Akt małżeństwaOdpis zupełny aktu małżeństwaOdpis skrócony aktu małżeństwa
Certified English translation for USCIS, spouse petitions, courts, legal name changes, and consular use.
Ready within 24 hours
Complete translation
Word-for-word, same structure
Every field, stamp, seal, signature, and annotation
Certified package
Signed and Stamped Certificate of Accuracy
Company letterhead · translator signature · company stamp
We check your files and confirm the total before you pay
Polish marriage certificate translation produces a certified English version of an Akt Małżeństwa (marriage certificate) — 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, spouse-petition packets, naturalization, and legal proceedings.
Polish marriage certificate translation is most commonly needed for USCIS spouse-petition filings. Form I-130 (Petition for Alien Relative) requires proof of a valid marriage, and Form I-485 (Adjustment of Status) requires documentation of marital status. Form N-400 (Naturalization) also requires marriage documentation.
U.S. courts, Social Security, benefits offices, and insurance companies also require certified English translations of Polish marriage certificates. The standard is the same: complete translation of all fields, naming declarations, Adnotacje, and USC references.
For Polish marriage certificate translation, we clearly label the naming declaration (nazwisko rodowe → nazwisko po zawarciu małżeństwa) for each spouse, identify concordat vs civil ceremony type, preserve USC registry references, and translate all Adnotacje so the marriage record integrates seamlessly into USCIS spouse-petition packets.
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
“My Akt Małżeństwa was a concordat marriage registered at the USC after a church ceremony. CertTranslate translated the parish references, the naming declaration showing I took my husband’s name, and the USC registry details. USCIS accepted my I-130 spouse petition without questions.”
Magdalena K.
Chicago, IL
“My marriage certificate was an Odpis Zupełny with an Adnotacja recording our divorce. CertTranslate translated both the marriage details and the divorce annotation with the Sąd Okręgowy case number. My immigration attorney said it was exactly what was needed.”
Piotr Z.
New York, NY
“My wife’s marriage certificate showed she kept her birth surname (nazwisko rodowe) under Art. 25. CertTranslate made the naming declaration crystal clear in the translation. No confusion at the USCIS interview about why her surname didn’t change at marriage.”
Joanna R.
Houston, TX
We don't have a published case on Polish marriage 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 marriage certificate translation requires precise handling of the naming-declaration system under the Kodeks Rodzinny i Opiekuńczy, the distinction between concordat and civil marriages, USC registry references, Adnotacje that may reference divorce or death of a spouse, and historical formats that predate modern Polish civil law.
A Polish marriage certificate records the spouses’ full identity — imię/imiona (given names), nazwisko (current surname), nazwisko rodowe (birth surname before marriage) — along with the naming declaration (oświadczenie o nazwisku) made at the time of marriage under Art. 25 of the Kodeks Rodzinny i Opiekuńczy (KRiO, Family and Guardianship Code), the date and place of marriage, and whether the marriage was civil (ślub cywilny) or concordat (ślub konkordatowy).
Your Akt Małżeństwa is translated by a native Polish speaker who handles USC marriage records regularly, so the naming-declaration system (retain, adopt, or hyphenate surname), concordat vs civil registration, Adnotacje (annotations), and Polish diacritical marks are handled by a specialist familiar with Polish family-law 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.
**Oświadczenie o nazwisku (naming declaration):** At the time of marriage, each spouse declares whether to retain their birth surname (nazwisko rodowe), adopt the other’s surname, or create a hyphenated combination (maximum two elements). This declaration is recorded on the marriage certificate and determines the legal surname going forward.
We translate the naming declaration section clearly, labeling the pre-marriage birth surname (nazwisko rodowe), chosen married surname (nazwisko po zawarciu małżeństwa), and any hyphenated combinations for each spouse. This naming trail is critical for USCIS, which needs to trace name changes from birth certificate through marriage certificate to passport.
