Certified Translation Services

A certified translation that will be accepted by UK courts, registry offices, universities, HMRC, banks and professional regulators must include, at minimum, six elements. We include all of them on every translation we issue, regardless of which body the client is submitting to.

• A signed Statement of Truth. The exact wording our certificates use: "I confirm that this is a true and accurate translation of the original document into English." Signed by the translator or, in the case of an accredited agency, by an authorised representative.
• The translator's full name and qualifications. A surname-initial does not count. Receiving authorities want a name they could in principle contact and a qualification they can verify (MITI, DPSI, NRPSI, or equivalent academic qualification with documented experience).
• The agency name and registered address. A PO box is not enough. Lingo Service Translations Ltd, with our Cardiff registered office on every certificate.
• The agency's accreditation references. We cite our ITI corporate member reference and our ISO 17100 accreditation reference, both verifiable on the relevant register.
• The date of translation. Some receiving authorities reject certificates older than three months; we always issue with the current date and reissue free of charge when an older certificate is no longer accepted.
• The source attached. The certified translation is issued as a single combined PDF containing the source scan and the translation, so the receiving authority can confirm the source matches what they have.

England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have no sworn-translator system. There is no government register of authorised translators the way Spain, France, Italy and Germany maintain. Instead, the UK relies on professional accreditation (ITI, CIOL) and on quality standards (ISO 17100, ATC). A certified translation by a qualified translator at an accredited agency is the accepted form. When clients ask us for a "sworn" translation, what they usually mean is one of three things:

• Sworn for foreign use. The document is going to a country that requires sworn translation. We arrange this by routing through a partner sworn translator registered in the destination country.
• Notarised. A notary public has confirmed the translator's identity and signature. We arrange this for clients submitting to countries that require it; UK domestic use rarely needs it.
• Apostilled. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has added an apostille stamp under the Hague Convention. The apostille goes on the notary's signature, not on the translation. Required for some destination countries; never required for UK domestic use.

We see rejected certifications when clients have used unaccredited translators, freelance bilinguals or family members. The rejections we see most often, in order:

1. No verifiable translator qualification. "Sarah, native speaker, has translated this" is not a qualification. Receiving authorities look up the translator on the ITI or CIOL register; if there is nothing to find, the certificate is rejected.
2. Missing Statement of Truth. A translator's signature without a clear statement that the translation is true and accurate is not a certification — it is just a signed translation.
3. Wrong format. The translation is delivered as a Word document with no source attached. UK authorities want a single PDF with source and translation visible side by side.
4. Source mismatch. The translator certified a translation from a photocopy of a photocopy, with critical text illegible. The certificate cannot truthfully say "true and accurate" if half the original is unreadable.
5. Translator translated their own document. Translators cannot certify translations of their own personal documents — the receiving authority will reject the obvious conflict of interest.

Every certified translation we issue is checked against this list before release. If your previous translation was rejected, send it to us along with the rejection letter; we will tell you which of the five caused it.

His Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) covers the civil, family, criminal and employment court systems in England and Wales, with parallel structures in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Our certified translations are accepted for: foreign witness statements, foreign court judgments produced as evidence, contracts being litigated, exhibits referenced in pleadings, affidavits sworn abroad, and foreign-language correspondence between parties. We routinely deliver bundle-ready translations for solicitors — indexed, paginated, with consistent terminology across a multi-document bundle. For high-volume immigration practices, we operate a dedicated account-manager model with case-level cost reporting.

Local Register Offices, the General Register Office (GRO) and the Marriage Registrar service accept our certified translations of foreign birth, marriage, civil partnership, divorce and death certificates for marriage and civil partnership appointments, the Notice of Marriage process, and the conversion of overseas marriages into UK records. The Register Office requirements are specific: the source certificate must be the original or a certified copy issued by the foreign authority (we do not certify translations of photographs or scans of unclear quality), and the translation must include the apostille or legalisation stamp if one is on the source.

Ecctis is the official UK body for recognising international qualifications. UK universities accept Ecctis Statements of Comparability and our certified translations of foreign diplomas, degree certificates, academic transcripts, language qualifications and school reports for admissions, credit transfer and professional registration. We follow the Ecctis format closely — source attached, full Statement of Truth, translator credentials, our seal, and the date. Ecctis-registered credential evaluation agencies use us for bulk submissions; volume discounts apply.

Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs accepts our certified translations of foreign tax returns, foreign income statements, foreign pension statements, foreign employment records and foreign bank statements for self-assessment, double-taxation treaty claims and foreign-income disclosures. The format is the same single combined PDF; HMRC stores the translation alongside the original on the taxpayer's record.

