Kurdish Asylum Document Translation to English

Certified Kurdish to English translation for asylum

Kurdish is not one single written standard. The dialect and script depend on where you are from. A translator who reads Sorani well may struggle with Kurmanji in Latin letters, and the other way round. Getting the right match is the first step to an accurate translation.

A certified translation is the English text plus a signed statement from the translator. GOV.UK's guidance on certifying a document (opens in a new tab) asks for confirmation that it is a "true and accurate translation of the original document", with the date and the translator's full name and contact details. The Immigration Rules (paragraph 39B) add a signature and, for leave to remain and settlement, the translator's or company's credentials.

Each Kurdish to English certified translation we deliver includes:

• a full English translation that follows the original layout
• a note of the dialect and script of the original
• a signed and dated certificate of accuracy with our contact details
• the translator's credentials (we are members of the ITI, CIOL and ATC)
• notes on stamps, logos, seals and any Arabic or Farsi text on the same page

Sample

Certified translation

Kurdistan Region police report (bilingual)

Kurdish (Sorani) and Arabic → English

Report number

redacted

Police station

redacted police station, Kurdistan Region

Date of report

redacted

Complainant

redacted

Subject of report

redacted

Officer in charge

redacted

• [Round stamp: police station, partly illegible]
• [Translator's note: dialect and script of the original are noted; Kurdish and Arabic parts are both translated.]
• [Signature]

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

We certify our work to meet the Home Office's published requirements. The caseworker or judge decides how much weight each document gets.

Kurdish documents we translate

Kurdish clients often bring a mix of official papers, party documents and phone evidence. We translate:

• Iraqi and Kurdistan Region ID documents, including INID cards, old CSIDs and KRG residence papers. See ID card translation for asylum.
• Court papers, arrest warrants and police letters from the Kurdistan Region or elsewhere.
• Political party documents, such as membership cards and letters. See political party card translation.
• Threats, written or sent by phone, through threat letter translation for asylum.
• WhatsApp, Viber and Facebook messages, often in mixed Kurdish, Arabic and English. See translating WhatsApp evidence for asylum.
• Voice notes and videos in spoken Kurdish, through audio video translation for asylum.
• Family letters and witness statements, often handwritten.

For a full set of claim evidence, see asylum claim evidence translation.

Kurdish Sorani, Kurmanji and Badini

These are the main Kurdish dialects we see in UK asylum cases. We match both the document and, where needed, your spoken dialect.

Sorani

Sorani is the main written Kurdish of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. It uses an Arabic-based script with extra letters, such as ڕ, ڵ, ۆ and ێ, to show Kurdish sounds. Unlike Arabic, it writes most vowels. For Kurdish Sorani translation UK clients need, this is the usual script.

Kurmanji

In Turkey and Syria, Kurmanji is written in Latin letters, including ç, ş, ê, î and û. Most official documents there are in Turkish or Arabic, but letters, messages and party papers may be in Kurmanji. We offer Kurmanji translation UK wide from the same team.

Badini

Badini is a form of Kurmanji spoken around Duhok in Iraq. In Iraq it is often written in the Arabic-based script. That means a Badini letter looks like Sorani at first glance, but it reads differently. We assign a translator who knows Badini.

Mixed-language documents

Iraqi Kurdish documents often mix Kurdish and Arabic. Iranian Kurdish clients may have papers in Farsi, Syrian Kurds in Arabic, and Turkish Kurds in Turkish. We translate every language on the page. See also our Arabic asylum document translation, Farsi asylum document translation and Turkish asylum document translation pages.

Iraqi Kurdistan documents

These are short notes on documents from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The full guide is on our Iraq document translation for asylum page.

INID and CSID. Iraq's Civil Status ID (CSID) and Iraqi Nationality Certificate have not been valid since 1 April 2024. They have been replaced by the Unified National Card (INID). We still translate old CSIDs, because they can help show identity and family registry details. Read more about Iraqi ID card translation.

KRG documents. The Kurdistan Regional Government issues its own papers, such as residence cards, letters from local offices and some court and police documents. These are often bilingual in Kurdish and Arabic. We translate both parts and note which language each part is in.

Party and security papers. Letters, cards and summonses linked to political parties or security bodies. We translate names, posts and stamps exactly as they appear.

English to Kurdish: Home Office letters in your language

We translate Home Office letters into Sorani or Kurmanji, whichever you read. Our English to Kurdish Home Office letter service covers refusal letters, interview records and tribunal decisions.

See our Home Office refusal letter translation page for more. Appeal deadlines are short. GOV.UK gives 14 days if you are in the UK. We translate only. For advice, contact a solicitor or an adviser regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority (IAA, formerly OISC).

Our Kurdish translators

Our Kurdish translators are UK-based native speakers, and we work to ISO-certified quality processes. We never use machine translation for certified work.

1. Dialect match. Each document goes to a translator who reads that dialect and script natively.
2. Mixed documents. Where a page mixes Kurdish with Arabic, Farsi or Turkish, we make sure every language on it is translated and checked.
3. Local knowledge. Our translators know place names, tribal names and party names, and how each is usually spelt in English.
4. Privacy. Files are uploaded securely, handled under UK GDPR and deleted after delivery.

Kurdish translation price and delivery time

Most Kurdish documents are priced per page. WhatsApp chats, audio and video are quoted by length or time.

Prices shown are starting prices and include VAT. We confirm your exact price in a written quote before any work starts. The Home Office does not normally need notarised translations. For deadlines, use urgent asylum document translation. See our translation prices or request a fixed Kurdish quote.

For family members abroad, see refugee family reunion document translation. New refugee family reunion applications have been paused since 4 September 2025, and the Home Office said in March 2026 that the route "remains paused". Check GOV.UK for the latest position.