Translate a scanned birth certificate to English with every printed field where the original put it.
Translating something else? Browse every document type — certificates, records, statements and transcripts.
Birth certificates come up in USCIS petitions, passport and consular applications, citizenship-by-descent claims and school enrollment abroad. Reviewing officers hold the translation next to the original, so Reglyph rebuilds the certificate in English on the original layout: registrar fields, margins and reference numbers stay where they were, and seals stay exactly as they are.
USCIS wants a birth certificate issued by the civil authority that names at least one parent, or both parents for some petitions, with a full English translation and the translator's signed certification of competence and accuracy. For immigrant visas the State Department asks for the long form and turns down short-form certificates. Reglyph gives you the complete translation in the certificate's own layout to read and check; the signed certification has to come from a translator.
The situations people most often bring birth certificates to us for — each one keeps the original layout, seals and tables.
One certificate is a page or two, but descent-based citizenship claims often need a chain of them, yours, a parent's, a grandparent's, plus marriage records linking the names. Upload the chain together and check that every name and place is spelled the same way in each document.
Many registries issue a short certificate that leaves out the parents, and that version is the one most often rejected abroad:
| Country | Document | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Mexico | Acta de nacimiento from the Registro Civil | One national format since 2016; older versions are still valid, and copies can be printed online. |
| India | Birth certificate, for births after 1 April 1970 | Otherwise a non-availability certificate plus a school-leaving certificate or a parent's notarized affidavit. |
| Philippines | Copy issued by the PSA, on PSA security paper | Substitutes such as a baptismal record count only when the PSA certifies that no record is available. |
| China | Notarial birth certificate from a notary office | Issued with an English translation and a certificate that it conforms with the Chinese original. |
| Nigeria | Certificate from the National Population Commission | For births before 1979, other records or an NPC attestation of birth are accepted. |
| United Kingdom | Full birth certificate | The short version lists only the child. |
From the US State Department's country pages and GOV.UK. Check the current requirements of the office you're applying to.
In some countries births are often registered years later, and USCIS treats that carefully: a late-registered certificate may be given less weight, and secondary evidence is accepted only when the primary record doesn't exist. The fallback order USCIS describes is a statement from the civil authority that no record is available, then religious, school or census records (a religious record should be from a rite within two months of the birth), then two or more statements made under penalty of perjury by people who know the facts.
| On the certificate | In the translated PDF |
|---|---|
| Printed fields, labels and notes | Translated in place. |
| Registry numbers and dates | Treated as numbers, not translated. Check them anyway. |
| Seals and stamps | Kept exactly as they are; the text inside a seal or stamp is not translated. |
| Handwritten entries and signatures | Kept as written, not translated. |
Older certificates were often filled in by hand, so names and dates may be exactly the handwritten parts. Those come out as written: read them yourself or leave them to the translator who certifies the document. The side-by-side download shows at a glance which fields they are.
Only one issued by the civil authority that names at least one parent, and some petitions need both. For immigrant visas the State Department asks for the long form and doesn't accept short forms.
It can, but USCIS may give it less weight. Adding secondary evidence such as an early religious or school record helps.
Get a statement from the civil authority that no record is available, then submit secondary evidence: religious, school or census records, or two or more statements made under penalty of perjury.
Not on its own. USCIS needs the translator's signed certification of competence and accuracy. Use Reglyph to read your certificate and check the certified version; some translators will review and certify an existing translation, so ask yours.
The full one. The short UK certificate lists only the child, and the US Embassy in London doesn't accept it.
The PSA copy, on PSA security paper. Substitute documents count only when the PSA certifies that it has no record.
Yes, it's one of the most common cases. See the Spanish to English page for language-specific details like accented names and acta formats.
Yes. Save the photo as a PDF and upload it; Reglyph reads image-only PDFs as standard.
Simple, scan-friendly pricing. Pages are pages — no multiplier for scanned files.
Translate a few pages. No commitment.
$0.30 a page, from 10 pages — you pay for exactly 10 pages.
For individuals with scans to translate every month.
For high-volume users with scans to translate every week.
The rule itself is short. The mistakes people make around it — partial translations, missing seals, uncertified machine output — are what generate RFEs.
Read guideThat image sitting in your camera roll or chat history can become a proper translated document. Save it as a PDF first, then give it to a tool that reads scanned pages, not just text.
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