UK banks and mortgage lenders accept our certified translations of foreign identity documents, foreign credit reports, foreign payslips, foreign bank statements and foreign mortgage statements for proof of identity, source of funds, affordability checks and credit applications. Each bank has slightly different document combinations; our quote includes a checklist of what your specific lender will need.

Foreign embassies and consulates in the UK accept our certified translations of UK-issued documents (birth certificates, marriage certificates, criminal record certificates) for use abroad. For documents destined for non-Hague Convention countries, we coordinate the notary, apostille and consular legalisation steps so the client receives a single complete document set.

The General Medical Council (GMC), Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), General Dental Council (GDC), General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), Bar Standards Board (BSB), Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and other UK professional bodies accept our certified translations of foreign medical degrees, foreign nursing qualifications, foreign professional registrations and foreign disciplinary records for UK professional registration. The format is the same; we add specific accuracy on technical terminology (medical specialisms, legal qualifications) by routing to specialist linguists.

UK employers and recruitment agencies accept our certified translations of foreign academic transcripts, foreign professional certificates, foreign reference letters and foreign criminal record certificates (ACRO and overseas equivalents) for employment vetting. The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and the BS 7858 standard reference certified translations as the acceptable form for foreign-credential verification.

The same certified translation is accepted across all UK government bodies, including UK Visas and Immigration and the Home Office. Because those applications have extra requirements (specific document combinations, originals vs copies, when to send hard copies), we maintain dedicated pages: UKVI translation requirements for visa applications and Home Office certified translation for asylum, settlement and family applications.

The certificate is a single page on letterhead, sealed and signed. It contains, in order:

• Document description. What was translated, identified by source language, target language, document type and any reference numbers visible on the source (e.g. "Italian-to-English certified translation of an Italian birth certificate, registry of births reference no. 1234").
• Statement of Truth. The exact wording: "I confirm that this is a true and accurate translation of the original document into English. I have not amended, added to or omitted from the source. Where original-language formatting could not be reproduced exactly, this is indicated in square brackets."
• Translator credentials. Full name, the translator's professional qualification (e.g. MITI, DPSI, MA in Translation Studies, X years professional experience), and the translator's signature.
• Date of translation. The date the certificate is issued. Some receiving bodies reject certificates older than three months; we reissue free.
• Lingo Service company details. Full registered name (Lingo Service Translations Ltd), Cardiff registered office address, company registration number, VAT registration number, telephone and email.
• ITI corporate member reference. Our membership reference with the Institute of Translation and Interpreting, verifiable on the ITI public register.
• ISO 17100 accreditation reference. Our certification number, verifiable on the certifying body's register.
• Company seal. Our embossed seal applied at the bottom of the certificate.

The image below shows the exact format of a Lingo Service Certificate of Translation Accuracy. Names, document specifics and signatures are replaced with "[Sample]" placeholders so this image cannot be reused as a forgery template; the layout, wording, ITI and ISO references are real and identical to what you receive.

The PDF certificate has the same legal status as a printed and signed paper certificate in the UK. Every UK court, registry office, university and professional regulator we work with accepts the PDF. The original signature is captured digitally and embedded; the certificate is locked against editing once issued.

You can also request a hard copy with a wet-ink signature on letterhead and an embossed seal. We charge actual courier cost only: Royal Mail Tracked 24 (from £6.50, next business day in the UK), DPD next-day (from £9.00, before 18:00 most UK addresses), or FedEx International (from £25, varies by destination). Hard copies are dispatched within one business day of the certified translation being released.

Need another copy in three months because a different authority is asking? One click in your client account; we reissue at no charge with a fresh date. If a translation needs correcting after delivery (e.g. the source contained an error the client subsequently amended), we revoke the original certificate (mark it superseded) and issue a corrected version with a clear note explaining the change.

