Certified Arabic Translation in the UK
We translate Arabic documents into English for use in the UK: visas and settlement, British passports, courts, universities and employers. Each translation is certified in the form UK authorities ask for and delivered as a PDF by email.
Documents come to us from across the Arabic-speaking world, including Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf states, Sudan, Libya, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. Send a photo or scan and you receive a quote by email, usually within 30 minutes during business hours. Standard single documents start from £30.
Arabic documents we translate into English
Civil documents differ a great deal from one Arabic-speaking country to another, and many are still handwritten. We translate the document you hold, in full, whatever its format.
- Birth certificates (shahadat al-milad) and family register extracts
- Marriage contracts and marriage certificates, civil and sharia court
- Divorce certificates and court judgments
- National ID cards, family booklets and civil status records
- Police clearance and good conduct certificates
- University degrees, transcripts and secondary school certificates
- Bank statements, salary certificates and commercial registration documents
- Powers of attorney and other notarial documents
What UK authorities ask for
The Home Office asks for a full translation of every document that is not in English or Welsh, and it must be able to verify that translation independently. HM Passport Office, the courts and universities ask for certified translations too.
Home Office guidance says each translation must contain:
- Confirmation from the translator that it is an accurate translation of the original document
- The date of the translation
- The translator's full name and signature
- The translator's contact details
How we handle the details in Arabic documents
With Arabic documents, most questions from UK officials come down to how a name or a date was written in English. These are the points we check:
- Names are spelt exactly as they appear in your passport; where one Arabic name has several English spellings, the passport decides
- Full name chains with the father's and grandfather's names, and elements such as bin, al- and el-, are kept in full and in order
- Hijri dates are translated as written, with the Gregorian date added in a translator's note where the document shows only the Hijri date
- Eastern Arabic numerals are written as Western digits, and right-to-left tables are rebuilt so that each entry sits beside its label
- Handwritten entries, stamps and revenue stamps are translated or described, and anything illegible is marked as such rather than guessed
UK ENIC and academic documents
UK ENIC's Translation Waiver Service covers Arabic at no extra charge, so you can submit Arabic diplomas and transcripts for a Statement of Comparability without translating them.
The waiver applies to UK ENIC's own assessment only. A university, an employer, a professional regulator or the Home Office may still ask you for a certified translation of the same documents. These are UK ENIC's published terms for November 2026.
English to Arabic, for use abroad
Authorities in Arabic-speaking countries often ask for a translation made by a translator licensed in that country. For a UK document they may also ask for a UK apostille, legalisation by their embassy in London, or both. The rules differ from country to country.
Tell us the country and the authority when you ask for a quote, and we will tell you what it normally accepts.
Prices and turnaround
Standard single documents such as a birth certificate, an ID card or a driving licence start from £30. Longer documents are priced by word count, and you see the exact price before you pay.
You receive your quote by email, usually within 30 minutes during business hours, together with the delivery time for your document.
Get a Free Quote
Upload your Arabic document and receive a free quote by email, usually within 30 minutes during business hours.
Frequently asked questions
Is your Arabic to English translation accepted by the Home Office?
Yes. It carries what Home Office guidance asks for: the translator's confirmation that it is an accurate translation of the original document, the date, the translator's full name and signature, and contact details.
Do I need to send the original document?
No. A clear photo or scan is enough. Send every page that carries text, stamps or annotations, including the reverse side.
My name is spelt differently on my documents and my passport. What do you do?
We follow the passport spelling for your name and keep the document's own wording for everything else. Where the Arabic text itself differs between two documents, the translation shows the difference faithfully; a translation cannot correct the original.
How much does a certified Arabic translation cost?
Standard single documents start from £30. Longer documents are priced by word count. You receive the exact price by email before you pay.