When a Birth Certificate Is Already Partly in English

What We Received

A client submitted an Indonesian birth certificate (Kutipan Akta Kelahiran) issued by the civil registry in Central Jakarta. It is a pre-printed bilingual form. Every fixed field label appears in both Indonesian and English.

The English on the form made the client wonder whether a [complete certified birth certificate translation](/documents/birth-certificate) was still needed for a USCIS filing. The substantive content, though, is Indonesian.

The redacted image below shows the bilingual layout: each field label appears in both Indonesian and English. The names, place, and dates are filled in by hand or stamp. Two round seals and a District Court legalization box sit at the foot of the page, all in Indonesian only.

How We Handled It

We translated the whole document, not just the Indonesian portions. Where the form already prints an English label, we kept that wording. The translation then mirrors the page the reader is holding.

The Indonesian-only content was rendered in full. That covers the handwritten registry entries, the two round seals, the embossed national emblem, and the District Court legalization box that authenticates the civil registry officer's signature.

We added a short Translator's Note. It explains that the source is a bilingual form and that the entries and authentication are Indonesian. The note makes clear which parts were translated and how non-text elements were marked.

Expert Note

"The source document is a pre-printed bilingual (Indonesian/English) form. The pre-printed English field labels have been retained, and all Indonesian content has been translated into English — including the handwritten registry entries, the round official seals, the embossed national emblem, and the District Court legalization box authenticating the civil registry officer's signature. Handwritten signatures are marked [Illegible signature]; the embossed emblem and the inked seals are described in brackets. Dates written out in words in the original have been rendered as written."

Natalia VegaSenior Certified Translation Reviewer

The Outcome

The certified translation reproduced the full document in English. Labels, handwritten entries, seals, the emblem, and the court legalization were all included. It was delivered for the client's USCIS filing.

Bilingual government forms reach us regularly, from Indonesia and elsewhere. The same rule applies each time. A document that is already partly in English still needs a complete certified translation to meet [USCIS requirements](/accepted-by/uscis).