Can you expedite my translation?

We offer expedited service for over 25 language combinations, including Spanish , French , Portuguese , Russian , Chinese and German . With expedited service, your order is given priority and you can expect the turnaround time to be reduced by 50%. Expedited service includes a 50% surcharge. If you require expedited service for a document in another language, please inquire regarding availability. If we are able to accommodate your request, our staff will provide you with instructions on how to proceed.

Who will translate my document?

Our translators have years of experience in the translation industry and specialize in different areas of service. Many of them have graduate degrees and certificates in fields such as law and engineering.

How do you keep my information secure?

All your information is transmitted using SSL/TLS encryption. We never receive, store or keep your credit card information. Your credit card information is processed externally by Stripe. The same company that manages payments for companies such as Uber, Lyft, Target, Blue Apron, SquareSpace, Slack and Spotify (to name a few). U.S. Language Services has a strict confidentiality policy. We understand that in certain cases, given the sensitivity of the information to be translated, some clients require we sign a specific confidentiality agreement (NDA). We would be happy to sign your NDA.

In what currency are your prices?

All prices — both in the online store and in quotes sent via email — are indicated in U.S. dollars (USD).

We accept all major credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, Klarna, Cash App, and 8am ClientPay (eCheck and credit cards). We also offer flexible payment options. With Klarna or PayPal, you can pay in interest-free installments over several months — no extra cost to you.

Yes. We use Stripe and PayPal as payment platforms. We never receive, store or keep your credit card information.

How is payment handled when I request a quote?

Every quote we send includes a payment link. That link can be used by you or by anyone else. You can forward the link to a family member, a client, or any third party providing the funds. Payment is completed directly through the link and your order proceeds as usual. If someone else pays, let us know the name or email address of the person who made the payment. There’s no need to tell us in advance. A quick note after the payment is made is enough for us to match it to your quote.

Do you provide notarization services?

Yes. We offer notarization as an add-on to our certified translations. This service is priced per document, since each translation is notarized separately with its own notary stamp and signature. How it works: Notarization is $39 per document. If you don’t need notarization for all of your documents, let us know which ones you’d like notarized when placing your order. Certified and notarized translations are delivered as PDF files. We notarize the certified translation only — we cannot notarize your original document. If you need the original notarized, please have that done before submitting it for translation. Example: If you’re ordering certified translations for a birth certificate, a marriage certificate, and a bank certificate, you can notarize all three documents, just one, or any combination. You’ll only pay $39 for each translation you choose to notarize.

What is a certified translation?

A certified translation is a word-for-word translation required for official use by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), universities, colleges, state or federal institutions and courts. All our certified translations are issued in accordance with the regulations established by the USCIS, the institution that most frequently requires this type of document. A certified translation includes a certificate issued on our corporate letterhead signed by the translator and a U.S. Language Services representative in PDF format.

How much does it cost?

The price for a certified translation is $39.00 per page. No hidden fees. Each page may contain up to 250 words or fewer including numbers. Pages may be letter size (8.5″ x 11″), A4 or smaller and one sided. For languages that use logograms, such as Chinese, Korean and Japanese, each character is considered a word.

How are the pages counted?

When you order a certified translation, the most significant variable is how the pages of the document are calculated. We take into consideration both the number of physical pages in your original document and the total word count. Each page may contain up to 250 words. Pages may be letter size (8.5″ x 11″), A4 or smaller and one sided. For example: A project with 2 physical pages that each contain 500 words (1,000 words total), is calculated as 4 pages (1,000 words ÷ 250 = 4 pages).

What happens if I don’t count the number of pages correctly?

Don’t worry. Our team reviews each order individually. If the number of pages is greater, we’ll contact you with instructions on how to proceed. If you ordered pages in excess, we’ll issue you a refund using the same payment method.

How long will it take?

For most common languages, including Spanish , French , German , Portuguese , Arabic , Russian and Chinese you can expect to receive: A 1-3 page translation in 2 business days A 4-10 page translation in 4 business days An 11-20 page translation in 6 business days A 20+ page translation in 6+ business days For orders in other language pairs, our team will review your document and provide you with the delivery date once you place your order. Note: Orders placed after 4 p.m. EST (Eastern Standard Time) will be processed on the following business day. Delivery dates exclude weekends & holidays.

Do you offer expedited service?

We offer expedited service for over 25 language combinations, including Spanish , French , Portuguese , Russian , Chinese and German . With expedited service, your order is given priority and you can expect the turnaround time to be reduced by 50%. Expedited service includes a 50% surcharge. If you require expedited service for a document in another language, please inquire regarding availability. If we are able to accommodate your request, our staff will provide you with instructions on how to proceed. Note: Standard terms apply for expedited service. Orders placed after 4 p.m. EST (Eastern Standard Time) will be processed on the following business day. Delivery dates exclude weekends & holidays.

How will my certified translation be delivered to me?

All certified translations are delivered in PDF format; we do not mail physical copies .

How do you ensure quality?

Each project is assigned to a translator with experience in that field to guarantee that the proper terminology is used. In addition, all translations undergo a careful revision process before they are delivered to the client. We encourage you to take a look at any of the more than 700 reviews we have received from satisfied clients.

Do you provide apostille services?

No, we do not provide apostille services.

