Translating an Afghan tazkira for UK applications

The tazkira is Afghanistan’s national identity document, and you may need a certified English translation of it for a UK application. There are two main kinds, and each has details that need care.

Paper and electronic tazkiras

Older paper tazkiras are often handwritten, carry official stamps and signatures, and may contain Pashto as well as Dari. Since 2018, an electronic tazkira, or e-tazkira, has also been issued as a card. Either kind usually shows:

• the holder’s name, father’s name and often grandfather’s name
• place of origin or birth, such as province, district and village
• age or date of birth
• an ID or registration number and a photo

Dates and names

Afghan documents usually give dates in the Solar Hijri calendar, with Afghan month names such as Hamal where Iranian documents say Farvardin. Whatever calendar a document uses, I convert each date to the Gregorian calendar. Many older paper tazkiras record the holder’s age in a given year rather than a date of birth. I translate exactly what is written and never add a date that is not there.

Afghan names can be spelled in English in several ways, so tell me how yours appear in your passport or other UK documents, and I will match them.

Afghan wording, and Pashto

I am a native Farsi speaker. Dari is very close to Farsi, but Afghan official terms differ from Iranian ones: a province is a wilayat rather than an ostan, for example, and a district is a woluswali. I follow Afghan usage throughout.