**Ślub konkordatowy (concordat marriage):** A Catholic church ceremony that has civil legal effect under the 1993 Polish Concordat with the Holy See. The priest sends a marriage notification to the USC, which registers it as a civil marriage. The Akt Małżeństwa may reference the parish, diocese, and concordat notification procedure.
**Ślub cywilny (civil marriage):** Performed at the USC by the Kierownik USC (head of civil registry). The translation must identify which type of marriage was performed, as concordat marriages include ecclesiastical references that civil marriages do not. We preserve all church and parish references on concordat certificates for complete documentation.
As with birth certificates, Polish marriage certificates come in Odpis Zupełny (complete copy, with all Adnotacje and amendment history) and Odpis Skrócony (abbreviated copy, core facts only). For USCIS spouse petitions, the complete copy provides stronger documentation because it shows the full registry entry.
We identify which copy type is being translated and process it accordingly. On Odpis Zupełny copies, we translate every Adnotacja — these may record divorce (rozwód), annulment (unieważnienie małżeństwa), death of a spouse (zgon małżonka), or corrections (sprostowanie).
Marriage certificates in Odpis Zupełny form carry Adnotacje that reference subsequent events: divorce (“małżeństwo rozwiązane przez rozwód” with court case number), death of a spouse, or corrections. These annotations are legally significant and may affect immigration filings.
We translate every Adnotacja with full context, preserving the court reference (e.g., Sąd Okręgowy, sygnatura akt), the date of the event, and the USC registration details. Omitting a divorce annotation, for example, could create a discrepancy with a separate divorce decree in the filing packet.
Polish marriage certificates include the USC name, numer aktu (registry number), Kierownik USC signature, and witness names and details. Post-2015 records also include SRP (System Rejestrów Państwowych) reference numbers.
We reproduce all registry references, witness names with diacritics, and administrative details exactly as printed. Witness details may be relevant for legal proceedings or authenticity verification, especially when filing in U.S. courts.
Polish marriage certificate formats have evolved from historical religious records through socialist-era civil formats to the modern SRP system. The translation must reflect the era and format of the specific document.
Modern Polish marriage certificates are issued through the System Rejestrów Państwowych (SRP) — Poland’s centralized electronic civil registry. These certificates follow a standardized format with clearly labeled fields, naming declarations, and QR verification codes.
For USCIS filings, these modern records are straightforward to process. Poland has been a Hague Apostille Convention member since 2005. We preserve every field, the naming declaration, concordat or civil identification, and any Adnotacje for complete documentation.
Marriage certificates from the 1945–2015 era use paper-based USC formats with handwritten or typewritten entries. Records from different decades use different form layouts, but all include the core fields: spouse names, naming declarations, date and place of marriage, and USC registration details.
We handle these paper-format records regularly. When handwriting is difficult to read, we verify against printed form labels and flag any ambiguous characters before certifying.
Marriage records from before 1945 may be Catholic parish records (in Latin with Polish), Russian partition civil records (in Russian), Prussian partition records (in German), or Austrian partition records (in German). These historical documents require specialized knowledge of partition-era administrative and ecclesiastical terminology.
We handle pre-1945 records using specialists familiar with historical Polish civil registration. These records are less common for USCIS spouse petitions but may appear in naturalization or ancestry-based applications.
$24.95
per page · no word cap
Typical length
Most Polish marriage certificates are 1 to 2 pages
Typical total
$24.95
No hidden fees. Free Quote.
Polish marriage certificate translation costs $24.95 per page. Most clients pay $24.95 to $49.90 because the typical Polish marriage certificate is one or two pages. Odpis Zupełny copies with Adnotacje may run slightly higher. You receive the confirmed page count before payment, and there is no language surcharge for polish.
Most marriage certificate orders are delivered within 24 hours once we receive clear scans. Standard Polish marriage certificates are typically delivered within 24 hours. Historical records in Latin or partition-era languages may require additional review time — we confirm the delivery window before production begins.
