How do you translate a Bulgarian death certificate for USCIS?
A Bulgarian death certificate is an extract from the death record, the prepis-izvlechenie ot akt za smart, issued by the municipality. USCIS asks for a full English translation of it with the translator’s signed certification. We translate the extract in full, regular or trilingual: every entry, the round municipal seal and the clerk’s signature. A Bulgarian death certificate is usually one page: $25, ready within 24 hours after payment.
What the extract is
Bulgaria records a death in a death record kept by the municipality, and the document you receive is an extract from it: prepis-izvlechenie ot akt za smart. The civil registry clerk signs it, and it carries the municipality’s round seal. The death is registered on the basis of a notification of death issued by a medical doctor. Certified copies are available (U.S. Department of State (opens in a new tab)).
Bulgarian death records don’t list the cause of death (same source). If an agency asks about it, the translation can’t add it: we translate only what the extract says.
The trilingual form
Besides the regular extract, Bulgarian civil authorities issue a two-sided death certificate in Bulgarian, French and English under the 1976 Vienna Convention, with the civil registry office’s seal (same source). Part of it is still in Bulgarian, so USCIS needs a full English translation of it, like any document containing a foreign language (8 CFR 103.2(b)(3) (opens in a new tab)).
When USCIS asks for it
- A spouse’s earlier marriage: Form I-130 asks for documents showing that each earlier marriage legally ended (Form I-130 instructions (opens in a new tab)). When it ended because a spouse died, that document is the death certificate.
- A widow or widower of a US citizen: Form I-360 asks for a copy of the death certificate of the US citizen spouse (Form I-360 instructions (opens in a new tab)).
Names
The deceased’s name is spelled as in their passport, or by Bulgaria’s official transliteration if there is no passport spelling (Institute for Bulgarian Language (opens in a new tab)). If you also order a marriage or birth certificate, the names will match across all of them.
Where the translation goes
- USCIS: the translation and certification filed with a copy of the extract. What USCIS accepts
- NVC and US consulates: the Department of State doesn’t ask for a translation of a certificate in Bulgarian if you are applying for your visa in Bulgaria. What NVC accepts
- Immigration court: a typed certification with the translator’s address and phone. What the court accepts
Our Bulgarian documents are translated and certified by a native Bulgarian speaker. What to file in your case is for you or your attorney to decide.
Sample translations
2 samplesEach sample has the original, the translation and the signed certificate. Personal details are blurred.
Questions
Will the translation show the cause of death?
Only if the document shows it, and Bulgarian death records don’t list the cause. The translation renders exactly what is on the extract.
How much does it cost?
A Bulgarian death certificate is usually one page: $25. Each additional page in the same order is $20, so a death certificate with a marriage and a birth certificate is $65.
Do I need a notary or an apostille?
Not for USCIS: it asks for the translator’s signed certification, and it’s included. An apostille on the extract is translated along with it.
How long does it take?
1–4 documents: within 24 hours after payment; faster, within 12 hours (+$15 a page) or 3 hours (+$30 a page, paid between 8 am and 6 pm Pacific time). For 5 or more, we give you the date with the quote.
How we do it
- Full translation
every stamp, signature and handwritten line
- Signed certificate
with the translator’s name, address and phone
- A PDF, ready to file
original, translation and certificate, translation pages numbered
- Price
$25 for the first page up to 250 words, $20 for each additional page, in the same document or another one.
- Turnaround
1–4 documents: within 24 hours after payment; faster, within 12 hours (+$15 a page) or 3 hours (+$30 a page, paid between 8 am and 6 pm Pacific time). For 5 or more, we give you the date with the quote.
This is a summary of what the agency publishes, not legal advice.