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UK Home Office translation requirements for Chinese documents

Updated 2026-09-09

The UK's rule is built around one idea: a caseworker must be able to contact the translator. Everything it asks for follows from that, and everything it does not ask for follows from it too.

What a UKVI translation must carry

Any supporting document not in English or Welsh must be submitted with a full translation that, in the Home Office's own phrase, "can be independently verified by the Home Office". The applicant-facing guidance for visitors (updated 25 February 2026) says each translation must contain:

• confirmation from the translator that it is an accurate translation of the original document;
• the date of the translation;
• the translator's full name and signature;
• the translator's contact details.

The logic behind the list is verification. A caseworker who doubts a translation should be able to pick up the phone. That is why contact details are mandatory here and are not in the US regulation, and it is why an anonymous certification is weaker than one naming a person.

Welsh is accepted alongside English. In practice everyone uses English.

Two wordings, one rule

The Home Office publishes the requirement in two places with slightly different words, and the difference is worth knowing because agencies quote one and applicants read the other.

Read together: the Home Office accepts either an individual translator's signed confirmation or a translation company's written confirmation naming a contactable person. What both versions have in common is the only thing that matters — a named person, contact details, a date, and a statement of accuracy. A translation certified by a company stamp with no name and no way to reach anyone satisfies neither.

Credentials are not on either list. Older guidance and a great many agency websites say the translation must state the translator's qualifications. Current Home Office wording does not ask for it. Stating a credential — a CIOL or ITI membership, a degree in translation — is harmless and looks the way caseworkers expect, so there is no reason to leave it off; but its absence is not a defect under the guidance as published.

Full means full

Summaries and abridged versions are explicitly unacceptable. On Chinese documents, that has specific consequences:

• Seal text is translated. A red round seal names the issuing authority, and describing it in brackets is how it appears: [Round red seal: Public Security Bureau of XX District].
• Every page of a booklet. A household register is not one page, and neither is a notarial certificate.
• Reverse sides, if anything is printed or written on them.
• Handwritten annotations and corrections.
• Blank fields stay visible as blank, rather than disappearing.

What is not required

Notarisation. UKVI's requirement is the translator's certification, not a notary's. Paying for notarisation because it feels more official buys nothing here.

A specific professional body. There is no UK equivalent of NAATI as a hard requirement, and — see above — the current wording does not ask for credentials at all. Membership of a body such as the CIOL or the ITI is a credential you can state, and it does no harm to state it.

Layout matching the original. Nothing in the requirement addresses appearance. Completeness and accuracy are what is asked for.

Signatures and stamps in practice

Translation providers commonly sign every page and add a company stamp, and caseworkers are used to seeing that. It is not a stated legal requirement, but it makes a package look like what a caseworker expects, and it makes the "which pages belong together" question answer itself on a multi-page bundle.

For applications submitted online, digital documents are accepted. Where hard copies are posted, providers generally supply wet-ink signatures.

Can you translate your own documents?

The requirement is framed around a translator with credentials and contact details who confirms accuracy. An applicant translating their own supporting evidence does not fit that description, and the UK does not have the US's ambiguity here — the expectation is a professional translator or a translation company.

See can you translate your own documents for how this compares across destinations.

Chinese documents that come up most

Financial evidence: the specified-evidence trap

For routes with a financial requirement, UK immigration rules specify what the evidence must show and what form it must take — dates, the period covered, the account holder, and often that funds were held for a continuous period.

For a student visa funded by parents in China, the document list and the sequence that avoids paying twice are in UK student visa — documents for a Chinese family.

A translation cannot fix a document that does not meet the specified-evidence rules. If a Chinese bank statement does not show the account holder's name in the required way, translating it accurately produces an accurate translation of an insufficient document. Check the specified-evidence requirements for your route against the document before translating it.

Apostilles

Separate question. An apostille authenticates a signature and seal; it says nothing about translation. Since 7 November 2023 Chinese public documents receive an apostille rather than consular legalisation, and the UK has been a party for a long time.

Whether your route wants documents authenticated is a route-specific question. The translation requirement above applies either way. See apostilles on Chinese documents.

FAQ

Does UKVI require a certified translator?

It requires a translation carrying a confirmation of accuracy, the translator's name and signature (or a translation company's written confirmation naming a representative), contact details and the date. It does not require membership of any body, and the current guidance does not ask for credentials to be stated — though stating them is harmless.

Does the translation need to be notarised?

No. Notarisation is not part of the UKVI requirement.

Can a translation agency certify instead of an individual?

Yes. The caseworker guidance for work-route dependants (version 20.0, August 2026) explicitly accepts written confirmation from the translation company with the name and contact details of "the translator or a representative of the translation company". Naming the individual translator as well is still the stronger form, because the applicant-facing guidance is written around a translator who signs.

Do I need to send the original Chinese document?

Submit the original alongside the translation as the application guidance for your route directs. A translation on its own leaves nothing to compare it against.

What if my document is partly in English?

Translate the non-English parts and keep the English as it is, clearly marked. The requirement is that the caseworker can read the whole document.

Sources

• Home Office — Visiting the UK: guide to supporting documents (translations section; updated 25 February 2026)
• Home Office caseworker guidance — Dependent family members in work routes, version 20.0 (3 August 2026)
• UK government — visas and immigration (route-specific guidance states the document requirements for each application)

Related guides

• Certified, notarised, sworn, apostilled — which one do you actually needFour words that get used interchangeably and mean four unrelated things. What each one certifies, who can produce it, roughly what it costs, and how to tell which your case requires.
• Can you translate your own documents? A straight answer per countryFor USCIS the regulation does not forbid it but the conflict of interest is real. For Canada it is explicitly not allowed. Here is the rule for each destination, and what to do instead.
• Apostilles on Chinese documents — and why they do not solve translationSince 7 November 2023 Chinese public documents get an apostille instead of consular legalisation. What the apostille certifies, what it does not, and where the English translation has to come from.