POLAND · CERTIFIED TRANSLATION
Certified Translation of Poland Documents for USCIS
Translating Polish civil documents for USCIS is shaped by one big dividing line: March 2015, when Poland moved every civil record into the central electronic System Rejestrów Państwowych (SRP). Modern records are clean, computer-printed odpisy from the Urząd Stanu Cywilnego (USC), but anything older is a handwritten ledger entry — and depending on which partition a town sat in before 1918, that old script may be Russian, German, or Latin rather than Polish. Every Polish record also carries diacritics (ą, ć, ę, ł, ń, ó, ś, ź, ż) and gendered surname forms (-ski / -ska) that must be reproduced exactly so the name on the translation matches the passport and petition. Our certified translations carry a signed Certificate of Accuracy meeting 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3), rendering every seal, marginal annotation (wzmianka), and stamp so the adjudicator sees a faithful mirror of the Polish original.
Updated July 11, 2026 · Reviewed by Victor Luján, Founder — certified translations since 2018
DOCUMENTS FROM POLAND
Pick Your Document
Polish Birth Certificate →
Polish Marriage Certificate →
Polish Divorce Decree →
Polish Death Certificate →
Polish Diploma →
Polish Academic Transcript →
Polish Police Record →
Polish Single Status Certificate →
GOOD TO KNOW
Issuing Authority & Authentication
Civil records in Poland are issued by the Urząd Stanu Cywilnego (USC) — Civil Registry Office · official language(s): Polish. Poland has been a party to the Hague Apostille Convention since 2005, so Polish documents are authenticated with a single apostille rather than US embassy legalization. Apostilles for civil-registry and court records are issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ministerstwo Spraw Zagranicznych) in Warsaw, while higher-education diplomas are apostilled through NAWA and school certificates through the regional education board (Kuratorium Oświaty); note that USCIS itself asks only for a complete certified English translation, and the apostille matters mainly when the same Polish document is later shown to a US court or state agency.
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 Polish documents, or just a translation?
For documents filed directly with USCIS you generally need a complete certified English translation, not an apostille. Poland is a Hague Apostille country, so an apostille from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is easy to obtain and is worth having if the same record will later be shown to a US court, state agency, or consulate — but it does not replace the certified translation USCIS asks for.
I only have the short-form odpis skrócony of my birth or marriage certificate. Is that enough?
Often the full copy (odpis zupełny) is the safer choice, because it reproduces the entire registry entry and any marginal annotations — later name changes, or a divorce noted on a marriage act — that the abridged version omits. We can translate either form; if your case turns on a name change or a dissolved marriage, request the odpis zupełny from your USC first.
My family's records are old and handwritten in German, Russian, or Latin. Can you still translate them?
Yes. Records from before 1918, and many interwar and postwar entries, are handwritten and — depending on the former partition — kept in German, Russian, or Latin rather than Polish. Our native-speaker specialists read these older scripts and deliver a certified English translation that still meets USCIS requirements.
How much does a Polish birth certificate translation cost, and how fast is it?
We charge $0.05 per word, which puts a typical Polish birth, marriage, or death certificate at roughly $15–25 total, delivered in 24–48 hours with a signed Certificate of Accuracy. You can send a document by email at info@translationhelpdesk.com for a free 250-word sample, and every order is backed by our USCIS Rejection Pledge — if a translation issue causes a rejection, we fix it free and cover the resubmission fee.