How are currencies and units of measurement handled?

In a certified translation, currency values cannot be converted; the currency shown in the original document must be maintained. If you need the monetary amount to be shown in a different currency, the original document must include the conversion or a note indicating the exchange rate at the time the document was issued. In such cases, only the exchange-rate note will be translated. The same applies to units of measurement, no conversions can be made, such as: inches to centimeters gallons to liters miles to kilometers

Nonprofit case study

Before anyone shares their story, the consent form has to be in their language

Their Story Is Our Story shares the firsthand stories of people who have been forcibly displaced and trains families at risk of detention to prepare their own. Its executive director on why the consent forms behind that work come to us, not volunteers.

Rateb Khasawneh - Khasawneh & Associates LLC

Kristen DayleyExecutive Director

Client: Their Story Is Our Story (TSOS)
Sector: Nonprofit
Client since: 2022
Work: Storytelling, education, advocacy and community integration
Documents: Interview releases, consent forms and StoryShield program documents
Languages: French, Dari, Pashto, Haitian Creole, Spanish
Filed with: TSOS and its partner organizations

Translating consent forms or program materials?

Send the documents and the languages you need. We confirm turnaround the same business day.

Get in touch

Their Story Is Our Story

Their Story Is Our Story does not file asylum applications, secure housing or hand out food. The nonprofit, which Kristen Dayley has led since 2021, shares the firsthand stories of people who have been forcibly displaced and the neighbors who welcome them, in their own voices, and carries those stories to educators, policymakers, journalists and the public.

"Hundreds of organizations provide direct aid, often brilliantly. We do something none of them can do alone, and that all of them depend on: we change the story."

Nothing in her day job pointed here. Kristen is a corporate attorney and a partner at a law firm. In 2016 she started volunteering with Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, representing asylum seekers, after realizing that "I'm not an immigration attorney, but I have a license that allows me to do things that other people could not do." "It changed my life," she says of that work. "It should come with a warning label."

Consent, in the person's own language

TSOS asks a great deal of the people whose stories it shares, and it has built its process around leaving control with them.

"I've sat knee to knee with people seeking asylum, and they are forced to tell the same story over and over again. It's dehumanizing and retraumatizing. So we do something different. We don't demand that story. We invite people to reclaim their own narrative."

That principle shows up as paperwork. Every storyteller signs a release. Anyone who could be at risk also goes through a verbal consent form: nine questions covering how the story can be used, whether an alias is needed, whether their image can be shared and what limits apply. TSOS goes through it aloud with the person.

"Both our release and our consent form have to be translated. People understand what they're agreeing to best in their own language."

We translated both forms, the Interview Release and the Verbal Consent Form, into French and Dari. "I've yet to come up with a language that you guys haven't been able to help us with," Kristen says.

Why we ask for preferred spellings

Before translation begins, we confirm how each name should appear in English, and that spelling carries across every document in the set. It costs a minute at the start, and it keeps a file from presenting two versions of the same person.

StoryShield

In January 2026, TSOS launched StoryShield, a proactive storytelling and family-protection program. It trains families at risk of detention to record their own stories on their phones and to share the footage with a few trusted people who can release it if the worst happens.

"Our hope is that this will just be a lovely piece of family history. But if someone in the family is detained, there are materials that can be used to raise awareness and build support for that family."

When local media covers a detention, she says, the first question is always whether there is video or photographs. TSOS does not hold one-on-one relationships with families. It partners with the community organizations that do and offers the program to them free of charge. We translated the StoryShield Consent & Release into Dari and Pashto and, more recently, two documents into Haitian Creole: the StoryShield Participation Agreement and an information sheet titled Prepare a Plan in Case of Detention. It is a checklist of "all these different things that sadly people need to think about right now."

Why the forms don't stay in-house

When Kristen became executive director in 2021, TSOS was an all-volunteer organization, and volunteers handled its translations. That changed when the consents were updated.

"These releases have a legal component. That's a lot of work to ask someone to translate for free, and once we updated our consents, I didn't want to worry about whether they had been done correctly."

Volunteers still translate announcements and publicity, and a TSOS community engagement specialist leads StoryShield presentations in Dari and Pashto. The documents people sign come to us.

"If there's a time crunch, or if it's critical to get right, we send it to you."

She found us online and remembers that "you guys were very easy to work with right off the bat." She has not sent work to another agency since.

Every project starts with a written quote stating the price and turnaround time. Kristen's priorities can shift quickly, and she values that the quote arrives right away, before she knows whether a job is urgent, and is still good when she is ready to send it.

No them, only us

Kristen is careful not to overstate it: "Nobody has commented on it that way, but I know it helps communication and understanding." People skim legal documents, she says. The translation is what makes the verbal walkthrough possible.

TSOS has used the same line for years: "We're envisioning a world where there is no them, only us." A consent form a person can actually read is a small, literal piece of that.

Their Story Is Our Story (TSOS) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2015. It shares the firsthand stories of people who have been forcibly displaced and the neighbors who welcome them, in their own voices, and carries those stories where they need to be heard. Its programs include StoryShield, which helps families prepare protective video narratives in advance of potential detention, and StoryRise, a mentorship program for young advocacy content creators. Learn more at theirstoryisourstory.org.