You are here: / Legal and certified / sworn translations
  • Certified or sworn translations

Legal and certified/sworn translations

Legally recognized sworn or certified translations for certificates, deeds and official documents. We also provide support with apostilles and legalized translations nationwide across Italy.

Mail Mail Send us your request

Sworn translation is an official procedure whereby a certified translation goes through an additional process known in Italy as “asseverazione“: the professional translator swears before a court official that their translation is a faithful and accurate rendering of the original. Once stamped, signed and accompanied by a sworn statement, the translation has full legal effect and can be used for judicial or administrative purposes, or for procedures abroad

Why choose Soget Est?

We offer certified/sworn translation services in Padua, Milan, and throughout Italy, in all languages, working directly with the courts. Our agency is certified to UNI EN ISO 17100 and ISO 18587, so you can count on the highest standard of quality. For ultimate flexibility and fast turnaround, we can also arrange certification before a notary.

How is a translation legalized?

Certification alone is usually sufficient for documents translated into Italian, or for countries with specific international agreements. For use in countries outside Italy, a further step may be required: Legalization (also known as authentication). This process confirms that the public official who countersigned the sworn statement is legally qualified to do so, and authenticates their signature.

Simply certifying a translation is not always enough for a translated document to be recognized internationally, and this is where legalization comes in.

Once the sworn translation procedure is complete, the translated document is lodged for legalization with the Italian Public Prosecutor’s Office. This process is required for documents that need to be legally recognized in a country outside Italy, or by embassies or consulates.). If the destination country is a signatory to the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961, an apostille is added to the translation sworn before the Court. If not, the document receives a regular legalization stamp, which is recognized internationally.

In both cases, legalized translations are signed by the Italian Public Prosecutor or Delegate thereof. The set of papers constituting the certified/sworn translation is lodged with the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and turnaround is generally about 3 working days.

DO YOU NEED A CERTIFIED/SWORN OR LEGALIZED TRANSLATION? GET A FREE QUOTE

Mail Mail Contact us

What does a certified/sworn translation look like?

A sworn translation consists of at least three key elements, which together form a single set of papers:

  1. Original document
  2. Translation
  3. Sworn statement
  4. Apostille/legalization (where required)

The certified/sworn translation can be attached to the original document or to a photocopy of the original. In either case, it is essential to check with the recipient first that the chosen solution meets their requirements (many bodies specifically ask for either the original or a certified true copy).

Unsure which procedure a particular country requires? Our experts can help you understand which format is usually accepted and point you to the right option.

The sworn statement

The sworn statement is an official document drawn up and signed by the translator before a public official, usually the clerk of the court. This statement includes:

  • The translator’s details (first name, surname, membership of a recognized professional body, etc.).
  • The language of the original document and language of the translation.
  • A declaration, made under oath, that the translation is faithful and accurate.
  • The translator’s signature.
  • The signature of the public official witnessing the oath.
  • The official stamp of the court or notary.

For documents intended for use outside Italy, the sworn statement is supplemented by an apostille or legalization stamp, signed by the Public Prosecutor; this certifies that the public official is legally qualified and authenticates their signature. All these documents are stapled together to form a single set of papers. The official stamps the inside margin where the translation pages are stapled together and, as a final step, applies a further stamp to cancel the revenue stamps.

SOGET EST IS A TRANSLATION AGENCY: WHATEVER THE DOCUMENT, WE CAN PROVIDE TRANSLATION, CERTIFICATION AND LEGALIZATION SERVICES AS REQUIRED.

DOCUMENTS TRANSLATED AND CERTIFIED/SWORN/LEGALIZED BY SOGET EST

For BUSINESSES:

  • patents
  • certificates
  • extracts from the companies register
  • company financials
  • contracts, appointment letters, agency agreements, etc.
  • powers of attorney
  • articles of association
  • criminal records
  • injunctions
  • insurance documents
  • chamber of commerce registration
  • OTC or prescription medicine patient information leaflet

For PRIVATE INDIVIDUALS:

  • driving licences (includes US licences)
  • legal documents: legal briefs, court records, services and judgments, wills, legally valid certificates
  • adoption papers
  • ownership certificates
  • divorce/marriage/birth/death certificates and grants of probate
  • identity/immigration documents, residence permits (green card, permanent resident card)
Certified or sworn translations

What does legalized translation mean?

