Form N-400 asks you to show that you qualify: that you've been a permanent resident long enough, that you're married to a US citizen if you apply after three years, and that you have good moral character. Much of that comes from USCIS's own records. The rest - usually marriage, divorce and court records - often comes from another country, and any document in a foreign language needs a full English translation certified by the translator (8 CFR § 103.2(b)(3)).
Documents N-400 applicants commonly translate
- Your marriage certificate, if you apply after three years as the spouse of a US citizen.
- Divorce decrees, annulments and death certificates that ended earlier marriages - yours and your spouse's.
- Court records for any arrest, citation or charge outside the US, showing how each one ended.
- Name-change records, if the name you use differs from your green card and the record isn't in English.
Bring originals and translations to the interview
An officer can ask to see the original of anything you sent a copy of. Bring the originals, the certified translations you filed, and translations of anything new since you filed - a marriage, a divorce, a court matter - so the interview doesn't have to be rescheduled to collect them.
Why translations come back
- Only part of the record was translated - a second page, a stamp or a court's annotation left out.
- A name is spelled differently from your green card or your application.
- The applicant translated and certified their own records. See our guide to translating your own documents.
With Verdacert
Upload each record and tell us how the names appear on your green card. Each one comes back as a certified PDF with the original attached, signed by a named reviewer, with a certificate anyone can verify online. If USCIS rejects a translation for a translation error, we re-translate or refund (conditions apply - see our Refund Policy).