PORTUGUESE · CERTIFIED TRANSLATION
Portuguese to English Certified Translation for USCIS
Yes — Translation HelpDesk provides certified Portuguese-to-English translations that USCIS accepts, whether your documents come from Brazil, Portugal, Cape Verde, Angola, or Mozambique. Every translation is done by a native Portuguese linguist (never machine translation), includes a signed Certificate of Accuracy, and is backed by our USCIS Rejection Pledge. Civil documents such as a Certidão de Nascimento are a flat $15-25, longer records are $0.05 per word, and turnaround is 24-48 hours. Send your document by email at info@translationhelpdesk.com for a free 250-word sample before you pay.
Updated July 11, 2026 · Reviewed by Victor Luján, Founder
ABOUT PORTUGUESE TRANSLATION
Why a Native Portuguese Specialist Matters
Portuguese is written in the Latin alphabet, but its meaning lives in the diacritics: the tilde on nasal vowels (ã, õ) in names like João and Conceição, the cedilla (ç), and the acute and circumflex accents. Drop one and a surname becomes unrecognizable to USCIS. The bigger trap is variant. Brazilian and European Portuguese diverge by roughly 30% in vocabulary and legal terminology, and civil registries differ outright: Brazil's cartório issues a Certidão de Nascimento (often the full Inteiro Teor), while Portugal's Conservatória issues an Assento de Nascimento. The 1990 Orthographic Agreement rewrote spellings, so a translator must know whether your document predates it. Marginal averbações — annotations recording marriage, divorce, or a name change — are exactly what USCIS scrutinizes, and machine translation skips them. A native Portuguese linguist reads the seal, the variant, and the margins correctly.
Where Portuguese is spoken: Brazil, Portugal, Cape Verde (Cabo Verde), Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe, East Timor (Timor-Leste), Equatorial Guinea, Macau.
DOCUMENTS WE TRANSLATE
Common Portuguese Documents
Birth certificate (Certidão de Nascimento / Inteiro Teor)
Marriage certificate (Certidão de Casamento)
Death certificate (Certidão de Óbito)
Divorce certificate or marginal annotation (Certidão / Averbação de Divórcio)
Criminal background check (Certidão de Antecedentes Criminais – Polícia Federal)
Academic transcripts and diplomas (Histórico Escolar / Diploma)
Every Portuguese translation includes a signed Certificate of Accuracy meeting 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3), reproduces the original layout, and is accepted by USCIS or we fix it free and cover your resubmission fee.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you translate both Brazilian and European Portuguese?
Yes. Our native linguists work in both variants and account for the roughly 30% divergence in vocabulary and legal terminology. We render Brazil's cartório records and Portugal's Conservatória records with the correct institutional equivalents, so USCIS reviewers see accurate, consistent English.
My Brazilian birth certificate is an 'Inteiro Teor' with notes in the margins. Do you translate those?
Absolutely — and it matters. The marginal averbações record amendments such as marriage, divorce, or a name change, and USCIS relies on them. We translate the complete registry entry, including every seal, stamp, and handwritten annotation, not just the main body of the certificate.
Is a certified translation of my Certidão de Nascimento enough, or do I also need an apostille?
They are two different things. The apostille (Brazil joined the Hague Apostille Convention in 2016) is issued by the origin country to authenticate your original document. USCIS separately requires a certified English translation. We provide the translation with a signed Certificate of Accuracy; you obtain the apostille from the issuing authority if your specific filing requires it.
How much does it cost and how fast is it?
Standard civil documents — birth, marriage, and death certificates — are a flat $15-25 each, and longer documents are $0.05 per word. Most orders are delivered in 24-48 hours. Send a clear photo or scan by email at info@translationhelpdesk.com for a free 250-word sample first.
Can I just use Google Translate for a USCIS filing?
We don't use machine translation and we advise against it. Automated tools mangle nasal-vowel names like João and Conceição, miss the cartório-versus-Conservatória distinction, and skip marginal annotations — the exact errors that trigger a Request for Evidence. A native Portuguese linguist plus our USCIS Rejection Pledge protect your filing.