[US Green Card] How to get an English birth certificate in Taiwan in 3 steps｜Translation template, notarization and MOFA authentication

Full illustrated version here: https://birusay.com/post/7481

If you're applying for a green card in the US, you'll usually need an English birth certificate. But opinions online vary a lot on which kind of document is most likely to pass review, so we decided to follow the advice of friends who already have green cards and go with the most complete, but also most tedious, option. Along the way we wrote up the process and our experience to share with anyone who needs it~

The method most people share online is still the birth certificate issued by the household registration office. But Taiwan's household registration offices don't offer an English version, so it has to go through translation + notarization + authentication to become a complete, legally valid document. Our friends also passed review this way. Of course, if you can, applying for every kind of document is the safest XD. We also got an English household registration transcript just in case.

A reminder though~ everyone's situation and reviewing officer are different, so document review may vary too. I'd suggest following what the receiving agency and your lawyer ask for. And get it done while you're back in Taiwan, so that if you're suddenly asked for more documents during green card review, you won't be unable to provide them right away and delay your application.

Two ways to get an English birth certificate

There are two main ways to get an English birth certificate: from the hospital where you were born, or from a household registration office. The household registration office feels safer, but people use both, so I'll cover both here:

The first is to apply directly to the hospital where you were born. Each hospital has its own process and rules, and calling them is the fastest way to find out. You'll usually need to bring your parents' and your own passports and ID cards, and some may also want the household registration office's birth certificate and household register first; go by what the hospital asks for. A common problem, though, is that hospitals may keep birth records only for a certain number of years, for example only ten, after which you can't apply; or the hospital or clinic may have closed long ago, so there's no way to trace it. In that case the second option is your only choice.

The second is to apply at a household registration office. Any office works, regardless of where you were born. Just bring your ID card and say you want a birth certificate. They can only issue it in Chinese, though, so you have to translate it into English yourself; I'll explain that below~. While you're at the office, you can also get an English household registration transcript to keep on hand; some people submit the birth certificate and the transcript together. Also, whichever document it is, I personally suggest getting both the Chinese and English versions to be safe. You're making the trip anyway, so get it all done, because it's hard to do once you're back in the US XD.

The full process for an English birth certificate

Whether it's an English birth certificate issued directly by the hospital or an English translation of the household registration office's certificate, I'd recommend having it notarized by a court and then authenticated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. That's the safer, more legally valid approach. Here's the process:

English translation

Once you have the Chinese birth certificate from the household registration office, first translate it into English. If you'd rather avoid the hassle or worry about mistakes, you can pay a professional translation company, or you can translate it yourself like we did. Here are some tips from my translation and a template for reference:

• In principle, everything in the document must be translated

• For the doctor's name and license numbers like ”正字第” and ”醫字第”, you can use the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' name romanization system

• Even if the address has changed, use the original old address; you can translate it with the post office's address translation system

• If the address is too old to look up, see the post office's supplementary references: How to write addresses in English, Chinese-English table for village, neighborhood and alley names

• If a field was blank in the original, leave it blank

• At the end, note who did the translation and the date

In my case, a county-city merger meant the address translation system couldn't find the address. For example, the former Taichung County became Taichung City, but I had to translate the old address, so I used the post office's guide on writing addresses in English instead. If you hire a translator, put their name; since I translated it myself, I wrote my own name.

Birth certificates may look slightly different from place to place, so I've provided a Word file you can download and adapt to your own version. Download it from the blog: https://birusay.com/post/7481

Notarization

After the English translation is done, the next step is notarization to prove the document is legitimate. You can go to a district court or a private notary office; we went straight to the district court nearest our home. Here's the process:

• Where: the district court's notary office

• Fee: NT$750, which covers up to five copies. MOFA keeps an original when you go for authentication later (the notary office keeps one too, but a photocopy is fine), so get at least two; some people suggest just getting five.

• Documents: 1. Birth certificate (bring both the Chinese and English versions) 2. ID card + personal seal 3. Passport (you can bring your parents' too, to check the name translations) 4. Laptop and digital files (just a suggestion, so you can make edits on the spot if there's an issue)

• Time: if the documents are fine, you get them the same day on the spot

MOFA authentication

After notarization, to make sure the document is valid internationally and to verify the notary's identity, you take it to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for authentication. MOFA has only five offices in Taiwan: Taipei, Taichung, Chiayi, Kaohsiung and Hualien. You can look up each office's address and hours on the MOFA website. Here's the process:

• Where: a MOFA office

• Fee: NT$400 regular, NT$600 express (charged per document)

• Documents: 1. Two copies each of the notarized Chinese and English birth certificates (one for you, one kept by MOFA) 2. Original ID card + front-and-back photocopy 3. Original passport + photocopy, just in case

• Time: two business days, one for express (see MOFA's explanation)

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