If the document is to be legally recognized in a country outside Italy or by embassies or consulates, the certified translation may also need to be legalized, which involves adding an apostille where the target country is a signatory to the Hague Convention, or a regular legalization stamp, both of which need to be signed by the Italian Public Prosecutor. Our experts are on hand to advise you and help you choose the right option.

Certified or sworn translations

GET A QUOTE

Fill out the form for further information or a personalized quote at no cost: we will get back to you as soon as possible with all the answers you need.



    PAST PROJECTS SPEAK VOLUMES FOR OUR EXCELLENCE: OUR CLIENTS

    Over the course of the years, we have been privileged to provide translation and interpreting services for top-level conferences, both in Italy and internationally.

    FAQ

    Turnaround times for certified/sworn and legalized translations are dictated by the Italian Court and the Public Prosecutor’s Office respectively.

    A sworn translation (which is a certified translation that goes through an additional process known as “asseverazione” in Italy) can be produced as soon as the translation is ready provided the Court is open on that day and at that time for the service in question. At the Court of Padua, for example, this is on Mondays (and possibly Wednesdays, depending on availability).

    Translations legalized through the Public Prosecutor’s Office take between 3 and 6 working days once the documents have been lodged.

    The regular translation and certification/sworn translation service is carried out in all commonly requested language pairs.

    You might be planning to do a master’s degree or a postgraduate course, or maybe you are looking to work overseas… in many cases, the host country may require you to produce a certified/sworn translation of the documents attesting to your qualifications.

    Degree Certificates, Study Programmes or Attendance and Assessment Certificates all need to be translated into the target language and certified. Translated documents of this kind do not require a revenue stamp. The only document that does require a revenue stamp is the sworn statement ( currently €16).

    When the foreign organization asks for the documents, it is important to establish straight away whether they require the original documents to be submitted or just copies, and whether they also require them to be legalized through the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

    Here at Soget Est, we have experience and expertise to support Italian families planning to make an international adoption application.
    The bureaucratic procedure also includes a language component as the usually hefty set of documents needs to be translated into the official language of the destination country.

    Each translated document has to be sworn before the Italian Court and then legalized through the Italian Public Prosecutor’s Office. Once these steps are complete, the documents have to be submitted to the relevant Embassy in Rome. The most commonly requested documents include registry office certificates (birth, marriage, residence, etc.), affidavits, self-certification of income, as well as notarial deeds/powers of attorney, in addition to Juvenile Court and local health authority records.

    Translated documents of this kind do not require a revenue stamp. The only document that does require a revenue stamp is the sworn statement ( currently €16).

    We can provide a certified/sworn translation of driving licences issued by any foreign country.

    The service is quick and simple. Just email us a scanned copy of the original document, whether this is a printed licence or a file. Once we have translated the content, we will print the document with the relevant translation duly stamped with the revenue stamps required by Italian law, and then take it to the Court to complete the sworn translation.

    To get a quote for a certified/sworn translation of any document, simply fill out the quote request form, and we will get back to you straight away. We will lay out the different costs, as well as any charges that do not incur VAT, and also give you an accurate delivery timeframe.

    Some documents need an extra step to obtain approval from the consulate or embassy of the destination country. This stage is particularly important for paperwork that requires approval by local authorities, such as adoptions, or work or study visas. Understanding the specific requirements of the country in question is an essential first step as every jurisdiction can have additional document requirements and submission procedures.

    This is where Soget Est can help: we make sure everything is handled efficiently and in compliance with the applicable regulations.

    Soget Est can help you with the whole process. Before getting a document translated and certified/sworn, it is important to determine whether the signatures on the original document need to be authenticated first. If the original document bears the signatures of officials or other individuals that need to be validated, these signatures must be legalized by the competent authorities — such as the Italian Prefect’s Office or Public Prosecutor’s Office — before the translation process can begin.

    This step is essential to ensure that the entire content of the document — signatures included — is valid and legally recognized both in Italy and abroad. Only once the signatures have been legalized can the translation, certification and legalization of the document begin.