Who can translate handwritten Soviet documents for USCIS?

Which documents

Soviet documents were mostly filled in by hand, in Russian cursive, often by different people over many years. The ones we translate most often:

• military ID and officer’s ID: ranks, specialties, unit numbers, entries about service and reserve; see military ID translation;
• work record book: every entry about hiring, transfers and dismissal, with the order numbers; see employment records;
• birth and marriage certificates with handwritten entries on a printed form, including bilingual Belarusian and Ukrainian forms; see birth certificate;
• Soviet passports with residence stamps and handwritten notes;
• archive certificates and old school and university documents.

How we read handwriting

• Every line. USCIS asks for a full translation (8 CFR 103.2(b)(3) (opens in a new tab)), so we translate every handwritten entry, correction and note in the margin, not only the main fields.
• Abbreviations. Soviet clerks abbreviated a lot: “в/ч” for military unit, “пр.” for order, “г.р.” for year of birth. We write them out in English so the reader understands them, and keep unit and order numbers exactly as written.
• Corrections. If an entry is crossed out and rewritten, the translation shows both, with a note that the first one is crossed out.
• Unreadable words. If a word can’t be read, the translation says [illegible]. We don’t guess: a guessed date or name can raise a question from the agency.

Stamps and seals

Faded round seals and rectangular stamps are translated where they can be read, with a note that it is a seal or a stamp. A seal that can’t be read is marked [Round seal, illegible]. Stamps in another language, such as Belarusian or Ukrainian, are translated too, with a note on the language.

Names

Names in Soviet documents are often written by hand and sometimes spelled differently from one document to another. We spell them the way you give them from your international passport and keep the same spelling in every document of your order. If a document spells a name differently, the translation follows the document, and we can add a translator’s note.

Price

$25 for the first page of up to 250 words and $20 for each additional page. Handwriting, stamps and seals don’t cost extra. Send photos of every page, including the ones with stamps only, and we’ll give you the exact price.