Birth Certificate Translation for Australia: NAATI Certified, Ordered Online

A NAATI certified birth certificate translation is an English translation of your birth certificate, completed by a translator who holds a NAATI credential and marked with their NAATI stamp. You may need one for a visa or citizenship application, a passport, study, or another official purpose, but the rules depend on the organisation asking for it, so read its instructions before you order.

With CertifiedWords you can order online: upload your certificate, choose the service, see the price, pay, and receive the translation by email. You can check prices and order here. For how NAATI translations work in general, see our guide to NAATI certified translation.

When you need a translated birth certificate

If your birth certificate isn't in English, organisations in Australia usually ask for an English translation to go with the original. Home Affairs, for example, asks applicants to have all non-English documents translated into English. Our article on how to translate a birth certificate for an Australian visa application explains what Home Affairs asks for and how to avoid common mistakes.

What the translation includes

A translation should cover everything on the certificate, not only the main details. That includes:

• the person's name, date and place of birth, and the parents' details;
• registration numbers, dates of issue and the name of the issuing authority;
• stamps, seals and signatures that contain text;
• handwritten notes and corrections;
• anything printed on the back.

Send every page, including the empty ones

Some birth certificates are a single sheet. Others are booklets with several pages. The Iranian birth certificate (the shenasnameh), for example, has tables for remarks (such as a change of name), marriage and divorce, children, and death. Many of those tables are empty.

It is natural to think an empty page needs no translation, so clients often leave it out. Please send every page, even the empty ones. Here is why:

• We can't tell whether a missing page is empty. If you don't send the marriage page, the translation can't cover it. The organisation reading the translation then can't tell whether there is a marriage record or not.
• An empty page we receive can be translated as empty. We translate the section heading and add [No entry] next to it. The reader sees that the page was checked and has nothing on it.
• It is recognised practice. The Australian Institute of Interpreters and Translators (AUSIT) says a translator may add a note in square brackets, such as [No entry], where a field, column, row or page has been left blank in the source document, to prevent unauthorised additions to the translation.

If you send only some of the pages, the translation can only cover those pages, and it will be marked as a partial or extract translation.

Full translation or extract translation?

AUSIT describes two common formats:

• A full translation translates all the text on the document and follows its format and layout as closely as possible.
• An extract translation takes the key details from the document and sets them out in a standard one-page template that does not follow the original layout.

Not every organisation accepts an extract. AUSIT says it is the client's responsibility to find out whether the organisation will accept one, and that if you can't find out, a full translation is recommended. We suggest a full translation unless the organisation has told you in writing that an extract is enough.

Names and dates

Most problems come from small mismatches between the translation and your other documents.

• Names. A name in another alphabet can be spelled in English in more than one way. If your passport or another identity document already shows an English spelling, send it with your order. AUSIT's guidance is to use the same spelling and add a translator's note saying so.
• Dates. Some countries use a calendar other than the Gregorian one. Iranian certificates, for example, may show dates in the Solar Hijri calendar. Tell us how you need dates shown, for example with the Gregorian equivalent.

Our birth certificate guide for visa applications covers both points in more detail.

Digital stamp, printing and ink stamps

Your translation is delivered by email as a PDF. Most of our translations carry a NAATI digital stamp. If you need a paper copy, you can print it yourself, at full size so the QR code stays readable. Some organisations ask for an ink stamp and signature instead. If yours does, tell us where you will submit the translation (add it to your order instructions, or contact us). The translation is then stamped and signed in ink, and we deliver a scan of it by email.

Our guide to online NAATI translations and digital stamps explains how to check what an organisation accepts.

How to order

1. Prepare every page. Scan or photograph each page, including the back and any empty pages. Keep all four corners in the frame and avoid shadows and glare.
2. Upload it. Select the language of the certificate and the language you need.
3. Choose the service. For Australian documents that need NAATI certification, select the NAATI Certified Translator option. In your order instructions, tell us where you will submit the translation, and mention any name spelling from your passport.
4. Check the price and pay. You see the price before you finish the order. It depends on the language pair, the document, the service, the delivery speed and any additional services.
5. Receive your translation. It is delivered by email. Read it against your passport and your other documents before you submit it anywhere.

Check prices and order your birth certificate translation.