Russian Translation in Seattle

It depends. If it is a correspondence or a translation of technical documentation, web content, advertising materials, and such, then there is no need for official validation of a performed translation. A client decides whether to accept a translation or not. On the contrary, in case of translating a document that should be filed somewhere, such translation ought to be officially validated. The purpose of such validation is to impose personal responsibility for the content of a translation, which appears for an accepting party as the actual information contained in a document. Regulations and practices of such validation vary in different countries.

Translations may be certified and notarized.

Translation that contains an affidavit of translation accuracy written by a qualified translator, a certifier. Translation as a business activity is not regulated in the United States, and no license or special permission is required in Washington. Practical knowledge of the source and target languages (Russian and English) is sufficient, though it doesn’t guarantee that a translation would be accepted anywhere. Many organizations, like colleges or DMV agencies, have their lists of authorized translation agencies. The translator’s affidavit ought to be subscribed by a certifier, and a company seal should be also attached if the certifier represents a company.

Certified translation that contains a notary public verification of the certifier’s signature. Such certification must be performed by a qualified licensed notary public and be signed with an official notary seal affixed.

No. Apostilles validate public documents and have nothing to do with their translations, except for cases related to the submission of the translation to the Belarusian consulate/embassy.

A rule of thumb is that a translation should be produced in an accepting country where a document is supposed to be submitted. If a foreign document is to be submitted in the United States, then its translation has to be certified/notarized in the U.S. to satisfy an accepting body on the territory of the United States. A foreign notary public cannot be considered the U.S. authority, and a foreign notary certification is not valid on the territory of the United States. The same goes with translations of domestic documents intended for foreign countries. The foreign country notary public should notarize such translation, or it won’t be accepted in that country. Therefore, a translation ought to be produced and certified in the respective foreign country. There is one exception though, which represents an option of using services of foreign consular offices.

 Yes, it can. Actually, this is the only appropriate way to produce a translation domestically. The consul of a foreign country has powers of a notary public of that country. They can verify a translation certifier’s signature in a foreign consulate. The drawback of such an alternative is its high cost and long processing time, as well as the necessity for a certifier to appear in person in a consular office and to present there sufficient proofs of translator qualifications as is consistent with specific requirements of a respected foreign country, or to require services of a reputable and familiar place to a respective consular offices translation agency, which may significantly raise costs.

In order to verify a translation in a foreign consulate, the original document (it can be a notarized copy of the source document) with an apostille already affixed together with a certified translation of that document into the target language should be submitted to the respected consular office for processing.

If you submit a document for consular legalization and attach its translation, then they can perform two acts in a consular office – consular legalization of a document and consular verification of its translation.

No. An apostille is a form of international certification of a public document that has nothing to do with translation issues.

Absolutely not!

No. Respected Hague Convention on apostilles introduces a standard form of a unified international certification of a public document, so-called apostille. It is supposed to be printed in an official language of a country where a document is issued. Members of the Convention are obliged to recognize an apostille from another country participating in the Convention without any reservation. Member is deemed to be the government (its officials) of a country that ratified the Convention. Therefore, a refusal to accept an apostille on the grounds of the absence of its translation into the language of an accepting country is inconsistent with provisions and the meaning of the Hague Convention.

Yes, they should. The fact of a matter is that according to the Hague Convention an apostille certifies a foreign public document. What makes a document public for foreign use? The signature of a public official can be recognized by a body authorized to issue apostilles. Government/court body that is capable and authorized to recognize the signature of a public official signed/certified the document. In some cases, the signature of a public official that originally signed/certified the document can be authenticated by an apostille directly. In other cases, intermediate certifications might be necessary. For example, in New Jersey, they register notary publics in the Secretary of State office, which is authorized to issue apostilles. In New York, they record notary publics in County Clerk offices, while County Clerks are registered with the Secretary of State office. The Secretary of State is not capable to authenticate signatures of notary publics directly, and a multi-step authentication is required. For international purposes, a foreign public document is what an apostille (or consular legalization) makes valid in a country other than where the document was produced. For accepting an organization, a valid foreign document is what an apostille is affixed to and what it validates. That means all certifications are considered to be a part of a document. Therefore, a document must be translated altogether, certifications included.

Unfortunately, Russian Consulate in Seattle was closed in March 2018 right after the closing of the San Francisco Consulate in 2017. Now California is served by the Washington Embassy of the Russian Federation. We do provide translation services for US documents to be submitted to Russian Embassy in Washington.

There is no Ukrainian Consulate in Seattle. We do provide translation services for the nearest Ukrainian Consulate in San Francisco. Documents are supposed to be Apostilled, Translations are supposed to be translated to Ukrainian language and notarized.

There is no Belarussian Consulate in Seattle. But we can prepare translation for the Embassy of Belarus in Washington and the Consulate General of Belarus in New York. The US document must be apostilled before translation, translation must be notarized, and after that, the translation should be Apostilled.