Certified Translation Requirements in All 50 U.S. States

What this guide covers. There is no single American rule for certified translations. Federal agencies have theirs (USCIS, the immigration courts and the Department of State are covered in our USCIS certified translation guide). Each state then sets its own expectations in three places: the rules its courts apply to foreign-language documents, the rules its driver licensing agency applies to foreign identity documents, and the scattered statutes, notary rules and agency policies that govern everything else. We read the primary sources for all fifty states and the District of Columbia and summarized them here, with a link to the official text for each. Click a state in the table for its detailed page.

1. What “Certified Translation” Means in the United States

In most of the world, a “sworn” or “certified” translator is a person appointed by a court or a ministry, who stamps translations under a public authority. The United States has no such office. When an American court rule, agency form or statute asks for a “certified translation,” it almost always means a translation accompanied by a signed statement from the translator attesting that the translation is complete and accurate and that the translator is competent to translate. The certification attaches to the document, not to the person. The federal standard in 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3) says exactly this, and most state agencies that bother to define the term repeat it in their own words. Illinois’s Secretary of State, for instance, requires “a full English translation certified by the translator as complete and accurate” together with “a dated, written, and signed certification affirming their competence to translate.” New Jersey’s Motor Vehicle Commission defines a certified translation as one issued by the government that issued the original, or “signed with a seal by a person qualified to translate, such as someone certified by American Translators Association,” or made by any competent adult on the Commission’s own certificate form.

Two other words recur and cause confusion. A notarized translation is one where a notary public has witnessed the translator’s signature on the certification. The notary attests to the identity of the signer, not to the quality of the translation. A handful of state agencies want this extra step (New Mexico’s MVD for foreign birth certificates, Minnesota’s Office of Vital Records, New Hampshire’s DMV for certain driving-record documents, Michigan’s notary guidance). A sworn translation, where the phrase appears in an American text, usually means the translator has signed under oath or under penalty of perjury, as in Minnesota’s requirement that a DMV translation “be sworn to by the translator.” An affidavit or an unsworn declaration under penalty of perjury satisfies that.

The practical consequence is that one well-drafted certification, signed by a professional translator and notarized where a particular agency insists on it, satisfies nearly every requirement in the country. The exceptions are the small number of agencies that maintain their own lists of approved translators, discussed in section 4.

2. The Three Places State Requirements Live

State Court Rules and Statutes

These govern translated exhibits, affidavits and foreign documents filed in litigation, probate and family matters. They range from a detailed evidentiary rule with deadlines (Texas, Arkansas) to complete silence, in which case the general rules on authentication of documents and on interpreters as witnesses fill the gap.

Driver Licensing Agencies

Every state’s DMV, MVD, BMV, RMV or Department of Public Safety has to decide what to do with a foreign birth certificate, marriage certificate or driver license presented as proof of identity or name. Because these offices deal with the public at volume and without lawyers, they have produced the most detailed, prescriptive and varied translation rules in the country: mandatory forms, exact wording, approved-translator numbers, prohibitions on family members translating.

Everything Else

Vital records offices amending a birth or death record on the strength of a foreign court order, professional licensing boards reviewing foreign diplomas, secretaries of state issuing apostilles on translated documents, and notary regulators telling notaries what they may and may not do with a document they cannot read.

A fourth layer, county and municipal, exists but is beyond a fifty-state guide: county clerks, probate courts and local DMV offices sometimes add their own habits. The New York County Clerk, for example, requires a notarized translator’s affidavit before it will authenticate a translation, a requirement you will not find in the CPLR.

3. State Courts: Four Patterns

Reading the court rules of all fifty states, four patterns emerge.

Pattern 1: An Explicit Translated-Document Rule With a Translator’s Affidavit

A minority of states have written a rule that tells litigants exactly what to file. New York’s CPLR 2101(b) is the oldest and simplest: every paper filed must be in English, and where an affidavit or exhibit is in a foreign language “it shall be accompanied by an English translation and an affidavit by the translator stating his qualifications and that the translation is accurate.” Texas Rule of Evidence 1009 is the most elaborate: a translation is admissible if, at least 45 days before trial, the proponent serves the translation, the underlying document and “a qualified translator’s affidavit or unsworn declaration that sets forth the translator’s qualifications and certifies that the translation is accurate”; an opponent must object with specifics, and offer a competing translation, at least 15 days before trial. Arkansas Rule of Evidence 1009 is modeled on the Texas rule, with the same 45-day service and an affidavit-based definition of “qualified translator.” California Rule of Court 3.1110(g) requires that exhibits in a foreign language “be accompanied by an English translation, certified under oath by a qualified interpreter,” with Evidence Code section 753 governing translator qualification. Wisconsin Statute 901.09 lets the court require that a foreign-language writing offered in evidence be accompanied by a translation and a translator’s affidavit, and allows the opposing party to object and obtain an alternate translation.

