Certified Birth Certificate Translation
At LITS, we have been translating and certifying birth certificates for more than 20 years, in more than 300 languages: whatever authority has asked for yours, we know exactly what they expect to receive, and we tailor each of our solutions to your specific requirements.
A standard certificate is translated, certified and back in your hands within 12 to 48 hours. Send us a photo now and you'll generally have your quote within the hour, 9am to midnight, seven days a week.
Trusted with over 25,000 documents
If a UK authority has asked for your birth certificate in English, an ordinary translation won’t do. What you need is a certified translation: the whole certificate translated into English, word for word and stamp for stamp, with a signed statement confirming it is accurate, in the form the receiving authority expects to see.
It’s the work we’ve built our name on. We translate and certify official documents for government departments, the NHS, local authorities and national employers, as well as for thousands of individuals. Every certified translation we issue is signed by a director of LITS, with our stamp on each page of a paper copy, and the Association of Translation Companies, which background-checked us, holds us to its code of conduct as an accredited member. The same discipline runs through the whole company: our interpreters and translators work with courts and tribunals across the UK, including the Royal Courts of Justice in London and the District Registry of the High Court in Manchester; our interpreters hold enhanced DBS certification, and where an assignment requires it, Home Office Counter Terrorist Check or police vetting to NPPV3.
“Provided an excellent translation ahead of schedule for my client. Only work with Ash and his team occasionally but whenever I do, they deliver a highly professional service.”
Philip Dickinson
Trustpilot
Trusted By Our Clients
The care that goes into every translation at LITS
Tailored to you. No two birth certificates arrive the same, so we don’t treat them the same. Before anything is translated, we look at what you’ve sent and what it’s for: we ask which body will receive the translation, check you’re holding the version your application actually needs, and raise anything unclear with you rather than working around it. If a stamp is faint or a scan cuts off an edge, you’ll hear about it before you pay, not after. Your certificate is then translated by one of our qualified and vetted translators working into their native language and checked in-house before it leaves us. Though it’s a small document, it carries a lot of weight and significance, and we handle it that way.
Handwriting & stamps. The care shows in the detail. A caseworker checks the whole document, so we translate the whole document: the stamps and seals on both sides, the registrar’s handwriting on older certificates, the pre-printed field labels, and any note added in the margin recording a later marriage, divorce, adoption or name change. A detail that’s visible on the original and missing from the translation is a discrepancy for the caseworker to resolve, and your application waits while they do. Anything genuinely illegible is marked as such rather than guessed at, and the layout is mirrored as closely as the two languages allow, so the English can be read alongside the original line for line.
Names & spellings. When a certificate is written in Arabic, Cyrillic, Greek, Urdu or any other non-Latin script, there’s no single correct English spelling: the same name reaches the UK as Mohammed, Muhammad or Mohamad depending on who transliterated it and when. So before we translate, we ask how your name appears on your passport, or on the application the translation is supporting, and we match it, with the original script shown alongside. Where the certificate genuinely records two versions of a name, we record both. And if we spot a mismatch between the certificate and the other documents you’ve sent, we tell you before we go ahead.
What a certified birth certificate translation costs
A standard single-page birth certificate is
£70
including the translation, the certification and VAT
- Translation by one of our qualified translators working into their native language
- Every element of the certificate translated properly: seals, stamps, signatures and anything handwritten
- Any query about a name spelling, a faint stamp or an unclear scan raised with you before we translate
- VAT, so the quoted figure is the figure you pay
If your certificate runs to more than one page or comes as a booklet, it is priced by page; either way, your quote is confirmed in writing before any work begins.
What you receive: the translation and a signed, stamped certificate of accuracy, dated and carrying our full company details, so the authority reading it can see exactly who stands behind it. Delivered as a PDF by email, by tracked special delivery if the receiving body wants the hard copy, or collected from our Blackburn office.
If your application also needs a marriage certificate, a divorce decree or a police certificate translated, send the set and we’ll quote for the whole file in one go. The wider list is in our guide to what documents you need to translate for a UK visa.
“I contacted the Lits Service on Sunday afternoon, as I needed some documents translating urgently. I got an immediate response and was given clear advice on how to proceed. By Monday afternoon all my documents were prepared, everything was made simple...”
Ahmed
Trustpilot
Send your certificate for a quote
Photograph the certificate and send it over. A phone photo is enough to quote from, as long as the text and the stamps are readable. Use the form or email, whichever is easier.
We come back generally within the hour, 9am to midnight, seven days a week, with the price, the turnaround, and anything we need to check with you first, including how your name should be spelled.
Translated, checked, certified and back with you in 12 to 48 hours, as a PDF, by tracked special delivery, or collected from our Blackburn office.
One check before you order: if your application involves your parents’ details, a first adult passport or a citizenship claim, make sure you’re holding the full version of your certificate, not the short one. Not sure which you have? Send us a photo and we’ll tell you before you order.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need the short or the full version of my birth certificate?
For UK passport applications, HM Passport Office requires the full certificate showing your parents’ details; citizenship registration asks for the full version too, and some visa routes need a full UK birth certificate for children born here. It is not a general rule for every visa. If you’re not sure which version you’re holding, send us a photo and we’ll tell you before you order anything. Our guide to translating birth certificates for UK passport applications covers what HMPO expects.
My name is spelled differently on my passport and my birth certificate. Is that a problem?
It’s common, and it’s manageable when dealt with up front. We match the spelling on your passport or on the application the translation supports, show the original script alongside, and record both versions where the document itself carries two. Just tell us the spelling you need when you send the certificate.
Will the stamps, seals and handwritten notes be translated too?
Yes, all of them: stamps and seals on both sides, signatures, pre-printed labels, and any annotation added in the margin recording a later marriage, divorce, adoption or name change. Anything genuinely illegible is marked as such rather than guessed at, and we’ll raise it with you first.
Do I need an apostille as well as a translation?
For the UK applications this page covers, what is asked for is a certified English translation; if the receiving body has also asked for legalisation, follow its instructions. It is the other direction that usually raises the question: an authority abroad may ask for your UK certificate to be legalised, and whether the translation needs legalising too is decided by the receiving country. Tell us the destination and we’ll establish what’s required before you pay for anything. The process is set out in our guide to apostilles for UK documents used abroad.
Can you translate a UK birth certificate into another language?
Yes. We work in both directions in more than 300 languages, which is what citizenship by descent, marrying abroad and consular birth registrations need. Requirements and their order vary by receiving authority, so send us the details of what you’ve been asked for and we’ll quote for the whole job.
How much is a certified birth certificate translation?
£70 for a standard single-page certificate, including certification and VAT, or £85 with the certified original sent by tracked special delivery. Certificates that run to more than one page are priced per page and confirmed in writing before any work starts.
Guides & related services
What Documents Need Translating for British Citizenship?
See which documents usually need certified translation for your Form AN citizenship application, and what GOV.UK says the translation must include.
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