Sworn Translation Services for Official Use

Appointed by a Cour d'Appel and listed on the Cour de Cassation national register. Required for documents submitted to French courts, prefectures, and most government authorities.

Authorized by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAEC). Required for documents submitted to Spanish courts, the Spanish administration, and consulates abroad. The translator's seal carries unique MAEC registration number.

Translation sworn before a court tribunal (asseverazione). Translator personally signs the oath in front of a court clerk. Required for legal proceedings, immigration filings, and academic recognition.

Court interpreting and sworn translation are governed separately in Germany. The Gerichtsdolmetschergesetz unified the general swearing-in of court interpreters nationally from 1 January 2023, and under its section 7 that oath runs for five years before it has to be renewed.

Sworn translators are not covered by that Act, which by its own section 1 reaches interpreters engaged for language transfer in court hearings. Appointment of translators remains a matter for each federal state.

Both groups are searchable in the justice database the states run together. Check the entry is current before commissioning legal or administrative work.

Registered in the Rbtv, the Register beëdigde tolken en vertalers held by Bureau Wbtv under the Wet beëdigde tolken en vertalers.

Article 28 obliges a named list of bodies to use only registered sworn translators and interpreters in criminal and immigration matters: the courts, the Public Prosecution Service, the police, the Royal Marechaussee, the Immigration and Naturalisation Service, and the Council of State's administrative jurisdiction division.

The same article permits a non-registered linguist only where urgency leaves no registered person available in time, or the register holds nobody for the language pair. The reasons must then be recorded in writing.

Confirm a translator's current Rbtv entry before commissioning work for official or judicial use.

Entered in Belgium's single federal register of sworn translators and interpreters, held by the FPS Justice. Dutch-language work covers the courts of Flanders and the Dutch-language courts of Brussels.

The same federal register, worked into and out of French for the courts of Wallonia and the French-language courts of Brussels. Belgium has one national register, not one per language community: what changes is the language of proceedings. Sworn translators hold an official identity card and apply a legal seal to each translation.

There is no federal sworn-translator register. Requirements are set canton by canton: Geneva and Vaud recognize official traducteurs-jurés, while German-speaking cantons more commonly require the translator's declaration to be notarized. The apostille is issued by the cantonal chancellery.

Appointed by Brazilian state Junta Comercial. Required for any document presented to Brazilian public administration, courts, or notary registries (cartórios).

Certification via Portuguese notary or Cámara de Comercio. Portugal recognizes both Portuguese-certified translations and translations sworn in other EU member states.

Hong Kong maintains no unitary licensing regime for translators, and its system is separate from mainland China's.

For administrative use a certified translation is a declaration of accuracy, usually executed as a statutory declaration before a Commissioner for Oaths or a notary. For court use the Judiciary's own Court Language Section certifies translations of documents and exhibits.

Some destination authorities want a notary's seal rather than a Commissioner for Oaths signature, so confirm which is accepted before you commission.

India has no national register of sworn translators. Notaries and court-approved panels are the usual route, and the requirements differ between High Courts and between receiving authorities.

Check what the receiving court or authority requires before commissioning work.

The US does not appoint sworn translators in the European sense. Under 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3), any foreign-language document filed with USCIS must carry a full English translation certified by the translator as complete and accurate, with a statement of their competence to translate.

No particular credential is mandated. Court requirements are set separately and vary by jurisdiction, so a translation prepared for USCIS should not be assumed to meet a federal or state court's own evidentiary standard.

The UK uses a self-certification model. A CIOL (Chartered Institute of Linguists) or ITI (Institute of Translation and Interpreting) member signs a Certificate of Accuracy. Accepted by UK Visas and Immigration, Home Office, and UK courts.

Province-by-province certification (OTTIAQ in Quebec, ATIO in Ontario, STIBC in BC, etc.). Translator's seal recognized by Canadian courts, IRCC, and provincial bodies.