• Birth certificates — receiving authorities: Register Offices, universities, HMRC, mortgage lenders, employers
• Marriage and civil-partnership certificates — Register Offices for re-marriage notice, family courts, HMRC for tax-status changes
• Divorce decrees and final orders — Register Offices for re-marriage, family courts for cross-border matters
• Death certificates — Probate Registry, life-insurance claims, pension providers
• Passport pages — universities, employers, banks, ID verification
• National ID cards — bank identity verification, employer right-to-work checks
• Driving licences — DVLA exchange, car-hire companies, insurance providers
• Criminal record certificates (ACRO, overseas police clearance) — employers, professional regulators, voluntary-sector vetting

• Diplomas and degree certificates — Ecctis, UK universities, employers, professional regulators
• Academic transcripts (full marks records) — Ecctis credit comparability, university credit transfer
• School reports and secondary qualifications (GCSE-equivalent foreign certificates) — sixth-form admissions, foundation-year applications
• Language qualifications (IELTS substitutes, country-issued language certificates) — universities, professional registration
• Professional registration certificates — GMC, NMC, GDC, ACCA, SRA registration
• Continuing professional development records — annual professional revalidation

• Contracts (employment, commercial, lease, sale) — solicitors, in-house legal teams, courts
• Court orders, judgments and tribunal decisions — cross-border litigation, enforcement
• Witness statements and affidavits — court evidence, sworn declarations
• Powers of attorney — banks, solicitors, government bodies
• Wills and probate documents — Probate Registry, estate administration
• Articles of association and certificates of incorporation — Companies House comparisons, due diligence
• Board resolutions and shareholder agreements — corporate transactions, M&A

• Bank statements — mortgage lenders, banks, HMRC
• Foreign tax returns and tax-residency certificates — HMRC, double-taxation claims
• Payslips and employment-income certificates — mortgage applications, credit applications
• Pension statements — HMRC, pension transfer, retirement planning
• Credit reports (foreign credit-bureau reports) — UK banks, mortgage lenders
• Audited accounts and financial statements — corporate due diligence, regulatory filings

• Medical records — UK NHS providers, ongoing care, second opinions
• Vaccination records — NHS, travel health, school registration
• Fitness-to-work certificates — employers, occupational health
• Medical degrees and specialty registration — GMC certification, specialty recognition
• Prescription records — UK GP transitions, controlled-drug certifications

• Certificates of incorporation and good-standing certificates — UK due diligence, banking, M&A
• VAT and tax registration certificates — UK VAT registration, cross-border trading
• Memoranda and articles of association — corporate restructuring, parent-company verification
• Annual returns and filings — comparative analysis, due diligence
• Director and shareholder identification — banking, KYC, anti-money-laundering

Don't see your document type? Most certified translations fall outside any standard list — wills with attachments, foreign court bundles, technical regulatory documents, specialist medical reports, religious documents (marriage records held by churches, mosques, temples). Send it to us; we quote within an hour with a recommended translator profile and a turnaround commitment.

These are the language pairs our in-house team handles daily. In-house means: matched to a qualified linguist within the hour, certified within standard turnaround, no third-party intermediaries.

• South Asian community languages: Arabic, Urdu, Pashto, Farsi (Persian), Punjabi, Bengali, Hindi, Tamil, Gujarati
• European EEA languages: Polish, Romanian, Spanish, Italian, French, German, Portuguese (European and Brazilian), Greek, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak
• Other high-volume UK pairs: Mandarin (Simplified), Cantonese (Traditional), Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish, Vietnamese, Albanian, Somali, Tigrinya, Amharic

Arabic, Urdu, Farsi, Pashto and Hebrew are right-to-left scripts. They are not just a font change; they require translators trained in RTL document layout, bidirectional text rules and the specific ligature behaviour of each script. Our RTL specialists work in our LingoSecure workspace with Adobe World-Ready Composer and similar tooling, so when a translated birth certificate comes back to a client, the text flows correctly in RTL and the numbers (which remain LTR even in RTL contexts) sit in the right places.

The same applies to CJK (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) and Indic scripts (Bengali, Tamil, Punjabi, Hindi, Gujarati, Telugu, Marathi). Indic scripts in particular use complex conjuncts and matras that auto-translation tools regularly mishandle; our in-house Indic translators are native speakers with formal training in document typesetting for their script.

Every translator who signs a Lingo Service Certificate of Translation Accuracy meets the same minimum credential bar:

• Qualification: MITI (Member of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting), DPSI (Diploma in Public Service Interpreting), MCIL (Member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists), NRPSI (National Register of Public Service Interpreters), or an equivalent academic qualification (MA in Translation Studies or equivalent) plus documented professional experience.
• Experience: Minimum five years professional translation experience in the relevant language pair.
• Specialism: Each translator is matched to documents in their declared specialism (legal, medical, civil-status, academic, financial). Birth certificates go to civil-status specialists; medical records go to medically-trained linguists.
• Native target language: All into-English certified work is delivered by native-English translators. The reverse is true for our into-target-language certified work.

