Native Polish speakers | Akt Zgonu accuracy | Przyczyna zgonu & Karta Zgonu | USC registry references | USCIS ready
Reviewed by Natalia Vega
Senior Certified Translation Reviewer
8,000+ documents translated · Updated Aug 2026
Review before payment · acceptance guarantee
Reviewed by Natalia Vega
Senior Certified Translation Reviewer
8,000+ documents translated · Updated Aug 2026
Polish death certificate translation produces a certified English version of an Akt Zgonu (death record) — either Odpis Zupełny (complete copy) or Odpis Skrócony (abbreviated copy) — issued by the Urząd Stanu Cywilnego (USC, civil registry office), formatted for USCIS immigration filings, U.S. probate and inheritance proceedings, survivor-benefit claims, and insurance documentation.
Polish death certificate translation is needed for USCIS when documenting the end of a prior marriage by death (required for Form I-130, I-485, or N-400 marital-history sections), for U.S. probate courts processing Polish estates, for survivor-benefit claims with Social Security or insurance companies, and for inheritance proceedings involving Polish assets.
U.S. courts, pension administrators, and life insurance companies all require certified English translations of Polish death certificates. The standard is the same: complete translation of all fields, przyczyna zgonu when present, Adnotacje, and USC references.
For Polish death certificate translation, we translate the przyczyna zgonu using standard medical English, identify the correct death-location heading (miejsce zgonu vs miejsce znalezienia zwłok), render the stan cywilny with gendered Polish forms, preserve USC registry references, and translate all Adnotacje — so the death record integrates into USCIS, probate, and survivor-benefit filings.
PDF, photo, or scan — any format works. Takes about 30 seconds.
A native-speaking Polish translator handles every word, stamp, and signature. Signed Certificate of Accuracy included — USCIS-ready format.
Review the completed translation before it is certified — unlimited free revisions until every detail is right. Final searchable PDF delivered typically within 24 hours.
4.9/5•From 2,400+ reviews
“I needed my late father’s Akt Zgonu translated for USCIS to prove my previous marriage ended by death. CertTranslate translated the Odpis Zupełny including the przyczyna zgonu and the USC registry details. My I-130 was accepted without questions.”
Ewa M.
Chicago, IL
“My mother’s death certificate was needed for a U.S. probate filing. The translation included the stan cywilny (wdowa — widow) and the zgłaszający details showing I was the one who reported the death. The probate court accepted it immediately.”
Ryszard P.
New York, NY
“I had a wartime death record from 1943 for my grandfather. It was in Polish and Latin, partially handwritten. CertTranslate’s specialist handled the historical terminology and produced a clean, certified English translation. It was needed for an ancestry-based naturalization application.”
Jerzy L.
Los Angeles, CA
We don't have a published case on Polish death certificate translation specifically — here are recent Polish translation cases on related documents.
A Polish 'Odpis zupełny aktu urodzenia' issued electronically recorded the child's date of birth twice on the same line: first spelled out in full Polish words, then in DD.MM.YYYY digits. We rendered both forms in English — the words spelled out in English, the digits as Month DD, YYYY in parentheses — and added a Translator's Note explaining the Polish anti-tampering convention and the qualified-electronic-signature block. The certified translation was delivered for the client's USCIS filing.
A Polish abridged birth certificate (Odpis skrócony aktu urodzenia) issued in 2002 was stamped 'łódzkie' under Województwo — the adjective form of the Łódź Voivodeship, not the city of Łódź — and 'Tomaszowie Mazowieckim' under Registry Office, the locative case of the city. We rendered the voivodeship as 'Łódzkie' and restored the registry office to 'Tomaszów Mazowiecki', with a Translator's Note. The certified translation was delivered for the client's US filing.
Polish death certificate translation requires precise handling of medical cause-of-death terminology, the distinction between place of death and place where the body was found, USC registry references, Adnotacje that may record corrections or subsequent events, and historical formats that predate modern Polish civil law — including wartime and partition-era records.
A Polish death certificate records the deceased’s full identity — imię/imiona (given names), nazwisko (surname), nazwisko rodowe (birth surname) — the date, time, and place of death (miejsce zgonu), the cause of death (przyczyna zgonu) as documented on the Karta Zgonu (medical death card), and the deceased’s stan cywilny (marital status) at the time of death. Odpis Zupełny copies also include Adnotacje (annotations).
Your Akt Zgonu is translated by a native Polish speaker who handles USC death records regularly, so the medical cause-of-death terminology, the distinction between miejsce zgonu (place of death) and miejsce znalezienia zwłok (place where the body was found), Adnotacje, and Polish diacritical marks are handled by a specialist familiar with Polish civil-registry and medical vocabulary.
If USCIS or any receiving authority asks for a translation-only correction, we revise the file at no extra cost so the English version stays consistent with the rest of your filing packet.
