You may need a certified English translation of your Iranian marriage certificate (sanad-e ezdevaj) for a UK application, for example to show that you are married or to update your records. It is usually a booklet issued by the marriage registry office that registered the marriage, and it holds a good deal of detail.

What the certificate usually contains

  • the husband’s and wife’s details: names, fathers’ names, dates and places of birth, and ID numbers
  • the date of the marriage contract and its registration number
  • the mahr, written exactly as agreed, for example a number of gold coins
  • the printed conditions of the marriage contract, with signatures beside those the couple accepted
  • the names of the witnesses, the registrar’s signature and the office stamps
  • notes added later, such as a divorce or a correction

A complete translation

A certified translation covers every page with an entry, including stamps, signatures and handwritten notes. Pages left blank are marked as blank, so it is clear that nothing was missed. The mahr and the conditions are translated as written: I do not summarise or leave out parts that may seem unimportant.

Dates and names

Dates are converted exactly from the Solar Hijri calendar to the Gregorian calendar. Names follow the spellings in your passports, so the translation matches your other documents. Your marriage is also recorded in your shenasnameh, so if you are translating both, I keep every name and date the same in each.