Pattern 2: A Statute or Rule That Names Translators Without Prescribing a Filing Procedure

Missouri’s section 476.803 directs courts to appoint “qualified interpreters and translators,” and Supreme Court Operating Rule 19.04 defines certified and registered translators. Oklahoma’s Certified Courtroom Interpreter Act deems certified interpreters qualified to translate written text. Louisiana, after Act 32 of 2024, now defines translation in its Code of Evidence (article 604.1) as distinct from interpretation. Iowa Court Rule 47.13 defines a certified translator as one credentialed by the American Translators Association or NAJIT and sets a priority order for court-procured translations. Oregon has a rule for probate only: ORS 111.255 allows a translation “certified by the translator” to be attached to a foreign-language document. These provisions tell you what the court considers a qualified translator and are persuasive when a translation is challenged, even though they do not, by themselves, tell a litigant what to file.

Pattern 3: A Language Access Standard Issued by the Judiciary

Several states have no rule but have adopted court-wide policies that address written translation: Georgia’s Rules for Legal Interpreting (effective January 2024) state that written translations should be prepared before the proceeding in which they are used; North Carolina’s Standards for Language Access Services (July 2024) require that translations procured by the courts be certified; Colorado’s Chief Justice Directive 06-03, New Jersey’s Language Access Plan (Standard 4.4 on evidentiary submissions), Illinois’s Supreme Court Language Access Policy and Utah’s Code of Judicial Administration 3-306.04 (two-person translation teams for court forms) are of the same kind. These standards bind court staff rather than parties, but judges apply the same expectations to what parties file.

Pattern 4: Silence

The remaining states, roughly half, have no rule specific to translated documents. Their courts rely on the ordinary rules: the document must be authenticated, the translation must be shown to be accurate by a competent witness, and the translator, if called, testifies as an expert subject to the state’s equivalent of Federal Rule of Evidence 604 (“An interpreter must be qualified and must give an oath or affirmation to make a true translation”). In practice, a translation filed with a detailed certification signed by a professional translator is accepted without a hearing unless the other side objects. If it is contested, the translator may have to testify, which is one more reason to use a translator who can be identified and reached.

What no state does is require the translation to be done by a state-licensed translator, because, as the next sections show, no state licenses translators for court work.

4. Driver Licensing Agencies: The Strictest Rules in the Country

The driver licensing rules fall into five groups, from most to least prescriptive.

Approved-Translator Lists

Four states will only accept translations from translators they have registered. Nevada’s DMV issues translator numbers and currently states that it is not accepting new applications. Connecticut’s DMV requires translation “by a DMV-approved business or individual,” with the approved translator number on the translation. Utah’s Driver License Division keeps a list of approved translators, applied for by email, and requires “original, word-for-word translations. No extract translations will be accepted.” Washington’s Department of Licensing will try to translate in-house and otherwise accepts translations from DSHS-certified translators, court-certified translators, federal court translators or consular officials. If you are dealing with one of these four states, check the list before commissioning a translation anywhere else.

Mandatory State Forms or Exact Wording

Alaska requires its Certificate of Accuracy of Translation (COFAT), and the translator may not be the applicant. Colorado requires an exact affirmation (“I, [name], affirm that the foregoing is a complete and accurate translation from [language] to the English language to the best of my ability”) on the same page as the translation, with the translator’s driver license number. South Carolina requires Form 4030, on which the translator must show accreditation by the American Translators Association or a similar body, or an employer’s letter. New Jersey offers its own Certificate of Translation form as one of three accepted routes. Minnesota’s statute (section 171.069) requires a sworn translation by a translator who is not related to the applicant and who falls into one of seven qualifying categories, using form PS33210. Tennessee publishes a Certificate of Accurate Translation. Indiana’s BMV requires the translation to be typed on the letterhead of a government entity, accredited educational institution or translation agency, with a statement that the document was not translated for a family member, friend or business associate.