**Przyczyna zgonu (cause of death):** The cause of death recorded on a Polish death certificate comes from the Karta Zgonu (medical death card) issued by the attending physician or coroner. The Karta Zgonu follows WHO International Classification of Diseases (ICD) formatting: przyczyna wyjściowa (underlying cause), przyczyna wtórna (secondary cause), and przyczyna bezpośrednia (immediate cause).
We translate medical cause-of-death terminology using standard English medical equivalents. This is important for insurance claims, survivor-benefit applications, and legal proceedings where the cause and manner of death may be legally significant. The Odpis Skrócony typically omits the cause of death, while the Odpis Zupełny includes it.
**Miejsce zgonu (place of death):** The location where death occurred — typically a hospital, home address, or other facility. **Miejsce znalezienia zwłok (place where the body was found):** Used when the exact place of death is unknown. The death certificate records whichever applies.
We translate the specific heading used on the document (miejsce zgonu or miejsce znalezienia zwłok) accurately, as the distinction may be relevant for legal proceedings, insurance investigations, or probate filings where the circumstances of death matter.
As with birth and marriage certificates, Polish death certificates come in Odpis Zupełny (complete copy, with przyczyna zgonu, Adnotacje, and full registry entry) and Odpis Skrócony (abbreviated copy, core facts only without the cause of death). For USCIS and probate, the Odpis Zupełny is generally the stronger document.
We identify which copy type is being translated and process it accordingly. On Odpis Zupełny copies, we translate the przyczyna zgonu, all Adnotacje, and the complete registry entry including the declarant’s (zgłaszający) information.
Death certificates in Odpis Zupełny form carry Adnotacje that may record corrections (sprostowanie), supplementary information, or cross-references to other civil registry entries. The stan cywilny (marital status) field records whether the deceased was married (żonaty/zamężna), single (kawaler/panna), widowed (wdowiec/wdowa), or divorced (rozwiedziony/rozwiedziona).
We translate every Adnotacja and render the stan cywilny using the correct gendered Polish form alongside the English equivalent. The marital-status field may be critical for inheritance and survivor-benefit filings, as it determines who qualifies as the surviving spouse.
Polish death certificates include the USC name, numer aktu (registry number), Kierownik USC signature, and information about the zgłaszający (person who reported the death — typically a family member or hospital administrator). Post-2015 records include SRP (System Rejestrów Państwowych) reference numbers.
We reproduce all registry references, the zgłaszający’s name and relationship to the deceased, and administrative details exactly as printed. These details may be relevant for probate proceedings or when establishing the chain of family documentation.
Polish death certificate formats have evolved across eras — from partition-era religious and civil records through wartime documentation to the modern SRP system. The translation must reflect the specific era and format of the document.
Modern Polish death certificates are issued through the System Rejestrów Państwowych (SRP) in standardized format with clearly labeled fields, medical cause-of-death data, and QR verification codes. Poland has been a Hague Apostille Convention member since 2005.
For USCIS and probate filings, these modern records are straightforward to process. We preserve every field — przyczyna zgonu, stan cywilny, zgłaszający details, and any Adnotacje — for complete documentation.
Death certificates from the paper-based USC era use handwritten or typewritten entries on standard forms. Different decades use different form layouts, but all include the core fields: deceased’s identity, date and place of death, cause of death, and USC registration details.
We handle these paper-format records regularly. When handwriting is difficult to read — particularly medical terminology in the przyczyna zgonu field — we verify against printed form labels and flag any ambiguous entries.
Death records from before 1945 include Catholic parish death registers (in Latin and Polish), Russian partition civil records (in Russian), Prussian and Austrian partition records (in German), and wartime records from both World Wars. Holocaust-era records, ITS (International Tracing Service) documentation, and Red Cross certificates may also require translation.
We handle pre-1945 and wartime death records using specialists familiar with historical Polish civil and ecclesiastical registration. These documents appear in naturalization applications, ancestry-based immigration filings, inheritance claims, and historical documentation proceedings.
$24.95
per page · no word cap
Typical length
Most Polish death certificates are 1 to 2 pages
Typical total
$24.95
No hidden fees. Free Quote.
Polish death certificate translation costs $24.95 per page. Most clients pay $24.95 to $49.90 because the typical Polish death certificate is one or two pages. Odpis Zupełny copies with przyczyna zgonu and Adnotacje may run slightly higher. You receive the confirmed page count before payment, and there is no language surcharge for polish.
Most death certificate orders are delivered within 24 hours once we receive clear scans. Standard Polish death certificates are typically delivered within 24 hours. Historical records in Latin or partition-era languages, or records with complex medical cause-of-death descriptions, may require additional review time — we confirm the delivery window before production begins.