This is not a marketing claim; it is the requirement of our ISO 17100 accreditation and our ITI corporate membership. Both bodies audit the translator pool annually.

Under ISO 17100, certified translation is always handled by two linguists: one drafts the translation, a second qualified linguist revises it against the source. The reviser is a separate person — never the same translator checking their own work. The reviser checks: source-target accuracy (no omissions, no additions, no misreadings), terminology consistency, names and numbers exactly transcribed, document layout preserved, and formatting indicators (square brackets for illegible source, footnotes for translator's notes) applied correctly.

The Statement of Truth on the certificate is signed by the lead translator, but the work has passed through two qualified linguists before the certificate is issued. The reviser's name is available on request.

For the long tail of languages we don't keep in-house — Tigrinya, Tigré, Oromo, Wolof, Lingala, Quechua, indigenous languages of the Pacific and South America, regional Chinese dialects beyond Mandarin and Cantonese, regional Indian languages beyond the top eight — we route to vetted ITI-member or CIOL-member partner translators in the destination country. The certificate is still issued by Lingo Service Translations Ltd with our seal and ITI corporate member reference; the named translator is our partner, with their qualifications visible on the certificate. Turnaround is typically 24-48 hours longer than our in-house pairs.

• Single page: £35 — for short documents (birth certificate, marriage certificate, driving licence, single transcript page, single bank statement page)
• 2-5 pages: £30 per page — for typical multi-page personal documents
• 6+ pages: Tiered, £25-28 per page depending on document type and turnaround — for longer transcripts, multi-page contracts, court bundles

A page in our pricing is a standard A4 with up to 250 words of source text. Documents with dense text (full text pages with no whitespace, multi-column legal text) above 250 words count as more than one page; the quote tool calculates this automatically from your uploaded source.

• Legal and medical specialist documents: +20% — documents requiring specialist linguists (medical records, complex contracts, technical legal documents)
• Rare language pairs: +25% — language pairs we route to partner translators in the destination country
• Volume discount: 10-25% for orders over 20 pages, 30% for orders over 50 pages — automatic in the quote tool
• Solicitor and business account: Custom rates for monthly volume above £500/month; ring our Cardiff office for a contract

• Same-day return (PDF): +50% — orders placed by 12:00 UK time on weekdays, documents up to 5 pages
• 4-hour return (PDF): +100% — by arrangement; only for documents up to 3 pages
• Saturday or Sunday return: +75% — for true weekend emergencies; standard PDF return by 18:00 on the requested day
• Out-of-hours translator: Quote on request — court-deadline work overnight

• PDF delivery: Free — included with every order. Same legal status as the hard copy in the UK.
• Royal Mail Tracked 24: £6.50 — next business day in mainland UK, tracked
• Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1 PM: £9.50 — guaranteed next-day before 13:00, insured to £500
• DPD next-day: £9.00 — before 18:00 to most UK addresses, time-slot tracking
• FedEx International Priority: from £25 — destination-country dependent, 1-3 business days outside the UK

We charge the actual courier cost only — no handling fee. If your destination country needs apostille or consular legalisation, we coordinate the FCDO apostille (£30 for the FCDO fee plus our handling at cost) and consular legalisation (varies by country, quoted before commitment).

All prices include VAT at 20% for UK consumers. For UK VAT-registered businesses, we invoice with VAT separately shown; the invoice is suitable for VAT recovery. For EU and non-UK businesses, we apply the reverse-charge mechanism where applicable and provide an EC sales invoice. Our VAT number is on every invoice and on the certificate itself.

• The certification. The signed Statement of Truth, our seal and our ITI corporate member reference are included on every translation. We do not list "certification fee" as a line item.
• Reissue of an old certificate. Need another copy three months later for a different authority? Free.
• Minor corrections. If the source contained a typo the client subsequently amended, we reissue the corrected translation at no additional cost (within 30 days of original delivery).
• Standard quote turnaround. Quotes are returned within an hour on weekdays, free, no commitment.

For orders placed on weekdays before 12:00 UK time, on documents up to five pages, in our 20 in-house language pairs, we return the certified PDF the same business day — typically by 17:30 UK time. The same-day surcharge is +50%. The flow:

• Order in by 12:00 UK time
• Translator matched and started by 13:00
• Translation drafted by 15:30
• Second-linguist revision and certification by 17:00
• PDF released by 17:30

For orders placed any time on weekdays, on documents up to ten pages, in our 20 in-house language pairs, we return the certified PDF within 24 hours — typically 14-22 hours from order placement. This is the default option in our quote tool; no surcharge applies.

