Death Certificate Translation for Asylum Evidence

Death certificate translation for the Home Office: what you receive

A death certificate is sometimes the only official record of what happened to a family member. In an asylum claim it may support your account of a killing, an attack or a death in detention. In a family application it may show that a parent or spouse has died. In each case, the exact words on the document matter.

You receive:

1. A full translation of every field, printed and handwritten.
2. The cause of death translated exactly as written, including medical terms.
3. Names, dates, places and registration numbers copied or transliterated carefully.
4. Every stamp, seal and signature described, with readable text translated.
5. A certification statement with GOV.UK's wording from certifying a document (opens in a new tab): "true and accurate translation of the original document", the date, and the translator's full name and contact details, with signature. We are members of the ITI, CIOL and ATC.
6. A PDF copy, plus a printed copy by post if you need one.

We handle your documents in confidence. Files are uploaded through an encrypted link, handled under UK GDPR and deleted after delivery.

Sample

Certified translation

Death certificate

Source language as on original → English

Name of deceased

redacted

Sex

redacted

Date of death

redacted

Place of death

redacted

Cause of death

redacted

Informant

redacted

Registration number

redacted

• [Round stamp: civil registry office]
• [Signature: registrar]
• [Illegible: entry in remarks box]

Translator's statement

I confirm that this is a true and accurate translation of the original document.

Date

DD/MM/YYYY

Translator

Full name

Signature

Death records we translate

Deaths are recorded in different ways in different countries, and families often hold more than one record. We translate all of these:

For police papers about a death, see our FIR translation page. Forensic and injury reports use medical language similar to scarring reports; see medical report translation for asylum.

Cause of death and registration details

The two parts of a death certificate that need the most care are the cause of death and the registration details.

Cause of death

We translate the cause of death exactly as the doctor or registrar wrote it. If it says "gunshot wound to the chest", that is what the translation says. If it says only "heart failure", we do not add anything. Medical abbreviations are expanded only where the meaning is certain; otherwise we copy them and add a translator's note.

Registration details

Registration numbers, office names, dates of death and dates of registration are copied exactly. Where the date is in the Solar Hijri calendar, as on Afghan and Iranian records, we show the original date and the Gregorian date in brackets. A gap between the death and its registration is common and we do not comment on it; we simply translate both dates.

Where your translated death certificate is used

A relative death certificate translation for asylum can be used:

• In your Home Office claim, alongside your witness statement.
• In a Tribunal appeal, where every document not in English needs an English translation. See our asylum appeal bundle translation page.
• In family applications, for example to show that a parent has died. New refugee family reunion applications have been paused since 4 September 2025 and remained paused in March 2026. Check GOV.UK for the latest position.

The Home Office or the judge decides how much weight a document is given. We translate only; for advice, speak to a solicitor or an IAA-regulated adviser. Death certificates often sit alongside birth records for the same family, covered on our birth certificate translation for asylum page.

Languages for death certificate translation

• Arabic: our death certificate translation Arabic to English service covers civil and hospital records from Iraq, Sudan, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere. See Arabic asylum document translation.
• Pashto and Dari: Afghan death records, often handwritten, with Solar Hijri dates. See Pashto and Dari asylum document translation.
• Farsi, Urdu, Kurdish, Tigrinya, Bengali and more: ask us for a quote.

Death certificate translation price and delivery time

A death certificate is usually a single short document, from £15. Hospital and forensic reports can be longer and are priced from £18 per page. We give you a fixed total before we start.

• Standard delivery: 1 working day for a certificate, 2–3 working days for longer reports
• Urgent delivery: same day or within 24 hours, from £10 extra per document

Prices shown are starting prices and include VAT. We confirm your exact price in a written quote before any work starts.

See our translation prices page for how pages are counted.

Notarised death certificate translation for use abroad

The Home Office does not ask for notarised translations. You may need notarisation if the translation will be used outside the UK, for example for an inheritance, property or registration matter in another country. We can arrange this with a UK notary public, from £45 per bundle (a starting price including VAT, confirmed in your written quote), allowing one extra working day. Read more on our notarised translation for refugees page, and check with the receiving authority first.