# Russian to English image translator for photos of documents

LoreAI is a Russian to English image translator for documents. Upload a photo or scan, choose English and download an editable Word file with names written in Latin letters. In our test on November 3, 2026, a phone photo of a specimen Soviet birth certificate came back with every date right, but its series II-ГР became P-GR, so check series numbers against the original.

## How Russian names come out in Latin letters

There is more than one way to write Cyrillic in Latin letters, and the same person can end up with two spellings. LoreAI uses a common English spelling. In our test it matched BGN/PCGN, the system the US and UK geographic names boards adopted for names in Russian Cyrillic, except that it left out that system's marks for the soft sign and for ё[1].

*Names from our test, with BGN/PCGN and the passport table of ICAO Doc 9303*

| Cyrillic | LoreAI | BGN/PCGN | ICAO Doc 9303 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Юлия | Yuliya | Yuliya | IULIIA |
| Андреевна | Andreyevna | Andreyevna | ANDREEVNA |
| Наталья | Natalya | Natal'ya | NATALIA |
| Юрьевич | Yuryevich | Yur'yevich | IUREVICH |
| Ёлкина | Yolkina | Yëlkina | ELKINA |
| Щербакова | Shcherbakova | Shcherbakova | SHCHERBAKOVA |

The last column follows the transliteration table that ICAO recommends for passports, where Ю is IU, Я is IA and Ё is E[2]. A passport may therefore spell a name differently from a birth certificate translation. Find the passport spelling first and use it everywhere in the Word file, because receivers compare names across your documents.

## What our Russian photo test showed

On November 3, 2026, we photographed a specimen Soviet birth certificate (свидетельство о рождении) with invented data at an angle, under uneven light, and ran the JPG through LoreAI twice. The results below held in both runs.

- **Date in digits**: 14.02.1991 stayed 14.02.1991.
- **Date in words**: четырнадцатого февраля тысяча девятьсот девяносто первого года became the fourteenth of February one thousand nine hundred ninety-one.
- **Registration line**: The form's split wording, о чём 1991 года февраля месяца 26 числа, became one sentence dating the birth record 26 February 1991.
- **Record and serial numbers**: 1287 and 512843 stayed as written.
- **Series**: II-ГР became P-GR. A separate text recognition pass on the same photo read II-ГР correctly, so the change happened in translation.
- **Offices**: Отдел ЗАГС became Civil Registry Office, without the Russian in brackets.
- **Stamp**: The text inside the round stamp did not appear in the Word file.

The series mistake is the one to remember. Soviet series start with a Roman numeral, and our guess is that the translation read II as the Cyrillic П. Copy the series from the original by hand, Roman numeral and Cyrillic letters included, as in II-ГР.

## What to check on Soviet and Russian certificates

- The date of birth appears twice, in digits and in words. Make sure both lines in the English version say the same date.
- Surname, given name and patronymic are printed in that order. Keep the order, and say which part is the surname if the reader may not know.
- Citizenship such as СССР stays USSR. Do not change it to the country that exists now.
- Older certificates were often filled in by hand. We did not test handwriting, and printed text reads far more reliably, so compare every handwritten entry with the photo.
- Ukrainian, Belarusian and Kazakh records can mix in their own letters. LoreAI detects the language of the page, but check names against the passport all the same.

## How to translate a Russian photo or PDF with LoreAI

1. **Photograph the document flat.** Use daylight, hold the phone straight above the page and include the edges. A scan reads better than a photo.
2. **Sign in and upload it.** JPG, PNG and PDF all work. Your first document is free, up to 3 pages and 3 MB.
3. **Choose English.** Leave the source on Auto-detect. LoreAI recognizes Russian from the page.
4. **Download the Word file.** Form fields come back as text lines in the order of the original.
5. **Fix names and series.** Use the passport spelling for every name and copy series numbers from the original.

## Russian documents for USCIS

For USCIS, a document in Russian comes with a full English translation that the translator certifies as complete and accurate, plus a statement that the translator is competent to translate from Russian into English[3].

LoreAI is not a certified translation service and does not sign translations. A person who reads Russian checks the Word file against the certificate and signs the certification. The [birth certificate translation guide](https://www.loreai.org/birth-certificate-translation) lists what the English version should contain, and the [certificate of translation template](https://www.loreai.org/certificate-of-translation-template) has the wording.

## Questions people ask

### Which transliteration does LoreAI use for Russian names?

A common English spelling. In our test it matched BGN/PCGN without the soft sign mark and the dots on ё, so Наталья became Natalya[1]. Change names to the passport spelling.

### Can I translate a Russian PDF to English?

Yes. Upload the PDF the same way as a photo. Several pages of one record can go in one PDF.

### Can LoreAI read a handwritten Soviet certificate?

We have not tested handwriting. Expect errors in handwritten entries, and check each one against the photo.

### Is the English translation enough for USCIS?

Only with a translator's certification. USCIS asks for a full English translation certified as complete and accurate by a translator competent in both languages[3].

## Sources

1. [GOV.UK (PCGN): Romanization of Russian, BGN/PCGN 1947 System (updated November 2022)](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/636cd2828fa8f5357a0c652c/ROMANIZATION_OF_RUSSIAN_2022_final.pdf), accessed November 3, 2026
2. [ICAO Doc 9303, Machine Readable Travel Documents, Part 3, Section 6: Transliterations recommended for use by States](https://www.icao.int/sites/default/files/publications/DocSeries/9303_p3_cons_en.pdf), accessed November 3, 2026
3. [8 CFR 103.2(b)(3), Translations, Electronic Code of Federal Regulations](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-8/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-103/subpart-A/section-103.2), accessed November 3, 2026

By Matt Mountain · Updated November 3, 2026