Ask around at any Brampton family gathering and you will find someone who speaks perfect Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, Tagalog, Spanish, or Gujarati, and who would be glad to translate your mother’s birth certificate for free. It is a kind offer. For Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), it is also a translation it will not accept, however accurate it may be.
Document problems feel minor beside big questions such as eligibility or inadmissibility, but they cause a great deal of avoidable delay and refusal. A form may be returned as incomplete, or an officer may give no weight to a document whose meaning they cannot rely on. Sometimes a discrepancy between a translated name and a passport can cause someone to doubt a family relationship. Almost all of this can be avoided with some planning.
Think of this article as a general guide, not legal advice. Each IRCC program has its own checklist, and requirements change. The instructions on the checklist for your exact application take priority over anything said here, including this article.
The Basic Rule
IRCC’s core rule is simple. Any document that is not in English or French needs an English or French translation, submitted with a copy of the original. The original here means a scan of the original document or, when the translation was based on a certified photocopy, a scan of that copy.
Everything on the page counts. Stamps and seals in another language must be translated too, and so must any marginal notes. A translator who leaves out a registrar’s stamp because it “doesn’t say anything important” has made your translation incomplete.
Who Can Translate
IRCC’s first preference is a certified translator: a member in good standing of a professional translation association, in Canada or abroad, whose certification is confirmed by a seal or stamp showing their membership number. In Ontario, the Association of Translators and Interpreters of Ontario is a well-known body for finding certified members. Certification in other countries may also be acceptable if it comes through a recognized professional association.
A few limits can trip people up:
- Someone in the process of being certified does not count. IRCC specifically says that a translator who is still working toward certification is not treated as a certified translator.
- Family members are out. A family member cannot translate your documents, even if they are a lawyer, notary, or professional translator.
- Your representative is out. Your immigration representative or consultant cannot translate your documents either, even if they are qualified. This applies to your lawyer as well.
- You are out. You cannot translate your own documents, however fluent you may be.
Ask your translator to show you their membership number before they start. A proper stamp costs little to confirm, and it spares you paying twice.
When an Affidavit Is Acceptable
Sometimes a certified translator truly cannot be found, such as for a rare language or dialect. IRCC’s fallback is a translation accompanied by an affidavit from the person who did it. The rule is clear that this is only to be used when a translation cannot be completed by a certified translator. If certified translators for Punjabi or Tagalog are easy to find in the Greater Toronto Area, an affidavit route is hard to justify for those languages, so do not expect an officer to be impressed by the cost saving.
An affidavit must:
- Be sworn by the translator before a commissioner, who has to be proficient in English or French.
- Refer to both the translated document and the original document.
- Be taken, in Canada, by a notary public, commissioner of oaths, or commissioner of taking affidavits. Outside Canada, a notary public or equivalent can do it.
The person who takes the affidavit cannot be the applicant or a family member, even if that person is a lawyer, notary, or authorized translator.
Keep a short note in the file explaining why you could not get a certified translator. It may be useful if the issue is ever questioned. A simple explanation like “We contacted three certified translators and none work in this language” is the sort of thing an officer can understand.
Different Programs, Different Rules
IRCC’s programs are not identical. Passport applications, for example, have their own translation process, with options for non-certified professional translators and third-party translators who must complete a specific statutory declaration. Even so, the applicant and family members are excluded there too. Citizenship applications, permanent residence programs, and temporary resident files each have their own instructions as well.
A translation prepared for one purpose may therefore not meet the standard for another. If a translation from a family court case or a provincial licensing body is already in your file, check that it satisfies IRCC’s instructions before you rely on it. If it does not, get a fresh translation done for the immigration file.
Certified Copies
Translation is one issue, and copying is another. Many IRCC applications are filed online with plain scans, but some require certified copies, or a translator might work from one. Check your checklist.
Where certification is called for, an authorized person must compare the copy with the original and mark the copy with:
- Their name.
- Their signature.
- Their position or title.
- The name of the original document.
- The date of certification.
