Polish Name Change Translation
Polish name change translation of the decyzja o zmianie imienia lub nazwiska from a kierownik urzędu stanu cywilnego, the oświadczenie that changes a surname at marriage or after divorce, and the wzmianka it leaves on a birth or marriage record, all into certified English. We also translate US court name-change orders into Polish for a consulate or a USC.
- 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 Polish change of name records
How names change in Poland, and the paper each change leaves
Poland changes names by administrative decision and by declaration, not by court order, and the proof is often a line on another document rather than a certificate of its own.
The administrative decyzja
Under the ustawa o zmianie imienia i nazwiska of 2008, a Polish citizen applies to any kierownik USC, or to a Polish consul abroad, and receives a decyzja granting or refusing the change for "important reasons", among them a name that invites ridicule, a name used for years in another country, or matching the name in that country's records. The decision states the old and new names, the legal basis and the USC's file number. The translation keeps the statutory phrasing, since USCIS and the Social Security Administration compare it with the passport issued afterward.
Surname declarations at marriage and after divorce
At marriage each spouse tells the kierownik USC which surname they will use: their own, the other's, or a combination of at most two elements. Within three months of a divorce becoming final, a spouse may declare a return to the earlier surname under article 59 of the Kodeks rodzinny i opiekuńczy. Neither produces a certificate; the change appears as a wzmianka dodatkowa on the odpis zupełny aktu małżeństwa, so that full copy, not the short one, is the document to translate.
Grammar and diacritics in the names themselves
Polish surnames change ending with the bearer: Kowalski for a man, Kowalska for his wife and daughter, and old records may show Kowalskowa or Kowalszczanka. That is not a name change, and the translation says so in a note. Diacritics are the other trap: a Łukasz Żółkiewski who became Lukasz Zolkiewski on a US driver's license has not changed his name either, but a US clerk may think he has, and a translation that keeps the Polish letters and notes the usual plain-letter form settles it.
Who is asking for your Polish change of name translation?
The translation is the same. What changes is whether the recipient wants anything added to it.
USCIS
USCIS asks for a complete English translation and a signed certification from the translator. No notarization is needed.
US passports and the Department of State
The Department of State wants the translation notarized. Add notarization at checkout and we handle the rest.
Banks, DMVs and Social Security
Offices updating your record to the new name accept a certified translation of the order, read next to the original. Some DMVs want it notarized as well, so check with your office first.
Before you upload
Three things that save a day of back and forth on a Polish change of name.
Send the court order or the registry act
A name change is proved by the judge's order, the deed poll or the registry entry that recorded it. Upload the document that made the change, not only an ID in the new name.
Show both names in the scan
The page that lists the old name and the new one is the page every recipient wants. Include the seal, the registration number and the back of the page.
Give us the English spelling of both names
Tell us how each name appears on your passport or other documents. The translation keeps the names as the order writes them and notes the spelling you use.
Details and pricing
What is included in a Polish change of name 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 change of name 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.
Polish Change Of Name FAQ
Most questions about pricing and turnaround can be answered faster by requesting a quote.
- I changed my name in a US court. How do I get Poland to recognize it?
- A Polish citizen registers the change by having the US court order, with an apostille, entered as a wzmianka on the Polish birth record through a USC or the consulate, after which a new Polish passport can be issued in the new name. The USC takes the Polish version from a tłumacz przysięgły, or a consul may certify it, so the filed copy is made in Poland. We translate the order into Polish for your own reading and for the relative filing it, and the Polish passport later into English if a US office asks about the new name.
- Does USCIS need the name change translated if my passport already shows the new name?
- Yes, when any document in the file carries the old name. A birth certificate in the maiden name and a passport in the married name are linked by the marriage record and its wzmianka, and a degree in a name later changed by decyzja is linked by that decision. We translate the linking document with our signed certification so the officer sees one person across the file. The same applies to the Social Security Administration and a state DMV.
- My Polish documents spell my first name differently from each other. Is that a name change?
- Usually not. Polish records write a name in its base form, Katarzyna, while letters, school lists and old church entries may use Kasia or a Latin or German form from before 1918, and a document issued abroad may have dropped the diacritics. A translator's note explaining that these are forms of one name is normally enough; a formal decyzja is needed only when you want the registered name itself changed.
- 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 Polish documents we translate
Change of name translation in other languages
Each of these pages is written for that language's change of name records.
Sending it with an application? Read the USCIS translation requirements, Apostille service before you order.