Certified Translation, No Form Prescribed

The largest group. California (“a certified translation or an affidavit of translation into English”), New York (form ID-44: “a certified English translation”), Massachusetts (“MUST be accompanied by a certified translation document”), Virginia (“a certified English translation by a professional translator”), Illinois, Georgia (professional translating service, non-profit, consular official or other approved entity), Florida (for titling, “certified by the translator as being a true and accurate translation”), Rhode Island, Ohio (“an approved translator,” undefined), Hawaii (by county), the District of Columbia (embassy letterhead or a certified translator’s stamp) and Texas (translation service or consulate for foreign licenses; certified translation for marriage records).

Notarization Required

New Mexico (foreign birth certificates: “a notarized English translation”), New Hampshire (certain driving-record substitutes). Michigan’s notary guidance also calls for notarized English translations of foreign-language documents presented for notarization.

Consular or Embassy Translation

Alabama’s driver manual requires a foreign birth certificate to be “translated into English and certified by the Embassy of the country of issuance” unless the applicant has a U.S. passport. Several other states accept consular translations as an alternative (Georgia, Texas, Washington, the District of Columbia, South Carolina for Korean and Taiwanese consulates).

No Published Rule

For about a third of the states we could not find a published translation standard on the licensing agency’s site (Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri beyond an English-only mandate, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, West Virginia, Wyoming). That does not mean these offices accept untranslated documents; it means the decision is made at the counter. In those states, bring a certified translation in the USCIS format and, if the document is a birth or marriage record, expect the office to ask for the original as well. Each state page lists the agency’s phone number so you can ask before you go.

Three rules of thumb apply everywhere. Bring the original foreign document with the translation; almost every agency that has written a rule says so. Do not translate your own documents or have a relative do it; Alaska, Indiana and Minnesota prohibit it outright and the others will question it. And do not accept an extract: Utah says it in so many words, and every other agency expects the whole document.

5. Notaries, Vital Records and Licensing Boards

Notaries

No state authorizes a notary public, as such, to certify the accuracy of a translation. A notary who happens to be a competent translator may sign a translator’s certification in their personal capacity, but may not notarize their own signature. Several states have published guidance: Oregon’s Secretary of State tells notaries not to notarize a document they cannot read unless a translation accompanies it and to notarize the translation rather than the original; Michigan’s Office of the Great Seal says “the notarization of documents in a foreign language must be in English” and that such documents “must have a notarized English translation”; Texas requires that the notarial certificate be in a language the notary can read; Idaho’s notary training instructs notaries to have a non-English notarial certificate translated before proceeding. Mississippi’s notary rules, like several states’, bar non-attorney notaries from using the term “notario publico,” a protection against the common confusion between a Latin American notary and a U.S. notary.

Apostilles

A translation can be apostilled only if it has first been notarized, because the apostille authenticates the notary’s signature. Texas’s Secretary of State requires a typed translator’s statement, signed and “properly notarized with a true and accurate notarial certificate,” before it will authenticate a translation. California’s Secretary of State will issue an apostille so long as the notarial certificate is in English, whatever the language of the rest of the document. The order of operations therefore matters: translate, have the translator’s signature notarized, then apostille.

Vital Records

Offices that amend birth, marriage and death records on the strength of foreign court orders often set their own rule. Minnesota’s Office of Vital Records requires that “any translation must be performed by a qualified translator who then signs the translation in front of a notary public.” Hawaii’s Department of Health asks for “a certified (notarized) translated version” of a foreign court order. New York’s Department of Health defines a certified translation in the federal terms (a signed, dated statement that the translator is competent and the translation is accurate) and refers the public to commercial translation services.

Professional Licensing Boards

Nursing, medical, engineering, accountancy and bar admission authorities typically require certified translations of foreign diplomas, transcripts and licenses, frequently routed through a credential evaluation service. Hawaii’s professional licensing rules (Haw. Code R. 16-72-25), for example, require documents in a foreign language to be accompanied by an English translation. These boards are outside the scope of this guide but follow the same logic: a translator’s certification, sometimes notarized, and an original or certified copy of the source document.

