How do you translate a Ukrainian employment record book for USCIS?

What the book holds

The 1993 instruction on employment record books sets out what goes in: the employee’s name and date of birth, every hiring, transfer to another permanent job and dismissal, and awards and incentives. Penalties are not entered (Instruction No. 58 of 1993 (opens in a new tab)). Under the same instruction:

• the book and its inserts are filled in in Ukrainian and Russian, each in its own section;
• an entry about dismissal or transfer must use the wording of the law and cite its article;
• every entry follows the text of the employer’s order, and dates are written in figures, such as 05.01.1993;
• the dismissal entry and entries on awards are certified with a seal;
• a wrong entry is never crossed out: a new line says that entry No. so-⁠and-⁠so is invalid.

We keep all of it: the order numbers and dates, the articles of the law, the seals and the lines that cancel earlier entries. Job titles and company names are translated, and the order numbers stay as they are in the book.

Paper book and electronic records

Today a worker’s employment history is kept electronically, in the register of insured persons of the state social insurance register. A paper book is opened for a new employee only on request, and the employer must still make entries in a book the employee keeps if asked (Labour Code, Art. 48 (opens in a new tab)). The change came with Law No. 1217-IX, published in March 2021 and in force three months later. The Pension Fund was given five years to add earlier work records to the register, and until that is done, the paper book is used for periods before the law (Law No. 1217-IX (opens in a new tab)). The part of your register record that shows your work history is called the electronic employment record book (Law No. 2464-VI (opens in a new tab)).

If you have a printout from the register along with the paper book, we translate both.

Names follow the Latin spelling in your foreign passport. Tell us the spelling when you order.

Where the translation goes

• USCIS: for an employment-⁠based green card, evidence of experience is letters from current or former employers with the writer’s name, address and title and a specific description of your duties. If such letters are unavailable, USCIS considers other documents about your experience (8 CFR 204.5(g)(1) (opens in a new tab)). What USCIS accepts
• DV lottery: instead of high school, you can qualify with two years of work, within the five years before your visa application, in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience (22 CFR 42.33(a) (opens in a new tab)). DV lottery documents

Our Ukrainian documents are translated and certified by a native Ukrainian speaker. What to file in your case is for you or your attorney to decide.