- The words “I certify that this is a true copy of the original document.”
In Canada, the person is generally a notary public, a commissioner of oaths, or a commissioner of taking affidavits. Outside Canada, requirements vary by country and should be checked locally. You and your family members cannot certify your own copies. A commissioner in a Brampton plaza may seem like a quick stop, but do not assume that a simple stamp reading “certified” is enough. If it lacks the wording above, it might not pass.
Names, Dates, and Other Small Things
This is where a lot of real-world friction arises. Many people moving to Brampton have names written in another script, and those names can be spelled in English in several legitimate ways. Over a lifetime, one person might be “Harpreet,” “Harpreet Kaur,” and “H. K. Sandhu” across a school certificate, a passport, and a marriage record. A father might appear with a village name on one document and without it on another.
An officer has no way of knowing that those variations refer to the same person unless you show it. Consider these steps:
- Tell the translator how your name appears on your passport, and ask that the translation match it where it can properly do so. A translator can’t change what a document says, but they can use the passport’s spelling as the transliteration of the same name, and they can add a note if needed.
- Prepare a one-page list of name variations with the documents they appear on, and explain them briefly.
- Consider a sworn declaration where the differences are significant, so that the explanation comes from the person with direct knowledge.
- Watch date formats. Day and month can be swapped, and calendars differ. If a document uses a non-Gregorian date, make sure the translation gives the equivalent date and the reader can see where it came from.
Keep the original spelling consistent across all forms. If your Schedule A says one thing and your application form another, an officer may ask why, and an honest mistake still takes time to explain.
A File an Officer Can Follow
It may help to remember who is reading your application: a person with limited time, working through many files, who knows nothing of your family. Make the job easy.
Name each file plainly, such as “Birth certificate Harpreet with English translation.pdf.” Avoid names like “scan003.” Combine the translation and the original in one file where the system permits, with the translation first, followed by the source, and keep the translator’s stamp visible. Check that all scanned pages are legible, right way up, and in colour if that is what the checklist calls for. Include every page, even if a page seems blank or irrelevant. Watch the file size limits set by the online portal, since an unreadable compressed file does you no good.
Where the document is old, fragile, or hard to read, say so and offer whatever additional evidence you have. Where something does not exist at all, such as a birth certificate for someone from a place where none was ever issued, do not just skip it. Explain why and offer the next best evidence, as the checklist allows. A sworn declaration by an older relative, or school records from the same period, can help.
Keep copies of what you submit, in the exact form that you submitted it. Months later, you may need to know precisely what you said. If you ever need to deal with a request for more information, or to request your file, having your own record will make things far easier.
Never Improve a Document
The temptation can be real when a document has a mistake on it, when a date is unfortunate, or when a certificate is missing. Do not alter a document, and do not ask a translator to “fix” one. Do not obtain a replacement with changed details from someone who claims they can get it done overseas for a fee. A translator’s job is to translate what is there, including any errors, and to note them if necessary.
Submitting altered or false documents can lead to a misrepresentation finding under section 40 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which can include a five-year ban from Canada and can reach the people who helped. If a document is wrong, the right fix is to get it properly corrected by the authority that issued it, or to explain the error openly. Officers see errors in documents all the time, and they can often accept an honest explanation.
Be wary also of low-cost services that bundle translation with immigration advice. Anyone giving immigration advice for a fee must be an authorized representative, and a translator who says “I can also handle your forms” may not be allowed to do so.
Planning Your Timeline
Documents take longer than people think. Getting a corrected birth record from a registrar overseas might take weeks or longer, and police certificates from other countries can take a long time too. Start early, particularly when you are working within a short deadline, such as the time you have after receiving an invitation to apply. Build in time for the translator as well.
An inexpensive early review of your documents can catch problems while there is still time to deal with them. Our other immigration services page describes the sort of support we provide, and we can also tell you where a specific document may need extra attention. But whichever way you approach it, the rule is simple: read your own checklist closely, and treat it as the authority on what your file needs.