I-130 Translation Requirements: What USCIS Needs Translated for a Marriage Petition

Here's a scene we see every week. A US citizen and their spouse sit down to file Form I-130. The form itself is fine. Then they open the drawer: a marriage certificate from Guadalajara, a divorce judgment from a previous life in São Paulo, a lease written in Polish and two years of bank statements that say "saldo" a lot.

Every one of those pages needs to be readable by a USCIS officer who has never met you and has a stack of petitions as tall as a filing cabinet. Good news: the rule is simple. Better news: you decide how big the stack gets. Let's go through it.

What Are the I-130 Translation Requirements?

There are two sources, and they agree. The federal regulation, 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3), says any document containing a foreign language submitted to USCIS must be accompanied by a full English translation which the translator has certified as complete and accurate, and by the translator's certification that they are competent to translate from that language into English.

The Form I-130 instructions (edition 04/01/24) repeat that and add the practical detail: the certification must include the translator's signature, printed name, the signature date and their contact information. That's the whole checklist. No seal, no notary, no apostille on the translation.

Two words in there do a lot of work. "Any document" means the optional evidence too: if you choose to include your landlord's lease, it needs translating just like the marriage certificate does. And "full" means the whole document, stamps and handwritten notes included. A summary or an extract won't do. Our USCIS certified translation requirements guide covers the rule in depth, and our list of USCIS translation mistakes shows what happens when it's skipped. Spoiler: a Request for Evidence, and a longer wait.

Which Documents Does a Marriage-Based I-130 Require?

For a petition for your spouse, the I-130 instructions list a short core set. If any of these are in another language, they're your must-translate pile:

Your spouse also completes Form I-130A, and you both send passport-style photos. Those are in English already, so there's nothing to translate. For the certificates themselves, see our pages on marriage certificate translation and divorce certificate translation. One tip from experience: if the marriage certificate is a two-sided form, scan both sides. The back is where registrars like to hide the stamp that makes it official.

What Bona Fide Marriage Evidence Needs Translating?

This is where the real page count lives. Alongside the required documents, the I-130 instructions say you should submit one or more types of evidence that your marriage is genuine. They list:

The affidavits deserve a special mention. The instructions ask each one to include the full name and address of the person making it, their date and place of birth, and details of how they know about your marriage. If your mother-in-law writes hers in Vietnamese, it gets translated like everything else, and a translator will keep those details intact rather than tidying them away.

Messages count too. If you lived apart for a while, a dated sample of chats is often the clearest way to show a relationship that kept going across a time difference. Our guide to translating WhatsApp and relationship evidence was written for UK partner visas, but the advice on choosing a sample and exporting chats works just as well for USCIS.

How Much Evidence Should You Translate for an I-130?

There's no page minimum, and no prize for the thickest petition. What an officer wants is a clear picture of two people building one life. The trick is variety over volume: a lease, a few joint statements, a couple of affidavits and a short message sample tell a stronger story than 200 pages of one bank account.

• Bank statements: choose a spread of months rather than every statement since the wedding. Every page you include gets translated in full, so pick the months, then stop.
• Leases and deeds: these are long and dense. Include them if they're in both names, because a shared address is strong evidence.
• Affidavits: two to four from people who actually know you beat ten form letters.
• Messages: a dated sample from across the relationship, not the full archive. Ten to twenty pages is plenty for most couples.

If you have an immigration attorney, ask how much they want to see. They know your case, and they'll often trim a stack before it reaches us, which saves you money.

How Much Does I-130 Translation Cost?

We price per page: $23.99 per page for standard delivery within 24 working hours, or $39.99 per page for rush delivery within 8 hours. No minimum and nothing added at checkout. Here's what three typical marriage-evidence packs look like:

Notice which single document moves the total most? The old divorce judgment. Court judgments from many countries run to eight, twelve, sometimes twenty pages, and USCIS wants every one of them. If either of you was married before, budget for it early.

Upload everything as one PDF and you'll see the exact page count, price and guaranteed delivery date before you pay. And translate your evidence once it's final. Choose the stack, sleep on it, then order. The lease you cut on Sunday is money you keep for the wedding album.

What Does a USCIS-Ready Certified Translation Include?

Each translation you get from us is a full English translation of the document, laid out so an officer can match it line by line to the original, with stamps, seals and signatures described where they appear. It comes with a signed certification stating that the translation is complete and accurate and that the translator is competent to translate from the source language into English, with the printed name, date and contact details the I-130 instructions ask for.

Names are the quiet troublemaker. If your spouse's surname is spelled one way on the passport and another on the marriage certificate, tell us the passport spelling when you order. Consistent names across the petition save an officer from wondering whether two documents belong to the same person. Our USCIS certified translation service handles birth, marriage and divorce records, bank statements and court papers from over 200 languages.

Do I-130 Translations Need to Be Notarized?

No. USCIS asks for the translator's certification, not a notary's stamp. A notary confirms who signed a document; they don't check whether the translation is right. Adding one to an I-130 won't hurt, but it won't help either.

Where notarization does come up is outside USCIS: some state courts, county clerks, DMVs and schools ask for it. If one of them has asked you, you can add US notarization at checkout for $26.45 per document. It's valid for use in the US only and comes with standard delivery. Our guide to notarized translations in the US explains when it's worth it.

How to Get Your I-130 Documents Translated

Thinking ahead? Once the I-130 is approved, the next stage (adjustment of status in the US, or the National Visa Center if your spouse is abroad) asks for more civil documents, such as birth certificates and police certificates, and the same translation rule applies. The State Department asks for certified translations of civil documents that aren't in English or the official language of the country where your spouse applies. Translating the whole family's paperwork in one order now saves a second round later. If your marriage certificate is in Spanish, our Spanish marriage certificate translation page shows how that one works.

I-130 Translation: FAQs

This guide is general information, not legal advice. What evidence suits your petition depends on your circumstances, so check the current Form I-130 instructions on uscis.gov or speak to an immigration attorney.