My document was issued in another country. Will it be accepted?
Yes. Social Security does not require the document to be in English; it requires the original or a certified copy, plus a translation.
A document issued abroad is not a dead end, and the belief that it has to be in English is simply wrong. Social Security’s own rules accept a foreign-language document: what they ask for is the original or a certified copy of it, submitted together with a translation.
- The document itself must be the original or a certified copy from the office that issued it — the same standard as a domestic record.
- A translation goes in with it. The document does not need to have been issued in English.
- It should be an official government record of the event rather than a ceremonial or religious certificate on its own.
Everything after Social Security
Each agency after that sets its own document rules, and state license agencies in particular differ from one another. Your state’s page and your state sheet name the documents that agency lists, and where a state does not publish its list we say so rather than guess at it.
Sending an original abroad is worth avoiding if a certified copy can be obtained instead. Ordering extra copies from the issuing office, while you can, is the same advice as for a domestic record and for the same reason.
Other questions people ask
When you’re ready to do it
Two questions about your situation first, because there is one answer that means we can’t help — and we would rather tell you that before you pay than after.
One payment. No subscription.