Chinese Documents Translation for UK Visas: Notarial Certificates, Pinyin Names, Police Checks, Hong Kong and Taiwan

Ask for a mainland Chinese birth record for use abroad and you usually get a notarial certificate (公证书, gōngzhèngshū): a notary office's formal statement that you were born, married or have no criminal record, often with an English version bound in. The US State Department's civil documents schedule notes that "All notarial documents must have an English translation".

That English version follows the notary office's format, not the Home Office's rule. Whether it can go into a UK visa file depends on what it shows, and that is where many Chinese document translation questions start.

This guide covers the Home Office rule, notarial certificates, the main mainland documents, names, police certificates, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and apostilles.

Do Chinese documents need a certified translation for a UK visa?

Yes, unless they are entirely in English. Paragraph 39B(f) asks for "the version in the original language and a full translation that can be independently verified", dated and signed, with the translator's or company's contact details. Our guide to what a certification statement must include sets out the wording.

Some UK routes and bodies add their own twists:

• Student visas. Under paragraph ST 22.1 of Appendix Student, Chinese nationals, and holders of British National (Overseas), Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan passports, applying from where they live or from the UK, need not submit financial evidence or the documents used to obtain their offer, but the decision maker may ask for them. Keep translations ready. See student visa documents.
• BN(O) and Youth Mobility visas. GOV.UK asks for "a certified translation of any documents that are not in English".
• UK ENIC reads Chinese without translation, free, under its Translation Waiver Service.
• Universities. UCL asks current students for a Mainland China grade certificate (成绩证明), where the university issues one, with "an English translation which is signed and stamped by your university". No translation company can supply that.

Is the notary's English translation enough for the Home Office?

Sometimes. The State Department's schedule describes notarial certificates for birth, death, marriage, divorce, adoption and court records, each issued by a local notary office (公证处, gōngzhèngchù) with the English translation attached and a certificate that it conforms to the Chinese.

Paragraph 39B(f) does not care who made the translation; it cares what the translation shows. Before you upload the notary's version, check that it:

• is dated;
• confirms it is an accurate translation of the original;
• gives the full name and signature of the translator or an authorised official;
• gives contact details; and
• for leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain, includes a qualified translator's certification and credentials.

If any element is missing, or the notary translated only part of the bundle, have the whole certificate translated with a proper statement. Our birth certificate guide gives the same warning.

Which mainland Chinese documents will you need?

The documents behind most UK files, as described by the US State Department, GOV.UK and HM Passport Office (HMPO):

Births to foreign parents add a wrinkle: HMPO notes that "non Chinese national parents will have their names recorded on birth certificates in English". The translation keeps those names exactly as printed.

How should Chinese names be spelled in the translation?

As in the passport, and in the passport's order. HMPO's China profile notes that citizens are "referred to by their surname first" and gives the example of a passport showing "LI Xiaoling Victoria", where LI is the surname and Xiaoling Victoria the forenames.

The working rules:

1. Surname first, as printed. Do not flip names into Western order on one document and not another.
2. Keep the characters. One pinyin spelling can stand for many different characters, so give the name in characters with the romanised form, for example 李晓玲 (LI Xiaoling).
3. Women keep their surnames. HMPO notes women "do not usually take their husband's surname"; if one does, she typically puts it before her own, as in "Mrs LI CHEN".
4. Simplified and Traditional. Mainland documents normally use simplified characters, and Hong Kong and Taiwan documents traditional ones. Copy whichever form the document uses.

Hong Kong and Taiwanese spellings are often not Mandarin pinyin. HMPO's Taiwan profile explains that a holder can have a name romanised "using their native pronunciation rather than Mandarin", so the surname 黃 is Huang in Mandarin and Wong in Hakka. Taiwanese passports show the surname first, have room for 39 characters, and can show an "also known as" name. Whatever the passport says is the spelling the translation uses.

How do you get a Chinese, Hong Kong or Taiwanese police certificate?

You need one for entry clearance as a Skilled Worker or Health and Care Worker in a listed education, health or social care job, or as their partner, from every country or territory where you spent 12 months or more in the last 10 years since turning 18. See our police certificate translation guide.

Two details change translations. GOV.UK notes that since 8 June 2022 the British Consulate-General and the FCDO "no longer issue letters to the Hong Kong Police" for a CNCC, so ask the Hong Kong Police what request letter it will accept. And the US schedule says Taiwan's certificate omits convictions with only a fine, probation, a suspended sentence or a jail term under six months: translate its result exactly, without widening it.

How are Hong Kong and Taiwan documents different?

They come from different registries, usually use traditional characters, and some are issued in English versions.

Hong Kong. The Immigration Department holds the central register. HMPO notes two birth certificate formats, handwritten horizontal ones issued before 6 November 1995 and printed A4 ones since, and that from 2 January 1980 the birth certificate number matches the holder's Hong Kong identity card number. Divorces are evidenced by the court's certificate making the decree nisi absolute. If every entry on a Hong Kong document is in English, it needs no translation; Chinese-only entries and chops do. Hong Kong is a designated territory, so its driving licences can be exchanged with the DVLA.

Taiwan. Household Registration Offices keep the central records. The US schedule describes the individual household registration transcript (個人戶籍謄本, gèrén hùjí téngběn), available in Chinese and English versions, and HMPO notes hospital birth certificates come in "Taiwanese and English versions". Taiwanese driving licences need an official translation from a Taipei Representative Office for a DVLA exchange, which no translation company can supply; see driving licence translation for the DVLA.

The Youth Mobility Scheme also treats them separately: Hong Kong SAR and Taiwan passport holders must be selected in the ballot before applying, and every applicant must show at least £2,530 in savings, translated if the statement is not in English.

Do Chinese documents need an apostille now?

Not for the Home Office: paragraph 39B(f) does not ask for one. But the rules changed. Mainland China joined the Apostille Convention with effect from 7 November 2023. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and entrusted provincial and city Foreign Affairs Offices issue apostilles, which can be verified online at consular.mfa.gov.cn/VERIFY. Hong Kong has used apostilles since 1965, issued by the Registrar of the High Court. Taiwan is not a party.

If a UK body does want a document legalised, GOV.UK says that documents issued abroad must be legalised "in the country they were issued", not by the FCDO. An apostille attached to a Chinese document is part of what you submit, so it is translated with the rest.

Why Chinese translations get questioned

• The notary's English pages used as they are, with no date, translator name or contact details.
• Half a bundle translated: the notary's statement but not the copied certificate behind it.
• Names reversed into Western order on some documents and not others.
• Characters dropped, so two people with the same pinyin cannot be told apart.
• A Hong Kong or Taiwanese name "corrected" to pinyin, away from the passport.
• A Taiwanese police result widened into a claim of no record at all.

Checklist: Chinese documents for a UK application

Questions people ask