10 Dey 1366 is December 31, 1987. The next day, 11 Dey 1366, is January 1, 1988. Add 621 to every Persian year, a rule of thumb that works for most of the calendar, and the second date comes out a full year wrong. If that date is your birthday, it is the one IRCC compares with your passport on every form.
There is no stand-alone Iranian birth certificate of the kind Canadian provinces issue. The shenasnameh (شناسنامه) does that job and more: it is the birth record, the identity booklet and a cumulative log of marriages, divorces and children. This guide covers it page by page, then the other records, the calendar, names, the police certificate from Canada, Afghan Dari documents and the errors that send files back.
Does IRCC require certified translations of Iranian documents?
Yes, every document you submit that is not in English or French. IRCC's instructions require "an official translation" and add that "all stamps and seals that are not in English or French must also be translated." The translation must come from a certified translator, meaning a member of a professional translation association whose seal shows their membership number; when the translator is not certified, it must carry the translator's affidavit sworn before a notary public or commissioner of oaths.
You cannot translate your own documents, even if you are fluent, and neither can a parent, spouse, sibling, cousin or other close relative, or your representative. Upload the translation and affidavit together with a scan of the original. Applications missing required translations can be "returned as incomplete." See IRCC translation requirements.
Which Iranian documents go into a Canadian file?
| Record | In Persian | Issuing body | Why it matters in a Canadian file |
|---|---|---|---|
| Identity booklet | shenasnameh (شناسنامه) | National Organization for Civil Registration (NOCR) | Serves as the birth record and logs later marriages, divorces and children |
| National card | kart-e melli (کارت ملی) | NOCR | Held by citizens over 15, now a chip card |
| Marriage certificate | sanad-e ezdevaj, also sanad-e aghd | A marriage registry office run by a notary | Typed on a single page since April 2024 |
| Divorce certificate | sanad-e talagh | Registry office, following a family court ruling | Earlier versions are handwritten white booklets |
| Death certificate | govahi-ye fot (گواهی فوت) | NOCR | Certified copies can be issued |
| Military card | kart-e payan-e khedmat, or an exemption card | Public Conscription Organization | Dates of service for the background questions on IRCC forms |
Every citizen receives a ten-digit national ID number when their birth is registered, and all three documents, booklet, national card and passport, print it. Copied digit for digit into each translation, it ties them to one person faster than any spelling can.
Which pages of the shenasnameh need translating?
All of them. IRCC wants the whole document, not an extract, and the skipped pages are where the evidence sits. The first data page carries the holder's photo (over 15), national ID number, booklet serial number, name, birth date and place, the parents' names and ID numbers, where the booklet was issued and who issued it. Further in come entries for each spouse, divorce and child, election stamps and, eventually, a record of death. An empty page gets a one-line note saying so, which shows the officer it was not overlooked.
You may hold one of three booklets. People over 15 carry a brown booklet with the photo printed on the page; children have a green one without a photo. The red booklet issued from 1986 has no expiry date, so it can still appear in files.
There is also a lag: a divorce must be registered within three months of the family court's ruling, and until then the booklet may still list the marriage. The translation reproduces the booklet as it stands, never an updated version.
How are Iranian marriages and divorces documented?
Through registry offices supervised by the Ministry of Justice. Registration there is what makes a marriage or divorce legally valid, and the notary who registers it, for Muslim, Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian couples alike, issues the certificate and updates each spouse's shenasnameh.
Marriage certificates used to be small handwritten booklets with turquoise, red or green covers; since April 2024 registry offices issue a white, typed, single-page certificate. Whichever version you hold, nothing on it is optional in translation: the mehrieh (the marriage portion owed to the wife), any stipulations, the witnesses, the office number and the notary's seal. A lost certificate can sometimes be replaced by a handwritten registry transcript, the roonevesht.
A temporary marriage (sigheh) is a religious marriage that is not registered with the government, so there is no registry certificate to translate. Marriages between two Baha'is are evidenced by two documents, a certificate from the local spiritual assembly and a one-page registration document, and the translation covers both.
A divorce begins in the family court and is completed at a registry office in front of two witnesses. Translate the divorce certificate, plus the court ruling where you have it. In spousal sponsorship this is not academic: IRCC's regulations exclude a spouse if, when the couple married, either of them was still "the spouse of another person". See spousal sponsorship documents.
How are Solar Hijri dates converted to Gregorian?
Individually, keeping the Persian date. Nowruz, on March 20 or 21, opens the year. Farvardin through Shahrivar run 31 days, Mehr through Bahman 30, and Esfand 29, or 30 in a leap year. Between Nowruz and December 31 the Gregorian year is the Persian year plus 621; from January 1 until the next Nowruz it is plus 622.
| Month | Days | Began in 1405 (2026-27) |
|---|---|---|
| Farvardin, Ordibehesht, Khordad | 31 each | March 21, April 21, May 22 |
| Tir, Mordad, Shahrivar | 31 each | June 22, July 23, August 23 |
| Mehr, Aban, Azar | 30 each | September 23, October 23, November 22 |
| Dey, Bahman, Esfand | 30, 30, 29 | December 22, January 21, February 20 |
Watch the numerals too: the Persian forms of 4, 5 and 6 (۴, ۵, ۶) are shaped differently from Arabic digits and are easy to confuse in faded ink. A document dated between 1976 and 1978 may also count years on the brief imperial calendar, which turned 1355 into 2535.
