What is USCIS and what documents have to be submitted?
USCIS stands for the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services and it is one of the branches of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The main purpose of this governmental establishment is to deal with all issues concerning the immigration, naturalization, obtainment of green card or citizenship. To put it simply, if you want to acquire any legal status in the Unitad States of America, you would have to submit your papers to that particular institution.
Here is a roughly compiled list of documents that have to be submitted in order to be granted a permit to reside in the US:
- Identification document or passport;
- Marriage or divorce certificates;
- Deed of ownership of a house or any other property;
- Diplomas or any other certificate of education;
- Certificate of criminal record;
- Bank statements;
- Military service card.
The proper translation of documents for the USCIS
If you are not the citizen of the English-speaking country (the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand) who wants to relocate or immigrate to the United States, then you would need all of the above-mentioned documents (and perhaps other document, depending on the type of the legal status you would like to acquire) to be properly translated into the English language. If you turn in a copy of the document written in your native language (for instance, Spanish), you will be most certainly turned down by the authorities. Then you would have to go through the whole application process once again, and this means additional expenses and loss of precious time. And by "properly translated" we mean not only the translation from the source into the target languages without any grammar or orthographic mistakes – the properly translated copies of your documents should be either certified or notarized and apostilled.
We have already explained the differences between the certified and the notarized translation here. Basically, it would be better if you get a translation from the agencies that stamp all their translations of legal documents, thus certifying their compliance with the legal framework of the host country.
Tips for getting your documents properly translated
If you are a bilingual person with English being one of your native languages, then you can translate all of the required documents on your own and then notarize them. However, after translating these documents, don't forget to include the so-called proof of validity which is, basically, a statement, written at the bottom of each document that indicates the source and the target language, the name of the translator, and the date when the translation was conducted. Then you should take the documents to a certified notary who will sign and approve them.
If you are not sure how to properly format the document or translate a specific term, you can download the USICS translation template from the official website.
However, it would be better if you entrust this matter into the hands of the competent translators who work at Arcbase translation department.
This way, you can be absolutely sure that the USCIS will approve the translation of your documents, so you will have a better chance of getting the desired legal status in the US.
Here are some quick tips on how to make our job easier and your translation better:
- Always submit a clear copy of the document where all details of your personal information are easy to read;
- State how fast you need the documents to be translated, so we would know how to place your order in our work schedule;
- Provide the full package of documents, so we could assign their translation to one translator to lessen the chance of inconsistencies in the spelling of names and places.
Arcbase can help you to obtain certified translation and apostille of your documents and will guide you every step of the way.