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What is a Certified Translation?

Canadian immigration ministry (IRCC) or Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) ask for certified translation of your documents. Not every translation you can get in Canada is certified. For a translation to be official "certified translation" (which makes it universally acceptable by the federal agencies in Canada, including immigration authorities), it must be performed by a Certified Translator who is certified specifically in your language combination (which is confirmed on their official seal). Importantly, the certification does not work in the opposite way. For example, a translator who is certified in "English-to-Ukrainian" and whose seal says "EN-UK" is not certified to translate from Ukrainian to English, but can only translate from English to Ukrainian.

In Ontario, a Certified Translator, is the one who has ATIO seal, has a license No. on that seal, and the seal says from what language to what language the translator is certified to translate. If the seal says "ATIO Associate Member", this is not a certified translator, and this translator cannot produce Certified Translation for you. There is no such thing as "ATIO Associate Member" anymore, as ATIO abolished and forbade this practice many years ago. "ATIO Associate Member" translator IS NOT a Certified Translator.

Often, translators who do not have ATIO certification in your language combination will tell you that instead of submitting official Certified Translation you may submit a notarized statement saying you looked for an ATIO translator but could not find one and for that that reason you are using a translator who is not certified in this language combination or using a non-certified notarized translation. This only works if there is no active ATIO translator in your language combination. Otherwise, IRCC may regard your submission as fraud and can ask you to prove how you were looking for a Certified Translator. IRCC and OINP (Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program) can easily recognize fraud, because they know which Certified Translators are actively working.

Another popular fraud is to use an ATIO seal from a different language combination to try to "sell" you "certified translation." For example, using "RU-EN" (Russian-to-English) ATIO seal for translations from the Ukrainian language. In this case, this translation will not be certified and will not be accepted by the authorities (immigration, Drive Test centres etc.). If a translator has ATIO seal, this seal is given for single-direction language combination only and DOES NOT work for other combinations or directions.

To summarize, to receive an official Certified Translation in Ontario, ask your translator to show you their seal. If the seal has "ATIO" on it, has a license No. on it, does not have words "Associate Member", is in your language combination (for example, UK-EN, RU-EN) and is not reversed — says UK-EN for Ukrainian to English (not EN-UK), RU-EN for Russian-to-English (not EN-RU), then you are getting an authentic certified translation. The Canadian translation market is full of fraud, so make sure to check the seals in order not to have your documents translated twice (and pay twice for the services, which I often see in my practice).

Also remember that certified translation in Canada does not require any notarization. My certified translations have both the blue seal and the embossed seal on them, separate for every language combination that I offer.

All ATIO translators in good standing can be checked on official ATIO website (atio.on.ca). If the translator's profile shows CERTIFIED they are good for that language combination, if it says "CANDIDATE", you will not be getting a Certified Translation from them. Candidates for Certification are not Certified Translators, it only means that they strive to become one.

In social media, Facebook Groups, online, you can come across advertisements of "certified translators" with multiple language combinations. Even if the advertisement is presented in your own language, this does not mean that this translator is certified in your required language combination. So, make sure you double-check the seals before your trust an uncertified translator with your documents.

How to order a certified translation

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