Marriage Certificate Translation for Australia: NAATI Certified, Ordered Online

A NAATI certified marriage certificate translation is an English translation of your marriage certificate, completed by a translator who holds a NAATI credential and marked with their NAATI stamp. You may need one for a partner visa application, among other official purposes, 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 marriage certificate

Partner visas. Home Affairs' pages for the Partner visa (subclass 820, and subclasses 309 and 100) ask for your marriage certificate, or other evidence that your marriage is valid in Australia. They say to have all documents translated into English and to provide the original and the translation. They also list a marriage or divorce certificate as proof of a change of name. Our page on visa document translation explains the Home Affairs rule in more detail.

Other purposes. Other organisations set their own rules. Check the instructions you were given before you order.

What the translation includes

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

• the names of both spouses;
• the date and place of the marriage, and the registry or issuing authority;
• registration numbers and dates of issue;
• the names of other people shown on the certificate, such as witnesses or officials;
• stamps, seals and signatures that contain text;
• handwritten notes, remarks and corrections;
• anything printed on the back.

Send every page

Marriage certificates come in different forms. Some are a single sheet. Older ones can be multi-page booklets. Recent ones are often electronic (printed) documents of two pages with the same content.

We advise you to send every page. Some clients send only the first page, which holds their particulars and the marriage section. We don't require every page, and we translate whatever you send, but the translation can only cover the pages we receive. The organisation reading it then can't tell what is on the pages that were left out.

If a page you send is empty, we translate its heading and add [No entry]. AUSIT, the professional association for translators in Australia, 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 pages, the translation covers only those pages.

Home Affairs' partner visa pages also ask you to save a document with more than one page as one file. Our page on birth certificate translation explains the "send every page" advice in full.

Full translation or extract translation?

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 into a standard one-page template. Not every organisation accepts an extract. AUSIT says it is the client's responsibility to find out, and recommends a full translation if you can't. 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 already shows an English spelling, tell us before you order. If you changed your name after you married, tell us, because a marriage certificate is often used as proof of that change.
• Dates. Some countries use a calendar other than the Gregorian one. Tell us how you need dates shown, for example with the Gregorian equivalent.

Our birth certificate translation page 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, contact us before you order. The translation is then stamped and signed in ink, and we deliver a scan of it by email.

How to order

1. Prepare your pages. Scan or photograph every page in colour, including the back and any empty pages. Keep all four corners in the frame and avoid shadows and glare.
2. Upload them. 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. If you need an ink stamp, or your passport shows a particular spelling of your name, contact us before you order.
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 marriage certificate translation.