- N-400 asks about every marriage, child, name and court matter in your life, so records from Russia or Ukraine may need to be translated even though the application itself is about your years in the United States.
- Every foreign-language document must come with a full English translation and a signed translator's certification, as required by 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3).
- Marriage and divorce records are the most common translations for N-400, especially for applicants filing after three years as the spouse of a U.S. citizen.
- The Latin spelling of your name must match your green card, your passport and earlier USCIS filings; send those spellings to your translator before the work starts.
- Court dispositions for any arrest or charge abroad, even a dismissed one, must be translated in full, including article numbers and stamps.
Why a naturalization file still contains foreign documents
Form N-400 is the application for U.S. citizenship, and most of the evidence behind it is American: your green card, your tax records, your travel history. Yet the form asks about your whole life, not just the years in the United States. It asks about every marriage you and your spouse have had, every child, every name you have used, and every arrest or court case anywhere in the world. When the answer to one of those questions was recorded in Russia, Ukraine or another former Soviet republic, the record is in Russian or Ukrainian, and USCIS needs it in English.
The good news is that the list is usually short. Many applicants need two or three translated documents, some need none. The point of this guide is to help you work out which ones apply to you, so you translate exactly what the file needs, no more and no less.
The rule that applies to every translated page
USCIS sets one standard for all foreign-language documents, and it is written in 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3). Any document in a foreign language must come with a full English translation, and the translator must certify in writing that the translation is complete and accurate and that they are competent to translate from that language into English. The same rule covers a Soviet marriage booklet, a Ukrainian divorce decree and a one-page court certificate.
Full means full. Stamps, seals, handwritten notes on the back and the registry number are part of the document, and the translation should reflect them. A translation of the front side only, or a summary of what the document says, does not meet the standard. Every certified translation we deliver includes the signed statement, the English text and a copy of the original in one PDF, so you can print it or upload it as a single exhibit.
Marriage and divorce records
If you are applying after three years as the spouse of a U.S. citizen, the N-400 instructions ask for your current marriage certificate and proof that every earlier marriage of both spouses ended. If you are applying under the five-year rule, the form still asks how many times you have been married and requests details of each marriage, and the officer may ask for the records behind those answers.
For applicants from Russia and Ukraine that usually means one or more of the following:
- A marriage certificate issued by a ZAGS office in Russia or a RATsS or DRATsS office in Ukraine, in a Soviet booklet, a 1990s bilingual form or a modern single-sheet form.
- A divorce certificate from the same registry. In both countries the certificate is the final document; a court decision alone often does not show the date the divorce was registered.
- A court decision on divorce, when the registry certificate was issued on the basis of it, or when the certificate is lost.
- A death certificate of a former spouse, if a marriage ended by death.
Translate the whole of each document, including the line that records what surnames the spouses carried after the marriage or the divorce. That line is where name changes are explained, and officers read it.
Name changes and one spelling across the file
N-400 asks for your current legal name, the name on your green card, and any other names you have used. If those names differ, the file should show why. A marriage certificate that records a new surname, a divorce certificate that restores the previous one, or a registry certificate of name change (свидетельство о перемене имени in Russia, свідоцтво про зміну імені in Ukraine) is the document that connects the two.
Consistency matters more here than in almost any other filing, because the certificate of naturalization is printed with the legal name your file supports. Before you order a translation, gather the spellings that already exist in your U.S. paperwork: your green card, your foreign passport, your Social Security record and any earlier USCIS approval notices. Send those spellings to your translator. Our translations match the Latin spelling of your name to your passport and your existing file, and where the original document spells a name differently, your translator adds a short note explaining the variant rather than silently changing it.
Children's birth certificates
The form asks you to list all your children, wherever they were born and whatever their status. In many cases USCIS does not ask for a birth certificate for each child at filing. There are situations where the record matters: a child who has immigrated or will immigrate through you, a child who lives outside the United States and whom you support, or a child whose surname differs from yours because of a later marriage or adoption.
A Russian or Ukrainian birth certificate for a child names both parents, and the translation of the parents' names should match your own translated documents. This sounds obvious, but a child's certificate translated by a different person often spells your name a third way. Send all family documents to one translator so the spellings line up.
Court and police records
N-400 asks whether you have ever been arrested, cited, charged or convicted anywhere in the world, and the form instructions ask for certified court dispositions for every incident, even ones that were dismissed or expunged. If an incident happened in Russia or Ukraine, the record you obtain there, whether a court decision, a certificate of no criminal record or a police certificate, must be translated in full.
These documents are often long and dense: case numbers, article numbers of the criminal or administrative code, the names of judges and officers, and a series of stamps. Your translator keeps the article numbers exactly as written, translates the title of each stamp and seal, and marks illegible passages as illegible rather than guessing. If a record has an apostille, the apostille is translated on the same page.
Putting the translations together
- 1Make a list of every foreign-language document your answers on N-400 point to: marriages, divorces, name changes, children, court matters.
- 2Photograph both sides of each document, including empty back pages, so the translation can state that the reverse is blank.
- 3Send all documents in one order so that names, places and dates are handled consistently by one translator.
- 4Check the Latin spelling of every family member's name against the passports and U.S. records you already have.
- 5Keep the originals. USCIS may ask to see them, and the translation is a companion to the original, not a replacement.
Certified translation costs from $23.70 per document with certification included. A Soviet booklet with a stamped back page and a modern single-sheet certificate with an empty reverse are both short documents, usually the minimum. Upload what you have, see the exact price before you pay, and receive one PDF ready to attach to your file.
FAQ
I already submitted my marriage certificate with my green card application. Do I need to translate it again for N-400?
If you are applying as the spouse of a U.S. citizen, the N-400 instructions ask for the marriage certificate with this application, so attach it with its certified translation rather than relying on the older file. If you kept the translation from the earlier filing and nothing has changed, you can reuse it.
Can my spouse or a relative translate my documents for N-400?
The regulation asks for a translator who certifies that they are competent and that the translation is complete and accurate; it does not name who may or may not translate. A translation by a family member with a stake in the case is easy to question, which is why we recommend an independent translator and a certification with a signature and date.
Does the translation for N-400 need to be notarized or apostilled?
No. USCIS asks for a certified translation, which means the translator's signed statement, not a notary's seal. An apostille applies to the original document, not the translation, and USCIS does not require one for N-400. Tell us if the same translation will also go to a court or a university, and we word the certificate accordingly.
If you need your documents translated, always work with a certified translator.
POVO translates Russian and Ukrainian documents into English, with a signed certificate of accuracy. Upload the document, see the price and the date, pay when you are ready.