Yes. This service is built for USCIS, U.S. probate courts, insurance companies, and other receiving authorities that need a complete certified English translation of a Polish death certificate, including medical cause-of-death terminology and all Adnotacje. Our package includes the full English translation plus a signed Certificate of Accuracy, which is the format most receiving authorities expect for foreign-language records.
We handle Polish death certificates from all eras: modern SRP-issued records, paper-based USC records (1945–2015), wartime documentation, and historical partition-era records in Latin, Russian, or German. If your record uses a rare regional format, upload every page so the translator can match the exact issuing-country structure before production starts.
Older Polish death records may include handwritten entries, faded stamps, and difficult-to-read medical terminology. Wartime records may be in poor physical condition. We handle these regularly. If any critical text is too faint to read safely, we flag it before certifying. When a field is genuinely unreadable, we mark it transparently instead of guessing, which is safer than inventing a name, date, or registry number.
Yes — you receive the completed translation for review before we certify it, and we make unlimited free revisions until every name, date, and detail is right. If USCIS later requests a change, we correct the certified file at no charge.
No — we bill the physical page you upload, never a word count. Many services cap a "page" at 250 words and re-bill a dense death certificate as two or three pages; here one page of your document is one $24.95 page, however dense the text.
No. The Odpis Skrócony (abbreviated copy) of a Polish death certificate typically omits the przyczyna zgonu (cause of death). If you need the cause of death for insurance, probate, or legal purposes, request an Odpis Zupełny (complete copy) from the USC before ordering the translation.
Yes. We handle death records from both World Wars, including Catholic parish death registers, ITS (International Tracing Service) documentation, Red Cross certificates, and occupation-era civil records. These may be in Polish, Latin, Russian, or German depending on the partition and era. We assign the appropriate language specialist for each document.
A Polish Akt Zgonu records the date/place of death and, on an Odpis Zupełny, the przyczyna zgonu from the medical Karta Zgonu. We identify the copy type, translate the cause of death precisely, and surface the date a widow/widower petition relies on.
| Field | What it is | How we handle it |
|---|---|---|
| Akt Zgonu (Odpis Zupełny / Skrócony) | Death record — complete copy (with cause of death + annotations) vs abbreviated copy | Copy type identified; we note when an Odpis Skrócony omits the cause of death. |
| Urząd Stanu Cywilnego (USC) + numer aktu | Issuing civil-registry office and the act number | Office and numer aktu preserved exactly; SRP reference kept when present. |
| Zmarły/a (imię, nazwisko, nazwisko rodowe) | The deceased’s names, including birth surname | Names reconciled with the decedent’s other records in the packet. |
| Data i miejsce zgonu | Date and place of death (or miejsce znalezienia zwłok where applicable) | Date/place surfaced — the field a widow/widower petition (I-130/I-360) relies on; the exact heading preserved. |
| Przyczyna zgonu (Karta Zgonu) | Cause of death (underlying/secondary/immediate) from the medical death card | Rendered in accepted English clinical terminology, ICD references preserved. |
| Adnotacje / zgłaszający | Annotations and the declarant who reported the death | Every Adnotacja translated; declarant preserved as the reporting chain. |
The Odpis Skrócony typically omits the cause of death; the Odpis Zupełny includes it. The certificate records either miejsce zgonu (place of death) or miejsce znalezienia zwłok (place where the body was found) — we translate whichever heading appears. Polish diacritics are reproduced exactly.
Most translation-related RFEs trace back to a few issues. These are what we check on every Polish-language death record.
01An Odpis Skrócony submitted where the cause of death is needed
We identify the copy type and note that the Odpis Skrócony omits the cause of death, which the Odpis Zupełny carries.
02Przyczyna zgonu medical terminology mistranslated
We render the underlying/immediate cause in accepted English clinical terms, preserving ICD references.
03Miejsce zgonu vs miejsce znalezienia zwłok flattened
We translate the exact heading used, since the distinction can matter in probate or insurance investigations.
04Adnotacje, declarant, or diacritics dropped
We translate every annotation, preserve the zgłaszający, and reproduce Polish diacritics exactly.
Patterns drawn from real Polish-language death-record casework (modern SRP and older USC formats). Unreadable fields are marked transparently, never guessed.
Every order is checked against this list before certification — and covered by the revise-free-or-refund guarantee.
Start my translationCommon terms you will see on a Polish-language death record, with what they mean on the certified English version.
Our guidance on Polish death certificate translation reflects the published requirements of the authorities below.
Often in the same packet
For your filing
Upload every page of the death certificate, including any Adnotacje, apostille sheets, and USC stamps. If you need the cause of death translated, make sure you have the Odpis Zupełny — the Odpis Skrócony typically omits it.
If your filing packet also includes birth certificates, marriage certificates, or other Polish-language documents, ordering everything together helps keep diacritical-mark handling uniform, naming conventions consistent, and USC reference continuity intact across the translated set.