6. Do Any States Certify Translators?

For court purposes, no. Every state judiciary we reviewed credentials spoken-language interpreters (and often sign-language interpreters) through a certification exam and a registry. None of them certifies or lists written translators as a separate credential. Texas’s Office of Court Administration says it plainly: “There is no government credential for translators,” and refers users to the ATA, NAJIT and the Texas Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators. Maryland’s Court Interpreter Program “does not certify translators” and recommends hiring ATA-accredited translators. Arizona’s program “provides for the credentialing of spoken-language interpreters only.” Missouri and Ohio title their rules “interpreters and translators” and Missouri’s Rule 19.04 does define a “certified translator,” but neither publishes a translator list distinct from the interpreter roster. Iowa and the District of Columbia resolve the question by reference: Iowa treats ATA or NAJIT credentials as the mark of a certified translator, and D.C. states that translators of court documents must meet the same requirements as interpreters.

Outside the courts, the lists that exist belong to driver licensing agencies (Nevada, Connecticut, Utah) and to Washington’s Department of Social and Health Services, whose Language Testing and Certification program is the only state-run written translation credential of general application.

The consequence for anyone choosing a translator is that the credential that carries weight across the country is ATA certification in the language pair, where the ATA offers it, and ATA membership with a documented track record where it does not. Agencies that name a credential name the ATA (Minnesota, South Carolina, New Jersey, Iowa, Maryland, California’s Secretary of State). That is why Jurilingua’s certifications identify the translator’s ATA status and membership number.

7. A Certification That Works in Every State

A certification drafted to the following standard satisfies the federal rule, every state court rule with an affidavit requirement, and every DMV that does not impose its own form or approved list:

• It identifies the document translated (type, issuing authority, date, reference number) and states the source and target languages.
• It states that the translation is complete and accurate and that the translator is competent to translate from the source language into English.
• It gives the translator’s full name, signature, date, address, telephone and email, and professional affiliation (ATA member or ATA-certified, with number).
• It states that the translator is not the applicant and is not related to the applicant (required by Alaska, Indiana and Minnesota, harmless elsewhere).
• It is made under penalty of perjury or as an affidavit where a court rule calls for a sworn statement (New York, Texas, Arkansas, California, Wisconsin).
• It leaves space for a notarial acknowledgment of the translator’s signature, used only where the receiving agency requires it.

We draft every certification we issue to this standard. Where a state agency prescribes its own form (Alaska COFAT, Colorado affirmation, South Carolina Form 4030, New Jersey MVC certificate, Minnesota PS33210, Tennessee Certificate of Accurate Translation), we complete the state form in addition.

8. State-by-State Summary Table

The table summarizes the court rule, the driver licensing rule and whether the state keeps any translator list. “General rules” means the state has no rule specific to translated documents and relies on its authentication and interpreter rules. Each state name links to a page with citations, quotations, agency contacts and the language access coordinator for the courts.

9. State by State: The Rule, the DMV and the Contacts

Every jurisdiction below opens to its own citations and official links. Nothing is hidden behind a form, and the whole page is re-verified once a year.

10. Method and Sources

For each state we read, on the official site of the legislature, judiciary or agency, the rule of evidence corresponding to Federal Rule 604, any rule or statute addressing translated documents, the judiciary’s interpreter certification program and its public roster, the driver licensing agency’s identity-document requirements, and, where they exist, the notary regulator’s guidance, the vital records office’s amendment requirements and the secretary of state’s apostille instructions. Citations, short quotations and links to the source text appear on each state page. Where an agency publishes no translation standard online, the state page says so and gives the agency’s contact so that the requirement can be confirmed before a visit; we do not infer a rule from silence.

Rules change. State court rules are amended annually, DMV document lists change with REAL ID implementation, and several of the sources cited here were themselves revised in 2024 and 2025 (Louisiana’s Act 32, Georgia’s Rules for Legal Interpreting, North Carolina’s language access standards, Ohio’s Rules of Superintendence). We re-verify every state page once a year and date each page. If you are a court clerk, language access coordinator, librarian or attorney and you find an error or a change we have missed, write to [email] and we will correct the page and credit the correction.

Related Guides

USCIS certified translation requirements · Foreign-language documents in U.S. courts · Foreign birth certificate translation requirements by state · Certified vs. sworn vs. notarized translation

This guide is general information compiled from public sources and is not legal advice. Requirements vary by agency and by office; confirm with the receiving court or agency for a specific filing.

Benjamin Thomas

Founder of Jurilingua, a U.S. legal translation company serving law firms, corporate legal departments and individuals nationwide. Member of the American Translators Association. He writes on certified translation standards in American courts and agencies, and maintains Jurilingua's 50-state research, re-verified every year. All articles by Benjamin Thomas