Usually needs a certificate of accuracy
Birth certificate
The commonest single document in this office, and the one with the most ways to go wrong.
Usually about one page — an estimate, not a count
The catalogue
Document types, and what each one needs
Sixteen kinds of paper, in five groups, each with the two facts a visitor is looking for and one they did not know to look for.
Everything below comes across this counter often enough to have earned its own page. Somebody arrives holding one of them and wants the same two facts each time: roughly how long the thing is, and what form of certification the office that asked for it usually wants.
Each page carries a third fact as well, and the third one is the reason there are sixteen pages here rather than a single list with sixteen rows in it. It is different on every document type, it is not the sort of thing anybody thinks to look up in advance, and it is usually the difference between a translation that does its job and a translation that has to be done a second time.
If you already know which one you are holding, go straight to it. If you are not sure what the office writing to you meant, the groups below are arranged by what the document is rather than by what it is for, which is the way these questions usually arrive.
The catalogue
Sixteen document types, in five groups
The group a document sits in decides very little about the price and a great deal about who is going to read the result, which is the question that changes what the work has to be.
Civil records
Births, marriages, divorces, deaths and adoptions. Almost always certified, almost always for somebody official, and the category where the wrong version of the right document causes most of the trouble.
Usually needs a certificate of accuracy
Marriage certificate
One sheet, and the names on it are rarely the names on everything else.
Usually about one page — an estimate, not a count
Usually needs a certificate of accuracy
Divorce decree
A judgment, so it is longer than people expect and the operative part is at the end.
Usually about four pages — an estimate, not a count
Usually needs a certificate of accuracy
Death certificate
Usually one sheet, usually urgent, and usually wanted by more than one office at once.
Usually about one page — an estimate, not a count
Usually needs a certificate of accuracy
Adoption record
A file rather than a document, and every page of it matters.
Usually about six pages — an estimate, not a count
Academic records
Transcripts, diplomas and the paperwork that goes with them. Translated here; evaluated somewhere else, and the difference between those two has its own page.
Usually needs a certificate of accuracy
Academic transcript
Several pages of tables, and the tables are the work.
Usually about four pages — an estimate, not a count
Usually needs a certificate of accuracy
Diploma or degree certificate
One ornate sheet with very few words on it and several seals.
Usually about one page — an estimate, not a count
Identity and official documents
Police records, licences, passports and identity cards. Short, deadline-driven, and full of codes that mean something legally and nothing in translation.
Usually needs a certificate of accuracy
Police clearance certificate
Short, dated, and it expires faster than anything else here.
Usually about one page — an estimate, not a count
Usually needs a certificate of accuracy
Driving licence
A card, two sides, and a table of categories that has to survive.
Usually about one page — an estimate, not a count
Usually needs a certificate of accuracy
Passport or national identity card
The data page, and sometimes the stamps.
Usually about one page — an estimate, not a count
Legal documents
Judgments, pleadings and contracts. Priced by the word rather than the page, because these are prose and the length is the length.
Usually needs a certificate of accuracy
Court judgment or pleading
The longest thing on this list, and the one where a sentence has to survive an argument.
Usually about twelve pages — an estimate, not a count
Not usually certified — it depends who is reading it
Contract or agreement
Priced by the word, because a contract is prose rather than a form.
Usually about twenty pages — an estimate, not a count
Business, financial and medical files
Statements, letters, corporate records and medical files. Sometimes certified and often not — the question is who is going to read it.
Usually needs a certificate of accuracy
Bank statement
Long, repetitive and priced by the page like everything else — which surprises people.
Usually about six pages — an estimate, not a count
Usually needs a certificate of accuracy
Employment or income letter
One page on a letterhead, usually written last week and needed tomorrow.
Usually about one page — an estimate, not a count
Not usually certified — it depends who is reading it
Medical record
Handwriting, abbreviations and drug names, and rarely wanted by anybody official.
Usually about eight pages — an estimate, not a count
Usually needs a certificate of accuracy
Company registration and corporate records
An extract from a commercial register, plus whatever the bank has asked for this week.
Usually about five pages — an estimate, not a count
Before you count anything
A page is 250 words, not a sheet of paper
It is the single most useful thing this site can explain to somebody holding a certificate, and it is why every page count in this catalogue is written as an estimate rather than as a fact.
Why the counts here are guesses
A birth certificate from one country is a third of a page and another country prints the same event across two dense sheets. The figure on each card is there so you can guess before you measure; the estimator uses your count, never ours, and a quote follows somebody reading the document.
- How many pages is your document, really — counting it properly
- What to send us, and how to photograph it — before you send anything
- Get an estimate — arithmetic on what you type, shown line by line
What certification means on these cards
Each card says whether that kind of document usually carries a certificate of accuracy or usually does not. It is a description of what offices have asked for, not a rule, and the document page says what the certificate covers and what it does not.
- Certified translation — what is actually in the envelope
- What “certified” describes — the translation, not the translator
- The whole rate card — every figure on this site comes from it
What a certificate covers. A certified translation says something about the translation and nothing whatever about the original. We do not verify that a document is genuine, and no certificate, notarial act or apostille from anybody does either — an apostille authenticates a signature and a seal.
An estimate and a quote are different objects. An estimate is arithmetic on what you typed. It is not an offer, it does not bind anybody, and it will move if the document turns out to be longer, in worse condition or a different thing from what it was described as. The quote that follows somebody reading it is the one to rely on.
Not sure which one you are holding?
Send a photograph of it. It is quicker than describing it, and it is what a quote is worked out from.