Partner Visa Translation Requirements: What Must Be Translated and Does It Need NAATI?

Partner Visa applications often contain overseas marriage certificates, birth records, tenancy documents, bank records, messages, police certificates and family evidence in languages other than English. Home Affairs requires non-English documents used in the application to be translated into English, but the translator rules depend on where the translation is completed.

This guide focuses only on translation and document presentation. For the broader evidence strategy, see our Partner Visa lawyers Australia hub.

Do all non-English Partner Visa documents need an English translation?

If you rely on a non-English document in a Partner Visa application, provide the original-language document and the English translation. Home Affairs’ family-visa guidance says to translate all non-English documents into English.

Does the translator need to be NAATI-accredited?

If the translation is done in Australia, Home Affairs requires the translator to be accredited by the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI). The translation should include the translator’s NAATI practitioner details.

What if the document is translated overseas?

A translator outside Australia does not have to be NAATI-accredited. Home Affairs states that each translation should include the translator’s full name, address, telephone number, and their qualifications and experience in the language being translated. Those details must be in English.

Do translated Partner Visa documents need to be certified?

For online Partner Visa applications, Home Affairs currently states that documents do not need to be certified. Clear colour scans or photographs of the original and translated documents are generally uploaded through ImmiAccount.

Do you need to translate every page of years of messages?

Not necessarily. The legal requirement to translate evidence does not mean you should upload hundreds of repetitive pages. Relationship evidence should be curated. If selected message extracts are relied upon to prove communication or relationship development, the relevant non-English content should be translated so the decision-maker can understand it.

What about bank statements and financial records?

If the document contains non-English information that matters to the evidence—names, account descriptions, transaction narratives, addresses or explanatory text—an English translation may be necessary. A decision-maker should not be expected to infer the meaning of foreign-language financial records.

Illustrative case example: 80 pages of foreign-language relationship evidence

Composite example: A couple prepared almost 80 pages of foreign-language bank records, chat screenshots and accommodation documents. Instead of paying to translate every repetitive page, the application was reorganised around the evidence actually needed: key civil documents were fully translated, representative communications were selected and translated, and financial records were reduced to the records that demonstrated the relevant joint arrangements. The goal was a decision-ready file, not the largest possible file.

Common translation mistakes

• Uploading only the translation and not the original document.
• Using an Australian translator without the required NAATI details.
• Using an overseas translation that does not identify the translator and qualifications.
• Submitting screenshots with important foreign-language text and no translation.
• Using machine translation for critical legal or civil-status evidence without considering reliability.

Home Affairs’ family visa application guidance sets out the current translation requirements. For relationship evidence strategy, visit our Partner Visa hub.

General information only. The documents that should be translated and lodged depend on what evidence is relevant to your application.