english or french) so photocopy should b enough; i actually remember in our guides when they were saying specifically that; but each office is different, each guide is different so u need to follow ur own region guides
yes she u need to send the birth certificate (officially translated) and the marriage certificate as well; u shouldn't send the originals of those unless they ask
as for u, the sponsor, u need to send proof of ur Canadian citizenship - either the certificate or the passport would b enough; in general ppl send a copy of their Canadian passport bio page
good luck!!

 

[fandv]

Thanks for the reply, missmini!!

Any thoughts about questions 2 and 4?

Cheers!

 

[KJG]

Thanks for the reply, missmini!!

Any thoughts about questions 2 and 4?

Cheers!

your police report must be original and the translated copy must be a certified translated copy

and I am not sure what you are asking for #4!!!

 

[fandv]

your police report must be original and the translated copy must be a certified translated copy

and I am not sure what you are asking for #4!!!

1. Okay thanks...! So the ORIGINAL police certificate doesn't have to be certified right? Probably an overkill to certify an original document...?

2. About #4: okay let me clarify...

So here goes: essentially, when a copy of a document gets certified, the notary public will have to write something on it....a certain sentence, actually.

If you look at:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/guides/3999Etoc.asp

You will see that the CIC provides a sentence template that the notary public will have to use when certifying a copied document.

The template is:

“I certify that this is a true copy of the original document”,
the name of the original document,
the date of the certification,
his or her name,
his or her official position or title, and
his or her signature.


If you look at the second line of the template, it says "the name of the original document".

So what I am asking is whether the notary public will have to write the name of the original document in English, or the original language?

 

[canadianwoman]

I would say it is not clear, so why not write both?