Iranian (Farsi) Documents for USCIS and NVC: Translating the Shenasnameh, Marriage Certificates and Solar Hijri Dates

An Iranian birth date written as 12 Shahrivar 1365 is September 3, 1986. Convert it one day off, or translate only the photo page of the shenasnameh, and the file you send to USCIS no longer lines up with your passport. Officers notice.

Iran does not issue a birth certificate in the American sense. The shenasnameh (شناسنامه), a passport-sized booklet, is the birth record, the identity document and a running log of marriages, divorces and children. It is the most important Persian (Farsi) document in most US immigration files, and the one most often translated badly.

Below: each document and its issuer, date conversion, names, Afghan records and a checklist.

Do Iranian documents need a certified translation for USCIS?

Yes, every one you submit. Under 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3), any document containing a foreign language needs a full English translation, certified by the translator as complete and accurate, with the translator's certification of competence. The State Department applies the same standard at the NVC.

"Full" is the word that matters: a summary, or a translation that skips the "empty" pages, does not qualify. Notarization is not part of the federal rule. For the general standard, see USCIS certified translation requirements.

Which Iranian documents will you need?

Do I need to translate every page of the shenasnameh?

Yes. The State Department's Iran Reciprocity Schedule says all pages are required for immigrant visa processing. Translate the booklet page by page, including pages with nothing but a stamp, and mark blank pages as blank.

What the booklet looks like

The current shenasnameh has a brown cover with the photo printed on the data page for holders over 15, and a dark green cover without a photo for children under 15. Older booklets have a red or burgundy cover, handwritten entries and stamped signatures. The old version has no expiry date, so both still turn up.

The personal data page shows the 10-digit national ID number, the booklet's serial number, the holder's name, date and place of birth, both parents' names and identifiers, the place of issue and the name of the official who issued it.

The pages people skip

The later pages hold the history: spouses, divorces, children, voting stamps and, eventually, a death notation. The notary who registers a marriage also updates both spouses' booklets, so this is where a prior marriage shows up.

Two gaps matter. According to Norway's country-of-origin unit, Landinfo, couples have three months after a family court ruling to register a divorce, so a booklet can still show a marriage that has ended. And the State Department warns that a duplicate booklet issued after a loss may not include divorce information at all.

Marriage and divorce certificates: booklets and the 2024 format

Notary-run registry offices register marriages and divorces for Muslims and for the recognized religious minorities: Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians. Older marriage certificates are small handwritten booklets whose cover color changed over the years (turquoise, red or burgundy, or green); older divorce certificates are white booklets. Since April 2024, the State Department reports, both are issued as a one-page typewritten certificate.

A marriage certificate records far more than names and a date: the mehrieh (مهریه), the marriage portion often stated in gold coins, contract conditions, witnesses, the registry office number and the notary's seal. All of it is translated. If the original booklet is lost, the State Department says a handwritten registry transcript, a roonevesht (رونوشت), may be acceptable.

Three special cases come up often:

• Temporary marriage (sigheh). Performed by a religious authority and never registered with the government, it cannot confer immigration benefits; the State Department says the applicant is processed as though unmarried.
• Baha'i marriages. Iran does not recognize the Baha'i faith, so the State Department asks for the local spiritual assembly's certificate, a one-page document from the Department of National Registration and Statistics, and the registration in each spouse's shenasnameh.
• Divorce. A family court rules first, and the divorce is then registered at a registry office, where two witnesses are required. Translate the registered divorce certificate, and the court ruling too if you have it. See divorce decree translation for USCIS.

Death, police and military records

The govahi-ye fot comes from the NOCR, and a deceased person's shenasnameh is stamped "deceased". The State Department calls Iranian police records available but unreliable; police, court and prison records are not required for immigrant visas because posts cannot verify them.

Military cards from the Public Conscription Organization show the national ID number, name, father's name, Persian date of birth, service dates and rank. English translations are easy to get in Iran, but the State Department recommends checking them against the original.

How do you convert Solar Hijri dates to Gregorian?

One date at a time, and the original stays on the page. Iranian documents use the Solar Hijri calendar, whose year begins at Nowruz, on March 20 or 21. The first six months have 31 days, the next five have 30, and Esfand has 29, or 30 in a leap year. For the Gregorian year, add 621 to dates from Nowruz through December 31, and 622 to dates from January 1 until the next Nowruz.

These start dates hold in most years but slip a day earlier in some (Nowruz 1403 fell on March 20, 2024), so every date is converted against a calendar table, never by rule of thumb.

Keep the original and add the conversion: "12 Shahrivar 1365 [September 3, 1986]". The Social Security Administration instructs its own staff the same way: translate dates as shown and put the conversion in a translator's note. An officer can then check both.

Two more traps: the Persian digits ۴, ۵ and ۶ differ from their Arabic forms and are easy to misread in faded handwriting, and documents from 1976 to 1978 may use the short-lived imperial calendar, with years such as 2535 in place of 1355.

How should Persian names be spelled in the translation?

Exactly as in the passport. محمد may be Mohammad, Mohamad or Muhammad; the surname قاسمی may be Ghasemi or Qasemi. The only right spelling for USCIS is your passport's, used identically on every translated document.

For relatives without passports, the translator picks one romanization and keeps it everywhere. The father's name, which US forms ask for separately, is translated as a name, not glossed.

The 10-digit national ID number appears in the shenasnameh, on the kart-e melli and in the passport. Reproduced exactly, it is the cleanest proof that all three documents belong to one person. For spelling conflicts, see name changes and foreign documents.

What is different for Iranian applicants?

Mostly the route, not the translation standard. The United States has no embassy in Iran, so immigrant visa applicants complete the NVC civil documents stage and then interview at a US embassy in another country.

From inside the United States, the State Department points people to the Interests Section of the Islamic Republic of Iran, housed in the Embassy of Pakistan in Washington, DC (daftar.org), for civil documents and passports.

Afghan documents in Dari

Dari and Iranian Persian share a script, but Afghan documents follow their own conventions. Months carry zodiac names (Hamal, Sawr, Jawza and so on), and both solar and lunar Hijri dates occur, so the translator confirms which calendar each date uses before converting it.

For Afghan immigrant visas, the State Department requires the tazkera (national ID) from every applicant as a quasi-birth record; the kart-e tawalod birth certificate is not required. Marriage is shown by a nekah khat certified by the Supreme Court, and divorce by a talaq khat that starts in the family court and ends with the Supreme Court's signature. Some documents now carry the name of the so-called Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, which the United States does not recognize. See Dari certified translation.

Why Iranian translations get rejected

• Partial shenasnameh. Only the photo page is translated, so the marriage and children pages are missing.
• Wrong Gregorian year. A Dey, Bahman or Esfand date gets 621 added instead of 622.
• Three spellings of one name. "Mohammadreza" on the birth record, "Mohammad Reza" on the marriage certificate, and a third form in the passport.
• Untranslated stamps and margins. Registry seals, amendment notes and mehrieh terms dropped as "not relevant".
• A temporary marriage offered as proof of marriage. It cannot support a spousal petition.

When the evidence falls short, USCIS can issue a Request for Evidence or deny the case outright under 8 CFR 103.2(b)(8). See what happens if USCIS rejects a translation.

Checklist before you file

Questions people ask