Most people assume Canada can read their passport. About the photo page, they are usually right. About much of what they upload, they are not: the Persian exit stamp, the extension endorsement, the national ID card printed only in Arabic, the Russian internal passport full of address and marriage stamps.
IRCC's language rule does not care which booklet the text sits in. Anything you submit that is not in English or French needs a translation, and IRCC adds that "all stamps and seals that are not in English or French must also be translated."
This guide covers passport and ID translation in Canada: which pages IRCC asks for, how it spells your name, the national IDs that come up most, and what a translation must contain.
Does IRCC need my passport translated?
Usually not the information page. ICAO Doc 9303, the standard machine-readable passports follow, requires that where the issuing state's language is not English, French or Spanish, each printed caption be followed by an oblique and its equivalent in one of those three. Names in a non-Latin script get a Latin version: "a transcription or transliteration into Latin characters shall be provided."
Two gaps remain:
- Spanish satisfies ICAO, not IRCC. A page whose captions or entries appear only in Spanish, or in the national language plus Spanish, needs translating when you submit it.
- Everything outside the data fields is unregulated. Entry and exit stamps, visa stickers, residence permits and endorsement pages are often in the national language only.
Those are the parts that get translated, uploaded with a scan of the original pages and either stamped by a certified translator (a member in good standing of a professional association) or, when the translator is not certified, accompanied by the translator's affidavit. Our guide to IRCC translation requirements explains both routes.
Which passport pages does IRCC ask for?
It depends on the application, and your personal checklist has the final word. The published requirements:
| Application | What IRCC asks for | What usually needs translating |
|---|---|---|
| Visitor visa | "the page that shows your birth date and country or territory of origin" and "any pages with stamps, visas or markings" | Stamps, visa stickers and endorsements |
| Visitor visa travel history (recommended) | Previous passports and visas used in the last 10 years, "entry and exit stamps", "expired or valid visas" | The same, in older passports |
| Citizenship (adults) | Colour copies of the identity pages of all passports and travel documents from the 5-year eligibility period, plus "the pages with the extension stamp" | Extension stamps and any identity-page field not in English or French |
| Citizenship identification | Two pieces of ID; a foreign ID issued by a foreign government counts, both sides copied | The whole card: "If the ID is not in English or French, provide a certified translation." |
| Family sponsorship | Country-specific instructions for documents such as passports, "national identification cards" and "military service documents (for example, military booklets)" | ID cards and military booklets, in full |
Officers read stamp pages as travel history and extension stamps as proof that an old passport was valid. See also visitor visa and super visa documents.
Which spelling of my name will IRCC use?
The spelling in your passport's machine-readable zone (MRZ), the two lines of letters and chevrons at the bottom of the photo page. IRCC's identity management instructions say that for temporary and permanent residence "the foreign passport is the primary document that shall be used to establish a name record," and that "the MRZ is the main area that should be relied upon to establish the client's primary name."
What that means for your translations:
- Foreign alphabets. Where a name is in a foreign alphabet, "the MRZ will take precedence over the VIZ to determine the name and its spelling." IRCC leaves transliteration to the country that issued the passport.
- No Latin version at all. "If the document contains no transliterations into the Roman alphabet, the applicant must provide an official translation."
- Long names. If the MRZ cuts a name short, the full printed name becomes the primary name and the shortened one an alias.
- Accents. IRCC's system accepts these French accents: Â, À, É, Ê, Ë, È, Ï, Î, Ô, Ü, Ù, Û, Ç. In the MRZ, ICAO turns Ä into AE or A and Ñ into N or NXX.
- Patronymics. A patronymic in the family-name part of the MRZ is recorded as part of the family name.
ICAO's recommended table also covers Cyrillic: Ж becomes ZH, Ю becomes IU and Я becomes IA (YU and YA at the start of a Ukrainian name). So Юлия can read IULIIA in the MRZ while an old diploma says Yulia.
A different surname after marriage is a name change, not a spelling issue; see name changes with foreign documents.
Do national ID cards need a certified translation?
Yes, whenever you submit one and it is not in English or French. IRCC's visitor visa guide asks you to "enter your national identity document number exactly as shown on the document," and citizenship and sponsorship files can call for the card itself.
