Iranian Documents Translation for UK Visas: The Shenasnameh, Marriage Certificates, Solar Hijri Dates and Afghan Dari Records

A shenasnameh entry dated 1365/11/10 records a birth on 30 January 1987. Add the usual 621 years and you get 1986, a year out. The Iranian year starts at Nowruz in March, so a date between 1 January and Nowruz needs 622.

That one-year slip is the classic error in Iranian document translation, and it surfaces when a caseworker compares the translation with the passport. The other traps are just as specific: a birth certificate that is really a booklet, a marriage certificate whose format changed in 2024, and balances in rials or tomans. This guide covers each, then Afghan documents in Dari.

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

Yes. Paragraph 39B(f) requires, for any document "not in English or Welsh", "the version in the original language and a full translation that can be independently verified", with the elements listed in the short answer. See what a certification statement must include.

UK ENIC's Translation Waiver Service does not cover Persian, so for a Statement of Comparability it "accepts certified translations from professional translators". Our academic transcript guide covers transcripts and grades.

Which Iranian documents will you need, and what do they look like?

Births, marriages and deaths are registered with the National Organisation for Civil Registration; marriage and divorce certificates come through notary offices under the National Organisation for Registration of Documents and Property. HM Passport Office's Iran profile (July 2026) and the US State Department's schedule describe the documents:

Temporary marriages, the US schedule notes, are not registered with the government. For the marriage file as a whole, see marriage certificate translation.

What must a shenasnameh translation include?

Every page that carries an entry, stamp or note, with blank pages identified as blank. The shenasnameh records the holder's name, birth details, parents and ID number, and later events too: the US schedule says marriages and divorces "should also be recorded in both parties' shenasnameh", along with children.

Points that catch translators out:

• No sex field. HMPO notes that a person's gender "does not appear on the birth book". The translation must not add one.
• Duplicates may omit history. The US schedule warns that a reissued shenasnameh may leave out a divorce shown on the old one. Translate what the copy shows, and supply the divorce certificate separately.
• Numbers matter. The shenasnameh number, the national ID number and the issuing office are copied exactly; they link the booklet to the kart-e melli, the passport and every other record.
• Stamps and notes. Amendment and reissue stamps, and any "deceased" stamp, are translated in square brackets.

How do you convert Solar Hijri dates to Gregorian?

Carefully, and with the original date kept. Article 17 of Iran's Constitution recognises "both the solar and lunar Islamic calendars", but says "government offices will function according to the solar calendar". Almost every civil document is therefore dated in the Solar Hijri year, which begins at Nowruz, on 20 or 21 March (22 March in some years before 1960).

The working rules:

1. 621 or 622. From Nowruz to 31 December, add 621 to the year. From 1 January to the day before Nowruz, add 622. The year 1365 ran from 21 March 1986 to 20 March 1987.
2. Month lengths. The first six months have 31 days, the next five 30, and the last 29 or 30, so a day count that assumes Gregorian months drifts quickly.
3. Order of figures. Dates are often written year first, so 1365/06/15 is 15 Shahrivar 1365, which is 6 September 1986.
4. Both dates in the translation. "1365/06/15 [6 September 1986]", with a translator's note naming the calendar. The current year, 1405, began on 21 March 2026.

Religious documents may also carry lunar Hijri dates. Whatever the calendar, the date appears exactly as written, and the conversion is an added note, never a replacement.

How should Iranian names be spelled in the translation?

As in the passport of the person named. HMPO notes that Iranian names consist of a forename and a surname, that "the full name on an Iranian passport must match the full name on the holder's birth certificate", and that a married woman keeps her maiden name.

Persian script usually leaves out short vowels, so one name has several fair Latin spellings. محمدرضا can appear as Mohammadreza, Mohammad Reza or Mohamadreza, and only one of them is in your passport. ICAO's passport standard includes the Persian letters پ, چ, ژ and گ in its table for Arabic script, but the visual spelling on the data page is the one that counts for the Home Office.

Use the passport spelling for every person who has a passport, keep compound forenames joined or split exactly as the passport does, and spell parents' names identically across the shenasnameh, marriage certificate and any other translation in the file.

Can you get an Iranian police certificate for a UK visa?

Possibly, and the official sources disagree. You need one only 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 each country where you spent 12 months or more in the last 10 years since turning 18.

GOV.UK's country note for Iran, last updated on 21 October 2015, says: "The UK is not currently aware of a process for obtaining criminal record certificates from the Iranian authorities." The US State Department's schedule says "clean record certificates can be obtained in Iran or from Iranian Embassies and Consulates". UKVI's caseworker guidance warns that the GOV.UK notes "may not reflect the current position" and makes checking your responsibility.

So ask the Iranian embassy. If you get a certificate, translate it in full, including the result, scope, dates and any verification code; see our police certificate translation guide. If you cannot, include a written explanation of your attempts: UKVI can waive the requirement where obtaining a certificate is "not reasonably practicable".

Iranian bank statements and property documents

Money is where Iranian translations go wrong quietly. The US schedule tells officers to check whether totals are in rials or tomans, one toman being ten rials, and to verify conversions, which are often wrong. Translate every amount with the unit exactly as printed, and never convert it.

The Home Office does its own conversion. Under paragraph FIN 1.3 of Appendix Finance, Iranian rials are converted using the monthly FCDO Consular Exchange Rate, not the OANDA spot rate used for most currencies. See our bank statement translation guide.

Property deeds need the same precision. The US schedule notes that ownership may be divided into shares, so an applicant may own only part of a listed property. The translation must state the share exactly as the deed does.

Afghan documents in Dari

Afghanistan's 2004 Constitution also based state offices on the solar calendar, but with different month names: its public holidays fall on "the 28th of Asad and 8th of Saur". An Iranian month table will misread Afghan dates. The same 39B(f) rule applies to Dari and Pashto documents; see our Dari translation page.

• Tazkira (تذکره). The national ID. The US schedule describes the A4 paper tazkira issued before 2018 and the card-sized electronic e-tazkira issued since 2018, and notes that the recorded age is "usually just an estimate".
• Names. HMPO notes that Dari names "traditionally have no family names", that some documents show only the father's and grandfather's details, and that passports shorten long names automatically.
• Marriage and divorce. The marriage certificate is the nikah khat (نکاح خط). The US schedule says handwritten divorce letters have no legal recognition; divorce goes through the courts.
• Police certificates. GOV.UK's note, last updated in March 2017, describes a check through the Afghan embassy in London; the US schedule says certificates are "partially available for very limited periods".

Note that since 26 March 2026, under the Statement of Changes HC 1691, Skilled Worker and Student visa applications from Afghan main applicants are refused.

Why Iranian translations get questioned

• A Gregorian year one out for dates between January and Nowruz.
• Only the identity page of the shenasnameh translated when the marriage or children's pages were the point.
• A sex field added to a shenasnameh that has none.
• Names spelled differently from the passport, or a compound name split differently.
• Tomans read as rials, or amounts converted into pounds by the translator.
• A kart-e melli offered in place of the shenasnameh, which the US schedule does not accept as a birth certificate.

Checklist: Iranian documents for a UK application

Questions people ask