How should Persian names be romanized in the translation?
By copying the passport. حسین can be Hossein, Hosein or Husain, and رضایی can be Rezaei or Rezaee; for IRCC the correct form is whichever your passport prints, used identically on every translation. People named on the documents who have no passport get one romanization, chosen once and repeated. IRCC forms ask for your father's name, so the translation gives it as a name rather than explaining it. Compound given names follow the passport too: Amirhossein stays one word if the passport prints it that way.
How do Iranians in Canada get a police certificate?
Through the alternative process Iran's foreign ministry set up for people in Canada. IRCC's Iran page explains that "Due to the closure of the Iranian embassy in Canada, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Iran has provided an alternative" for the certificate of no criminal record; it is available in Persian only. Inside Iran, you apply at a Police+10 centre or online through the Sana System, which does not work outside Iran. Iranians living in a third country apply at the nearest Iranian embassy.
The certificate is in Persian, so it needs a full translation like any other document. For Express Entry, IRCC wants a certificate from each country where you lived 6 months in a row or longer in the last 10 years, counting only time after age 18. See our police certificate translation guide.
Afghan documents in Dari
Afghan records in Dari read easily to anyone who knows Persian, but they follow Afghan conventions. The year count is the same Solar Hijri one, the months carry their own names (Hamal, Sawr, Jawza and onward), and some documents use lunar Hijri dates instead, so each calendar is identified before anything is converted. For the police certificate, IRCC names a "Character Certificate" from the Ministry of the Interior; abroad, an Afghan embassy or consulate issues a letter that you submit to the Canadian office processing your application. See Dari certified translation.
Quebec and the IRB
Quebec's immigration ministry (MIFI) accepts translations only from members of OTTIAQ, ATIO, STIBC or CTINB, an embassy or consulate translation department or, for translations done abroad, a member of a professional order, a translation department or certain official bodies. Official Translations is not a member of those associations, so its translations do not meet the MIFI rule; the federal IRCC stage accepts the affidavit route. See Quebec immigration documents.
The Refugee Protection Division requires each translation to come with "a declaration signed by the translator" stating their name, "the language and dialect, if any, translated" and that the translation is accurate, received at least 10 days before the hearing. See refugee claims and the IRB.
Why Iranian files get returned
- A shenasnameh translated from the photo page only, leaving out the pages that record marriages and children.
- Dey, Bahman or Esfand dates given plus 621 instead of plus 622, so the year no longer matches the passport.
- A name romanized differently on the birth record, the marriage certificate and the passport.
- The duplicate overprint or new issue date missing from the translation of a reissued booklet.
- Seals, margin notes or mehrieh terms skipped because they looked unimportant.
- A divorce proved only by the ruling, or by a booklet that predates its registration, with no divorce certificate.
- A relative as translator, or a translator who is not certified and swore no affidavit.
Checklist for Iranian documents
Questions people ask
Does IRCC need a translation of the whole shenasnameh?
Yes. IRCC expects a complete translation of any document you submit, and the inner pages are where marriages, divorces and children are recorded. Empty pages are noted as empty, so the officer knows each page was examined.
Can the shenasnameh serve as my birth certificate?
It is Iran's record of birth, kept by the National Organization for Civil Registration, so it is what Iranian applicants provide. Its first data page gives the date and place of birth and both parents' names, which are the facts an officer checks.
How do I get an Iranian police certificate while living in Canada?
Iran's embassy in Canada is closed, so Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs offers an alternative process for Iranians in Canada, available in Persian only. Inside Iran you apply at a Police+10 centre or through the Sana System, and from other countries at the nearest Iranian embassy.
How do I convert a Persian date for an IRCC form?
Convert each date on its own. Dates between Nowruz and December 31 take the Persian year plus 621, and dates from January 1 to the next Nowruz take plus 622. The translation shows the Persian date with the Gregorian date beside it.
Why is my Iranian marriage certificate a single printed page?
Registry offices stopped issuing the handwritten booklet in April 2024 and now print a white, one-page certificate. It is translated exactly like the booklet, with the mehrieh, stipulations, witnesses and seals included.
Can I translate my own Persian documents for IRCC if I am fluent?
No. IRCC bars applicants, their family members and their representatives from translating documents for the application. The translation must come from a certified translator or from an independent translator who swears an affidavit.
Do Iranian documents need an apostille for IRCC?
No. IRCC asks for a complete translation and, from a translator who is not certified, a sworn affidavit, not legalization. Iran has not joined the Apostille Convention, so no Iranian document can carry an apostille anyway.
How much does an Iranian document translation cost, and how long does it take?
Official Translations charges CA$39.95 per page of up to 300 words, and the sworn affidavit IRCC accepts adds CA$24.95 per document. Most single certificates arrive as a signed PDF within 24 hours, while a complete shenasnameh usually needs one to three business days.