Cards that often come up in Canadian files:
| Country | Document | What it records | Translation notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| China | Resident Identity Card (jumin shenfenzheng) and household register (hukou bu) | Card: name, sex, ethnicity, date of birth, home address, ID number, photo | The hukou is a multi-page register: translate every page with entries |
| Iran | Shenasnameh (identity booklet) and kart-e melli (national card) | The booklet issued from age 15 records spouses, divorces and children; the 10-digit national number appears in the booklet, the card and the passport | Reproduce the number digit for digit; give Solar Hijri dates with their conversion |
| Russia | Internal passport (pasport grazhdanina Rossiiskoi Federatsii) | Issued at 14, replaced at 20 and 45; shows registered address, marriages and divorces, children under 14, military service | Every page with a stamp, including old registrations |
| Ukraine | ID card, or the older booklet passport | ID cards replaced booklets for first-time applicants from 2016; older people still widely use booklets as ID | In a booklet, every page with an entry or stamp |
| Afghanistan | Tazkira, on A4 paper or as an electronic e-Tazkira | Name, date and place of birth, physical description, marital status, profession, photo | The age shown is usually an estimate; translate it as written |
| Egypt | National ID card | Issued only in Arabic; the back shows marital status, religion and profession, and a married woman's card shows her husband's name | Both sides; the national number matches the birth certificate |
Booklets need the most care: a translation that stops at the photo page of an internal passport or hukou leaves stamps untranslated.
Can I use a foreign passport or ID elsewhere in Canada?
Often, under each office's own rules:
- Social Insurance Number. Service Canada accepts a "Passport (Canadian or foreign)" as a secondary document. Documents not in English or French "must be translated," family members may not translate, and a translator who is not certified must provide "an affidavit sworn in front of someone authorized to administer oaths."
- Ontario health card. ServiceOntario's proof-of-identity list includes a "passport (Canadian or foreign)" showing your name and signature.
- Banks. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada lists "foreign passports" among the documents a bank can rely on; bring originals. See opening a bank account as a newcomer.
- Driver's licence exchanges follow each province's own translation rules; check the province before ordering.
What must a passport or ID translation show?
IRCC's citizenship instructions set the standard: translate "the content in the same order as on the original document," "include all text on the original document, such as the letterhead, fine print and stamps," and "include the date when the translation was done." For passports and IDs:
- Document title, issuing authority, document number and any national ID number, exactly
- Names exactly as in the MRZ, with a note for any other spelling on the page
- Dates with the month written out, never 05/03/2019, and calendar conversions noted
- Each stamp separately: country, border post, entry or exit, date, handwritten text
- Visa stickers, endorsements and extension stamps in full, including validity dates
- Photos, holograms, seals and signatures described in square brackets
- Both sides of every card, and blank booklet pages noted as blank
Sample affidavit wording that ties the translation to specific pages:
Why passport and ID translations get questioned
- Stamps summarized as "various entry and exit stamps" instead of translated one by one.
- A name re-transliterated by the translator instead of copied from the MRZ.
- Only the front of a card translated, losing the issuing authority and expiry date.
- A Spanish-only page left untranslated.
- Ambiguous dates such as 03/04/2023, which can mean March 4 or April 3.
- A translation by a relative, which IRCC and Service Canada both bar.
IRCC returns applications missing required translations as incomplete and "reserves the right to request a retranslation by a different translator." For the difference between a certified translation and an affidavit, see certified vs sworn affidavit.
Checklist: passport and ID pages before you upload
Questions people ask
Do I need to translate my passport for IRCC?
Usually not the information page, because the international passport standard requires English, French or Spanish captions and Latin-letter names. You do need a translation of any page you submit with text in another language, including stamps, visas and endorsements, since IRCC requires all stamps and seals not in English or French to be translated.
Which passport pages should I upload for a visitor visa?
IRCC asks for the page showing your birth date and country or territory of origin, plus any pages with stamps, visas or markings. For travel history it recommends previous passports and visas used in the last 10 years. Translate the pages you upload wherever they contain text that is not in English or French.
Which spelling of my name will IRCC use?
The spelling in the passport's machine-readable zone. IRCC's identity rules make the foreign passport the primary name document for temporary and permanent residence, and the MRZ takes precedence when a name is in a foreign alphabet. Every translation in your file should match it, with a note where another document spells the name differently.
Does a national ID card need a certified translation?
Yes, if you submit it and it is not in English or French. Citizenship applicants who use a foreign ID must provide a certified translation of it, and both sides of the card should be copied and translated. For IRCC, a translator who is not certified must also attach a sworn affidavit.
Can I translate my own passport stamps or ID card?
No. IRCC does not allow applicants, their family members or their representatives to translate documents, and Service Canada also bars family members. Fluency does not change this, because the rule is about independence.
Does a passport translation need to be notarized?
For IRCC, the translation needs a certified translator's stamp or, if the translator is not certified, the translator's affidavit sworn before a notary public or commissioner of oaths. A notary's stamp on a photocopy of your passport is not a translation and does not meet the rule.
How much does a passport or ID translation cost, and how fast is it?
Official Translations charges CA$39.95 per page, a page being up to 300 words, with the sworn affidavit for IRCC at CA$24.95 per document. Most one-page documents arrive as a signed PDF within 24 hours, and longer sets such as a full internal passport take 1 to 3 business days.
