Do you need a translation of your vaccination record for immigration?

What the civil surgeon reviews

If you apply for a green card from inside the United States, you generally need a medical exam by a civil surgeon on Form I-⁠693, and the vaccination record is part of that form (Form I-⁠485 instructions (opens in a new tab)). The I-⁠693 instructions say that applicants must present documents showing they were vaccinated against a range of diseases, and that you should take your vaccination records to the appointment. If you never received a vaccine or can’t prove it, the civil surgeon can give it to you (Form I-⁠693 instructions (opens in a new tab)).

CDC’s instructions to civil surgeons describe what counts as a record (CDC, vaccination for civil surgeons (opens in a new tab)):

• a personal vaccination record, or a copy of a medical chart with entries made by a physician or other medical staff;
• only doses with a full date of receipt (month, day and year);
• a document that doesn’t look altered, with reasonable dates;
• not doses you only remember, with nothing in writing.

Who provides the translation

The same CDC page says that some civil surgeon offices may be able to translate records, but the responsibility lies with the applicant to provide reliable English translations of all records (CDC (opens in a new tab)). For anything filed with USCIS, the translation is full and comes with the translator’s certification of competence and accuracy (8 CFR 103.2(b)(3) (opens in a new tab)).

The visa exam abroad

If you are getting an immigrant visa at a consulate, a panel physician does the exam. The State Department asks every immigrant visa applicant to have vaccination records available for the panel physician; if you have none, the physician works out which vaccines you need (vaccination requirements (opens in a new tab)). That page doesn’t say anything about translations.

After the exam: school and work

The civil surgeon gives you a copy of the completed Form I-⁠693. Its vaccination part serves as your official vaccination record for later use, for example for school or employment (Form I-⁠693 instructions (opens in a new tab)). We found no other official rule on translating vaccination records for school enrollment.

What the translation includes

The record stays a table: vaccine, dose number, date, batch or series number, the clinic and the nurse’s or doctor’s signature, row for row as in the original. Every date is spelled out with the month in words, so no one has to guess whether 03.04 is March or April. Notes about contraindications, tests and immunity are translated too. We spell your name as in your passport.

Russian documents are translated and certified by our Russian translator. Ukrainian, Spanish, Romanian and Bulgarian documents are translated and certified by a native speaker of that language, under their own name.

What to file in your case is for you or your attorney to decide.