Korean Asylum Documents Translation
Korean asylum documents translation for an I-589 or an immigration court hearing. The files we see come from two very different places: North Korean escapees whose papers, if they have any, are North Korean, and South Koreans whose claims rest on conscription, family violence, sexuality or 학교폭력. Each document gets a signed certification in English.
- Up to 250 words per page
- $25 per page
- Standard turnaround
- From 24 hours
- Certificate of accuracy
- Signed & stamped
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Written for Korean asylum documents records
The papers a Korean asylum file is built from
North Korean and South Korean documents use the same script and different everything else. The translator has to know which state wrote the paper, because the spelling, the calendar and the office names all follow.
North Korean papers and the Hanawon file
A 공민증, an 출생증 or a 졸업증 from the North is written in northern orthography, 로동 for 노동, 녀성 for 여성, and dated in the 주체 calendar, so 주체 113년 is 2024. Many escapees arrive with nothing at all. Those who passed through the South hold a 보호결정 notice from the 통일부 and a 하나원 completion paper, and those carry weight because the North Korean Human Rights Act lets a North Korean claim asylum in the US despite being eligible for South Korean citizenship. We keep the northern spelling, give the converted year in brackets and translate every official name as the issuing state wrote it.
Conscription and conscientious objection
Older South Korean claims, mostly from Jehovah's Witnesses, rest on a 병무청 입영통지서, a 병역판정검사 result with its 신체등급 grade, and a 판결문 from a district court under 병역법 제88조. Since the 2018 Constitutional Court decision and the alternative service that began in 2020, newer files turn on whether the alternative was available to the applicant, and on the 병무청 practice of publishing the names of 병역기피자. The translation keeps the article number, the court and the sentence exactly, and explains the grade, because a US officer cannot look up 병역법 by number.
Police, medical and protective order records
A family violence file holds a 사건사고사실확인원 from the police, an 임시조치 or 피해자보호명령 from the family court and a 상해진단서 whose 전치 line, the expected weeks of treatment, is the only measure of severity on the page. School violence produces a written decision from the 학교폭력대책심의위원회. A claim by a gay or transgender applicant may rest on 군형법 제92조의6 or on psychiatric records. We translate each term with the Korean beside it and keep the case and document numbers.
Who is asking for your Korean asylum documents translation?
The translation is the same. What changes is whether the recipient wants anything added to it.
USCIS asylum offices
USCIS asks for a complete English translation of every foreign-language document and a signed certification from the translator. No notarization is needed.
Immigration courts
An immigration judge expects each exhibit translated in full and certified, filed with the original. Courts refuse summaries, so every page you file is translated whole.
IRCC
Refugee claims in Canada accept a certified translation with the translator's affidavit. Order the certified translation and add notarization if your application guide asks for it.
Before you upload
Three things that save a day of back and forth on a Korean asylum documents.
Send every page, including the envelopes
Police reports, threat letters, medical reports and newspaper clippings each count. Postmarks and envelopes show when and where a letter was sent, so scan them too.
Keep handwritten pages readable
Letters and notes are often handwritten. Photograph each page flat in good light, and tell us any names or places that are hard to make out.
Give us the names as your application spells them
Your I-589 fixes the English spelling of your name and of each family member. Tell us that spelling so every document in the file matches.
Details and pricing
What is included in a Korean asylum documents translation
One price per page covers the translation and its certification. A page is up to 250 words, and the quote tells you the page count before you pay.
Everything on the asylum documents is translated, including stamps, seals and handwritten notes. Tell us the English spelling you use for each name when you order.
Certified Translation
Word-for-word translation with a certificate of accuracy for official use.
$25
USD / page
up to 250 words per page
Included
- Signed & stamped certification of translation accuracy
- Certified by a professional translator
- Digital delivery via PDF
- Review and approve final translation
- 100% Guaranteed Acceptance
- Standard turnaround starting at 24 hours
Optional services
- Expedited turnaround
- Priority handling when your deadline is shorter than the standard turnaround.
- By deadline
- Notarization
- A notary public signs and stamps the certification statement.
- $20 per order
- Physical copy
- A wet-ink original of your translation, mailed by express courier.
- $35 per order
- Apostille
- Authenticates the notary’s signature and seal for use in Hague Convention countries.
- $180 per document
What the certificate of accuracy states
Your translation arrives with a Certification of Translation Accuracy issued by ImmiTranslate. It is the page the receiving organization checks first.
- The translation is complete and accurate.
- The document title and the language pair.
- The translator is competent in both languages.
- A signature and the ImmiTranslate certification stamp.
- Our American Translators Association corporate membership.
Our translation process
Our goal is to make the translation process as simple as possible for you. Our service is streamlined specifically for documents of this nature.
Korean Asylum Documents FAQ
Most questions about pricing and turnaround can be answered faster by requesting a quote.
- My documents are from North Korea. Can you translate them?
- Yes. North Korean documents use the same alphabet, with different spelling rules, different official vocabulary and almost no English loanwords. We translate them as written and add a note where a northern term has a different southern or English form, so the officer sees the original and the meaning. Names are spelled the way your US file already spells them, with the Hangul in brackets.
- Do I need every page of a Korean court judgment translated?
- Yes. The immigration court rule and the asylum office both want a complete translation, and a partial one invites the argument that something was left out. A Korean 판결문 has a 주문, the operative order, and 이유, the reasoning, and the reasoning is where the facts of your case are recorded. Each page of up to 250 words is $25, and most district court judgments in these cases run a few pages.
- Korean news outlets reported on my case. Can those articles go in the file?
- Yes, translated in full. Send each article with the outlet name, the date and the URL visible, or a PDF of the page. Korean reporting anonymizes people as A씨 or B군, and the translation keeps that and explains it in a note rather than guessing who is meant. Your own declaration is where you say that A씨 is you.
- How much does a certified translation cost?
- Certified translation is $25 per page, with a page counted as up to 250 words. Notarization, a mailed physical copy and an apostille are optional and priced separately.
- How long does a certified translation take?
- Standard turnaround starts at 24 hours and depends on the length and language of your documents. If you have a deadline, include it in your quote request.
Other Korean documents we translate
Asylum documents translation in other languages
Each of these pages is written for that language's asylum documents records.
Sending it with an application? Read the USCIS translation requirements, Certified translations before you order.