INDIA · CERTIFIED TRANSLATION
Certified Translation of India Documents for USCIS
Translating Indian documents for USCIS is uniquely demanding because India registers civil events locally — a birth recorded in Chennai looks nothing like one from a Punjab village — and records surface in English alongside any of the country's 22 scheduled languages and their scripts. Municipal registrars, family courts, universities, and passport offices each issue their own formats, ranging from crisp bilingual printouts to decades-old handwritten ledger entries in Devanagari, Tamil, or Bengali. Every submission needs a complete, faithful English rendering with names transliterated consistently and every seal and stamp accounted for, backed by a signed Certificate of Accuracy that meets 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3). Because India has been a Hague Apostille member since 2005, we can also flag when an MEA apostille — not US embassy legalization — is the right authentication step.
Updated July 11, 2026 · Reviewed by Victor Luján, Founder — certified translations since 2018
DOCUMENTS FROM INDIA
Pick Your Document
Indian Birth Certificate →
Indian Marriage Certificate →
Indian Divorce Decree →
Indian Death Certificate →
Indian Diploma →
Indian Academic Transcript →
Indian Police Record →
Indian Single Status Certificate →
GOOD TO KNOW
Issuing Authority & Authentication
Civil records in India are issued by the Registrar of Births and Deaths / Janm–Mrityu Panjeeyak (the local municipal corporation, municipal council, or Gram Panchayat, under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969) · official language(s): Hindi, English. India has been a party to the Hague Apostille Convention since 2005, so Indian public documents are authenticated by an apostille from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) — usually after state Home or General Administration Department attestation — rather than US embassy legalization. Note that a USCIS filing itself requires only a complete certified English translation, so the apostille is needed only when a court, consulate, or other US authority separately asks to verify the original.
Every document above is translated by a native specialist, reviewed by a second linguist, and delivered with a signed Certificate of Accuracy that USCIS accepts under 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3) — or we fix it free and cover your resubmission fee.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Does USCIS require an apostille on my Indian documents, or just a translation?
For documents filed with a USCIS petition, USCIS generally requires only a complete certified English translation, not an apostille — the certifier attests that the translation is accurate and complete. India has been a Hague Apostille member since 2005, so if a US court, consulate, or other authority separately asks you to authenticate the original, you obtain an apostille from India's Ministry of External Affairs (after state-level attestation), not US embassy legalization. Translate first; apostille only if it is specifically requested.
My birth certificate is handwritten in Hindi or Tamil — can it still be translated?
Yes. Handwritten and regional-script records are common in India, and we assign a native-speaker specialist in that language and script. We reproduce the layout, seals, and any illegible fields (clearly marked as such) and provide a signed Certificate of Accuracy that meets 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3).
How do you handle Indian name order and spelling variations across documents?
Indian names often appear with different spellings or transliterations from one document to the next — initials expanded, surname first, or regional variants. We translate names exactly as written on each document and can add a translator's note flagging the variants so USCIS can reconcile them without a Request for Evidence.
What does certified translation of Indian documents cost and how long does it take?
Certified translation is $0.05 per word, so a typical Indian birth or marriage certificate runs about $15–25 total, with 24–48 hour turnaround. We also offer a free 250-word sample and back every job with our USCIS Rejection Pledge: if a translation is ever rejected for accuracy, we fix it free and cover the resubmission fee.