Translating a Chinese Household Register (户口本) for USCIS

1. What the household register contains

A 户口本 is a booklet issued by the local Public Security Bureau. It usually has:

• •a cover and a head-of-household page (户主页) with the address and registration authority;
• •a resident registration page (常住人口登记卡) for each family member: name, former names (曾用名), relationship to the head of household, sex, date and place of birth, ethnicity, ID number, education, marital status and occupation;
• •dates and reasons for moving in or out (迁入 / 迁出), and official seals on each page.

2. How it is used in immigration cases

For a birth record, the U.S. State Department expects applicants from mainland China to provide a notarial birth certificate (出生公证书) from a Chinese notary office. Notarial certificates are based on household register records, and applicants often include the register itself to show family relationships, identity details and marital status. Your attorney or the instructions for your form decide exactly which documents to send.

3. What USCIS requires of the translation

Federal rules require that any document containing a foreign language submitted to USCIS be accompanied by a full English translation, which the translator has certified as complete and accurate, and by the translator's certification that they are competent to translate from that language into English (8 CFR 103.2(b)(3)). A summary is not enough: every page you submit is translated in full.

4. Details that need care

Most problems with hukou translations come from details rather than vocabulary:

• •Names: the pinyin spelling should match each person's passport. Tell us the passport spellings when you ask for a quote.
• •Former names (曾用名): translated, not left out, since they explain differences between older and newer records.
• •Stamps and seals: every seal is translated, including cancellation (注销) and move-out (迁出) stamps, with handwritten entries marked as handwritten.
• •Blank fields: shown as blank, so the reader can see nothing was skipped.
• •ID numbers and dates: checked digit by digit, with dates written in one consistent format.
• •Every page you send: including the head-of-household page, not only your own page.

5. Old and cancelled registers

If your hukou was cancelled after you moved abroad, the cancelled page and its stamp are often the record of that move. Keep the booklet if you have it, and send the cancelled page along with the others.

6. What to send for a quote

A clear photo or scan of each page you plan to submit, and the passport spelling of each person's name. That is enough for an exact quote.

Need a household register translated for USCIS?

Sam Yu is a California Court Certified Interpreter (Mandarin), No. 301482, and prepares every translation personally. The signed certification USCIS asks for is available as an add-on.

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