Sworn translations from English into Italian in Oristano

Oristano faces the gulf that carries its name, between the lagoons of the Sinis and the volcanic slopes of the Montiferru. It is the smallest of the Sardinian provinces by population, and its economy turns around the Campidano plain, the fishing grounds of the ponds and the long beaches of the peninsula that closes the gulf to the west.

This office produces sworn translations from English into Italian in Oristano, certified before the competent officer of the court and handed over ready to be filed. Anyone holding papers drawn up in an English-speaking country finds here a service that follows the entire path, from the first quotation to the delivery of the completed file.

The service is addressed to English-speaking residents of the province and to everyone who arrives in Sardinia with documents written in English: for British and Irish citizens who have chosen the island for their retirement, for those coming from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Philippines, for families arriving from Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya, for people who have lived and worked in the United States, in Canada, in Australia or in New Zealand.

The fish farms of Cabras and the seasonal work of the coast take on staff within a few weeks, and identity papers and criminal record certificates have to be ready when the contract is signed rather than a month later.

Documents nowadays reach this office far more often as files than as sheets of paper. Certificates that were born digital follow rules of their own, and it is useful to know them before printing anything.

The official translations in Italy prepared here are accepted in Terralba, Bosa, Ghilarza, Cabras, Marrubiu and Santa Giusta, as well as in the remaining municipalities of the province of Oristano.

Electronic certificates and digital signatures

Many civil registries in English-speaking countries now issue their certificates in electronic form, signed digitally and carrying a verification code that points back to the website of the issuing administration.

Such acts are born as files, and their authenticity rests on the signature rather than on the paper. Printing them takes nothing away, but the printout on its own proves little: it is the secure verification code shown at the foot of the page that allows the Italian office to check online that the certificate matches the one that was issued.

Two practical consequences follow. The first is that the original file should be kept and forwarded alongside the printout, because a number of offices ask for it. The second is that the sworn translation into Italian reproduces the verification code and the address of the portal exactly as they appear in the act, without shortening them, since they are what makes the certificate verifiable months later.

The same reasoning applies to the electronic apostille, which several States now issue instead of the paper stamp: it is recorded in a public archive open to consultation, and it travels in the file together with the act to which it refers.

Where a paper original still exists, the applicant is asked to indicate it at the time of the quotation, because the sworn statement is bound to the copy that is actually attached and the office of destination will compare the two.

The English documents translated into Italian

The acts listed below are those most frequently requested across the province. The list opens with the criminal record certificate, which arrives here more often than any other paper because of the seasonal recruitment along the gulf.

Criminal record certificate and pending charges: criminal records and certificates of pending charges recur in citizenship applications, in recruitment procedures and in tenders for public contracts. Their validity is limited in time, so the sworn file is prepared as soon as the original is issued.
Birth certificate: birth certificates open almost every civil status procedure, from transcription in the registry office to residence registration, marriage and applications for Italian citizenship.
Passport and identity card: passports and national identity cards accompany nearly every file and are attached in sworn translation so that the holder of the other acts can be identified without doubt.
Marriage certificate: marriage certificates allow transcription in the Italian civil status registers, reunification with a spouse and the reconstruction of family records held abroad.
Driving licence and vehicle registration document: licences issued outside the European Union and vehicle registration documents are translated and sworn in order to drive during the period allowed and to open the conversion procedure.
Certificate of family status: certificates of family status are requested for family reunification, for residence procedures and in citizenship files where the composition of the household has to be proved.
Diploma and educational certificate: diplomas, professional certificates, university degrees and transcripts listing the subjects taken are required by the Sardinian universities and by the schools of the province.
Divorce certificate and divorce decree: divorce decrees make it possible to update marital status, to marry again and to take part in proceedings concerning custody and maintenance.
Tax code and equivalent fiscal attestations issued abroad, needed in order to open a position with the Italian offices or to sign a contract of employment.
Certificate of no impediment to marriage: it is asked of anyone intending to marry in a municipality of the province and having to show that nothing stands in the way of the union.
Other identity documents and administrative acts: residence certificates, death certificates, powers of attorney and declarations issued by English-speaking authorities travel with residence permits, civil status files and inheritance procedures.

Court of Oristano - Sworn translations

Where sworn translations from English are accepted in Oristano

A translation sworn by an official translator carries full legal validity before every Italian administration. In the town and across the province the files that leave this office are habitually filed with:

the Prefecture of Oristano, for applications for Italian citizenship and for the procedures of the territorial government office;
the Police Headquarters of Oristano and the stations of the surrounding area, for residence permits, renewals and family reunification;
the Municipality of Oristano, with its registry office and its civil status office, and the corresponding offices of the municipalities of the Campidano, of the Sinis and of the Planargia;
the competent Civil Motor Vehicle Office, for the conversion of driving licences obtained abroad;
the Court and the Office of the Public Prosecutor, for civil proceedings, for legalisations and for family cases;
the Sardinian universities, the schools and the training bodies of the area, for enrolment and for the recognition of qualifications;
the Sardinian health authorities, for registration with the national health service and for welfare procedures.

The province is made up of small municipalities set a long way from one another, and not every town hall keeps a counter open on every working day: the sworn file is therefore addressed to the office that will actually handle the procedure, named by the applicant when the quotation is requested.

The service also covers consular acts, that is, the papers issued in Italy by foreign representations. Certificates and declarations drawn up in English by the consular offices of English-speaking countries call for the same sworn certification as acts arriving from abroad.

The same files are equally valid outside Italy, before the Italian Embassies and the Italian Consulates of the European countries gathered in the menu: Germany, France, Spain, Austria, Switzerland, Czechia, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Ireland. Sardinian families with relatives settled in London or in Dublin ask for this more often than one might expect.

Sworn translations in Sardinia and on the mainland

Every Sardinian province is covered, together with the mainland cities linked to the island by sea and by air. Nobody living in the province of Oristano has to reach a counter: documents travel electronically and the sworn file arrives at the address indicated.

On the island the office follows sworn translations in Cagliari, the regional capital, together with certified translations in Sassari, official translations in Nuoro and sworn translations in South Sardinia.

Towards the Tyrrhenian ports the work continues with sworn translations in Livorno, certified translations in Genoa, official translations in Rome and sworn translations in Naples.

Elsewhere in the country the same service reaches sworn translations in Milan, certified translations in Florence, official translations in Pisa and sworn translations in Palermo.

Quotation and delivery of sworn translations in Oristano

Sworn translation and certified translation name the same procedure before the Italian courts; legalisation is a further step, provided for in certain procedures only, which takes place at the Office of the Public Prosecutor. The apostille, by contrast, concerns the document of origin and is affixed in the State that issued it.

The quotation costs nothing and is calculated on the actual text of the acts. It states a final figure, inclusive of duties and revenue stamps, of the sworn statement and of dispatch, and it names the delivery date. It stays valid for seven days.

To obtain it, the file of the electronic certificate or a scan of the papers sent by email or by messaging is enough, together with the name of the office of destination.

Anyone unsure which formality the procedure calls for may simply send the documents and say where they are going: the answer arrives with the quotation, before any work begins.

Every file is prepared by an official translator entered on the Register of Experts of the Chamber of Commerce. sworn translation services in Italy run exclusively towards Italian: the opposite path, from Italian into English, does not form part of the service. Italian-speaking readers will find the same subject at traduzioni giurate di inglese a Oristano.