Official Translations for Citizenship: How do They Work?

So you're applying for Italian Dual Citizenship and you need your certificates officially translated. But how does it really work? What should you expect from the professional you choose?

It’s not like one buys official translations every day. And from an Italian legal translator, based in Italy. Let’s see together what to expect.

Steps of the process

1. The Client contacts several translators and chooses one. In this post you can see a good email example from an actual client. It’s important to specify the number of documents you have. Attachments are not required in the first email.

Pro Tip: The translator can start working on scans or pictures of your documents to speed up the process. So, create a folder in Google Drive or Dropbox and send her the link. No need to wait until she gets the hard copies.

2) Your Italian legal translator staples the originals to the translations, adds the required certification page (it’s a form provided by the local court) and goes to court to certify your translations. Since stamp duty fees apply in Italy, she will also buy stamps and put them on the documents.

Pro Tip: stamp duty fees may vary from court to court. (I know, I know). So, ask for quotes from translators in different cities.

3) The certification process may take anything from 30 minutes to 3 hours, depending on the court where the translator goes. In a small court like the one where I work, things are infinitely quicker than, say, in Rome. 

Pro Tip: This is a factor you might want to take into consideration when asking for quotes: try translators from lesser known Italian cities because costs for certification may be lower.

4) Your translations are ready. The translator can mail them to the address you provided. Costs for mailing in Italy start from 15€ via TNT. If you mail to the US they start from € 50.

Pro Tip: As I said in this post, you’d better choose an Italian translator when you’re applying in Italy, so as to avoid double costs for mailing and the need to put an apostille on the translations.

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