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Nikah Nama translation in English

A Nikah Nama translation turns the handwritten Urdu form into English, column by column, with a signed statement from the translator. You need one for most spouse and family visas. Here is what it costs, what a good one contains, and how to check one before you submit it.

What it costs

OptionTypical priceNotes
Online certified translation servicesFrom about $15 to $28 a pageMotaWord lists certified Urdu translation "starting at $15/page" (MotaWord). A Nikah Nama is usually two to four pages.
Translators in Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, RawalpindiA few thousand rupees per documentPrices vary by city and by whether stamps and attestation are included.
A competent bilingual person who signs a statementFreeUSCIS asks only that the translator be competent and sign. UK and Canadian applications usually cannot use a translation by the applicant or a family member.
NikahDraftFree preview; $9 for the clean PDF and Word fileA drafting tool, not a translator. Use it to prepare the text, or to check the translation you paid for.

What a good translation contains

  • All 25 columns in order, including the empty ones.
  • Both parts of each column: the printed question and the handwritten answer.
  • Translator's notes in square brackets for anything that is not words: [Signed], [Thumb impression], [Struck out in the original], [Seal].
  • Names spelled the way they are spelled in the passports, so the file matches across documents.
  • Dower (haq mehr) in figures and in words, with the prompt (mu'ajjal) and deferred (ghair mu'ajjal) parts.
  • The translator's statement, name, signature, date and contact details.

Fastest fix: open NikahDraft, type what is written in each of the 25 columns, and it lays out the English translation in the form's own order, with mehr amounts in words and a translator's statement. The preview is free and runs in your browser; the clean PDF and Word file cost $9 once.

How to check a translation you paid for

Most refusals over translations come from small mismatches, not from bad English. Sit with someone who reads Urdu and check these, in this order:

  1. Names and fathers' names in columns 2, 4, 7, 9, 11 and 23 against the passports and CNICs.
  2. Dates in columns 12 and 24. The nikah date and the registration date are often different; both should be right.
  3. Dower in columns 13 to 16: total, prompt, deferred and anything given in gold or property. A slip between "5 lakh" and "50 thousand" is common.
  4. Columns 18 and 19. If they were struck out on the original, the translation must say so rather than "No".
  5. Column 21. Whether the groom has an existing wife. Caseworkers read this one.

Typing your own reading of the form into NikahDraft and putting the two English versions side by side is the quickest way to spot a difference.

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