Documents of 11-25 pages typically return within 48 hours. The work is paced so the lead translator does not exceed 2,500 words per day (an ISO 17100 quality threshold); longer documents are split across multiple translators with terminology consistency managed via shared glossary.

Court bundles and projects over 25 pages typically run 3-5 business days. We confirm a fixed delivery commitment at the quote stage, with milestone updates in your client account. For solicitor account holders, we provide a per-case Gantt chart for bundle preparation deadlines.

We do not operate a routine weekend service, but court-deadline work and family-court emergencies are handled by arrangement. The surcharge is +75%; orders must be placed by 16:00 Friday with a clear delivery deadline. Ring our Cardiff office on 029 2008 0010 — we will tell you whether we can commit before you order.

The list above describes our standard operational pace. Three factors slow turnaround:

• Specialist documents. Medical records, complex contracts, technical legal documents, regulatory filings. Adds 12-24 hours because the document is routed to a specialist linguist queue.
• Rare language pairs. Documents in languages we route to partner translators in the destination country. Adds 24-48 hours because we coordinate with a different time zone.
• Original-document verification. Where the source has unusual seals, watermarks or specialised security features (some EU national identity documents, certain academic credentials from specific universities), our verification step adds 4-12 hours. We tell you at the quote stage if this applies.

Every order has a status page in your client account, refreshed in real time. The states are: Received → Translator matched → Draft in progress → Revision in progress → Certified → PDF ready → Despatched (if courier requested) → Delivered. You also receive email notifications at each state change.

We are a corporate member of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting, the UK's primary professional body for translators. ITI corporate membership is granted on the basis of business credentials, the quality of the translator pool, and adherence to the ITI Code of Professional Conduct. The membership is verifiable on the ITI's public corporate-member register at iti.org.uk; our membership reference is printed on every Certificate of Translation Accuracy we issue.

We are accredited to ISO 17100:2015, the international standard for translation services. ISO 17100 specifies requirements for the resources, processes and quality management of translation service providers. The two requirements with the most direct impact on certified translation:

• Translator qualifications. Translators must have a recognised qualification or documented experience in the relevant language pair. Self-declared bilingualism is not acceptable.
• Two-linguist process. Every translation passes through a translator and a separate qualified reviser. Self-revision is not acceptable.

Our ISO 17100 accreditation reference is printed on every certificate. The certifying body publishes our accreditation status on their public register.

Lingo Service Translations Ltd is incorporated in England and Wales, with the registered office in Cardiff. UK incorporation matters for clients who need a UK supplier for procurement, for VAT recovery, and for data residency — our LingoSecure workspace is hosted on UK servers (Cardiff and London datacentres), under UK GDPR jurisdiction, and we do not transfer client files to non-UK servers without explicit client consent.

The Cardiff registered office address, our company registration number and our VAT registration number are published in full on every certificate, on the contact page, and on our Companies House public record at Companies House.

We hold an Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) registration as a data controller. Our certified-translation workflow is engineered for the kind of personal data certified translation routinely handles — birth certificates, passports, medical records, financial documents, criminal record certificates. The practical effect:

• Files are uploaded to our UK-hosted LingoSecure workspace via HTTPS; never by unencrypted email.
• Access is limited to the assigned translator, reviser and project manager, with audit logs retained.
• Files are automatically deleted 90 days after delivery, unless the client requests earlier deletion (we honour same-day deletion on request) or longer retention for ongoing court cases.
• Client content is never used to train AI or machine-translation models, internal or third-party. Our translators do not use public AI tools (ChatGPT, Gemini, etc.) on client documents; their work happens inside our isolated workspace.

We are reviewed publicly on Trustpilot, Google Business Profile and Reviews.io. The reviews are not curated — every customer who orders is invited to review. The link to each is on our About page.

Lingo Service Translations Ltd has been delivering professional translation services to UK clients since 2011. The leadership team is named on our About page with full credentials and contact details. Mohamed, our founder, has operated the company for over a decade. The Cardiff office is the operational base; we do not subcontract certification work to overseas agencies.

We do not claim ATC membership (we are not currently ATC members, though our quality processes are aligned to ATC standards). We do not claim CIOL membership (CIOL membership is for individual linguists, not for translation companies; many of our translators are individual CIOL members, but the corporate entity is not). We do not claim "sworn translator" status in the UK — there is no such status in the UK, and any UK agency claiming it is misrepresenting how UK certification works.