Yes. This service is built for USCIS, courts, and other receiving authorities that need a complete certified English translation of a Polish marriage certificate, including naming declarations, concordat/civil identification, 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 marriage certificates from all eras: modern SRP-issued records, paper-based USC records (1945–2015), concordat marriages registered through Catholic parishes, and historical partition-era records. 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 marriage records may include handwritten entries, faded stamps, and ink-based registrar signatures. We handle these regularly. If any name, date, or registry reference 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 marriage certificate as two or three pages; here one page of your document is one $24.95 page, however dense the text.
A concordat marriage is a Catholic church ceremony that has civil legal effect in Poland under the 1993 Concordat with the Holy See. The priest sends a marriage notification to the USC, which registers it as a civil marriage. The Akt Małżeństwa may reference the parish, diocese, and concordat notification procedure. We preserve all ecclesiastical references in the translation.
Polish law (Art. 25 KRiO) allows each spouse to declare whether to retain their birth surname, adopt the other spouse’s surname, or create a hyphenated combination at the time of marriage. We label the pre-marriage birth surname (nazwisko rodowe), the declared married surname (nazwisko po zawarciu małżeństwa), and any hyphenated combinations clearly so USCIS can trace the naming trail from birth certificate through marriage.
A Polish Akt Małżeństwa records the naming declaration made at marriage and, on an Odpis Zupełny, Adnotacje for later events. We label the surname trail and translate every annotation, since those are exactly what a USCIS officer checks.
| Field | What it is | How we handle it |
|---|---|---|
| Akt Małżeństwa (Odpis Zupełny / Skrócony) | Marriage certificate — complete copy (with annotations) vs abbreviated copy | Copy type identified; we note when only an Odpis Skrócony was provided. |
| 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. |
| Małżonkowie: nazwisko rodowe / po ślubie | Each spouse’s birth surname and post-marriage surname | Both labeled explicitly so the birth→marriage→passport name trail is clear. |
| Oświadczenie o nazwisku (Art. 25 KRiO) | Naming declaration — retain, adopt, or hyphenate the surname | Full declaration translated, Polish terminology preserved alongside English. |
| Ślub konkordatowy / cywilny + data i miejsce | Concordat vs civil marriage and the date/place | Marriage type identified; parish/diocese references preserved for concordat. |
| Adnotacje | Annotations recording later events (rozwód, zgon małżonka, sprostowanie) | Every Adnotacja translated with court reference — shows whether the marriage still stands. |
An Odpis Skrócony may omit Adnotacje that an Odpis Zupełny shows — we identify which you have so any gap is visible. Concordat marriages (ślub konkordatowy, 1993 Concordat) carry ecclesiastical references that civil marriages do not; we preserve them. Polish diacritics are reproduced exactly.
Most translation-related RFEs trace back to a few issues. These are what we check on every Polish-language marriage record.
01Adnotacje skipped
We translate every annotation with its court reference, since a later divorce or death is recorded there and could conflict with another document in the packet.
02An Odpis Skrócony submitted where an Odpis Zupełny is needed
We identify the copy type and note when only an abbreviated copy was provided so the missing annotation history is visible.
03Naming declaration not labeled (nazwisko rodowe vs po ślubie)
We label birth surname and married surname for each spouse so the name trail to the passport is unambiguous.
04Concordat parish references or diacritics dropped
We preserve parish/diocese references on concordat certificates and reproduce Polish diacritics exactly.
Patterns drawn from real Polish-language marriage-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 marriage record, with what they mean on the certified English version.
Our guidance on Polish marriage certificate translation reflects the published requirements of the authorities below.
Often in the same packet
For your filing
Upload every page of the marriage certificate, including any Adnotacje, apostille sheets, and USC stamps. If you have an Odpis Zupełny, make sure to include the annotations — these may record divorce, death of a spouse, or name corrections that USCIS needs to see.
If your filing packet also includes birth certificates, divorce decrees, or other Polish-language documents, ordering the documents together helps keep naming declarations consistent, diacritical-mark handling uniform, and USC reference continuity intact across the translated set.
