When Two Foreigners Marry in Seoul: The Certificate of Acceptance

A Korean Certificate of Acceptance for a Report of Marriage

The client sent a one-page Korean marriage acceptance certificate from a district office in Seoul. Both spouses on it are foreign nationals. The order was for a Korean marriage certificate translation for a U.S. filing.

A 수리증명서 (Certificate of Acceptance) is a certificate from a Korean local office stating that it accepted a report filed with it. On this page, the report is a 혼인신고 (Report of Marriage). The closing line certifies that the report has been accepted.

The page has five numbered items. Item 1 lists each 사건본인 (person concerned) by name, date of birth, sex, nationality and 외국인등록번호 (alien registration number). Items 2 to 5 give the name of the case, the 신고인 (reporter), the receipt number and date, and the date of acceptance.

The redacted image below shows that layout, with every name, number and date covered.

How We Translated the Korean Certificate of Acceptance

We translated the title as Certificate of Acceptance, and item 2 as “Name of the case: Report of Marriage” in the English. The closing line, “This is to certify that the above report has been accepted,” is the statement the whole page exists to make. The certification page names the document the same way, so a receiver sees what the packet holds before reading a single field.

Each spouse’s name is printed twice: in Hangul transcription, then in Latin letters in parentheses. We used the Latin spellings printed on the certificate instead of romanizing the Hangul again. The reporter’s name appears in Hangul only, and a note confirms it is the first spouse’s name.

The order came in under the client’s married surname, while the certificate records her pre-marriage surname. We kept the surname exactly as printed and added no bridging note. Our name mismatch guide covers surname differences across documents, but a record of the marriage itself is expected to show the pre-marriage surname.

Expert Note

"Translator’s Notes 1–2 from the certificate (names and digits replaced with placeholders): 1. The names of both parties appear in the original in Hangul transcription followed by the Latin-script form in parentheses — “[Name A in Hangul]([NAME A])” and “[Name B in Hangul]([NAME B])”. The Latin-script spellings printed in the original are used in this translation. In item 3 the reporter’s name is printed in Hangul only and is the same name as that of the first party in item 1. 2. In item 1 the Alien Registration Numbers are printed as six digits followed by a hyphen (“[six digits]-” and “[six digits]-”); the remaining digits are not printed in the original."

Natalia VegaSenior Certified Translation Reviewer

Each alien registration number stops after six digits and a hyphen. Those six digits match the holder’s printed date of birth in YYMMDD form, and the rest of the number is not printed. We reproduced both numbers exactly as printed, without completing or dropping them.

The sex field is printed for both spouses but left blank, so the translation reads “[Blank in original]” there. Dates printed year, month, day appear in U.S. order, and a note explains the conversion.

A faint round seal beside item 1 reads correctly only in a mirror image. It sits on the back of the sheet and shows through the paper. The back was not provided, so a note describes the impression and states that the translation covers the front only.

On the front, we translated the district head’s square red seal, the green revenue stamp and a faint red notice printed across the signature block. The notice is faint, so we translated it by its standard wording on Korean district-office certificates, which matches every legible character; a note says so. Barcodes and security marks are described in brackets, not transcribed.

The Outcome

CertTranslate delivered the certified translation in September 2026 for the client’s U.S. filing, certified to the USCIS standard (8 CFR 103.2(b)(3)). The packet held the one-page translation, a signed certification page with five Translator’s Notes, and a copy of the original.

The certification names the document as a Certificate of Acceptance for a Report of Marriage. Anyone who reads the packet next sees exactly what the Korean office certified.