# How to translate a Portuguese document to English

To translate a Portuguese document to English, upload the PDF or a photo to LoreAI, choose English and download an editable Word file. Names keep their accents, and the matrícula number and the dates stay as written. For USCIS, a translator then certifies the full English text[1].

## How to translate a Portuguese PDF to English

1. **Start from a clear copy.** Use the PDF the cartório or conservatória issued, or scan the paper. A straight phone photo of each page works too.
2. **Upload it to LoreAI.** Create a free account. Your first document is free, up to 3 pages and 3 MB.
3. **Choose English.** LoreAI recognizes Portuguese, Brazilian or European, without you picking it.
4. **Download the Word file.** The boxes of a certidão come back as Word tables, label next to value.

## How a certidão de casamento comes back in English

A Brazilian certidão de casamento fits the spouses, their parents, the regime de bens, the matrícula and the averbações into boxes on one page. The example above shows a scanned one next to its English Word file, and this is how each field comes through.

- **Names**: Kept as written, including the accent in Márcia Augusta Lima
- **Matrícula**: The 32-digit registration number, kept digit for digit
- **Regime de bens**: Comunhão parcial de bens becomes Partial community of property
- **Averbações / Anotações**: Translated with the rest of the entry, since averbações record later changes such as a divorce
- **Dates**: 14 de setembro de 2019 becomes 14 September 2019, and 03/02/1990 stays 03/02/1990

For a US reader, add the month in words next to a numeric date. A US reader takes 03/02/1990 as March 2, while the Brazilian record means 3 February.

## Brazilian and European Portuguese documents

The language is the same, but the offices and some spellings differ. LoreAI detects both variants without a setting.

- Brazilian civil records come from a cartório, the Registro Civil das Pessoas Naturais. Portuguese records come from a Conservatória do Registo Civil. Note registro in Brazil and registo in Portugal.
- Both countries write dates day first, so 03/02 is 3 February in either.
- Brazilian certificates often carry a long matrícula number at the top. It identifies the entry, and LoreAI keeps it digit for digit.
- Records from Angola, Mozambique or Cape Verde use Portuguese too. Keep the names of their registry offices in Portuguese and translate the field labels.

## A Portuguese marriage certificate for USCIS

USCIS asks for a full English translation of any foreign language document, certified by the translator as complete and accurate, with a statement that the translator is competent to translate from Portuguese into English[1]. Full means the stamps, the annotations and the notes too. A line such as Nada consta, nothing recorded, still goes into the translation.

LoreAI is not a certified translation service and does not sign anything. Its Word file is the draft. A person fluent in Portuguese and English reviews it and signs the certification. The [marriage certificate translation guide](https://www.loreai.org/marriage-certificate-translation) walks through each field, and the [USCIS translation guide](https://www.loreai.org/uscis-translation) covers the certification.

## Free options for a typed Portuguese PDF

If your PDF has selectable text, Google Translate's document tab translates files up to 10 MB and 300 pages for free[2]. Text in scanned pages and images stays untranslated there[2]. A certidão from a cartório is usually a scan or a photo, which is where LoreAI's OCR step matters.

## Questions people ask

### Can I translate a Portuguese PDF to English for free?

Yes. LoreAI translates your first document free, up to 3 pages, scans and photos included.

### Does LoreAI handle Brazilian Portuguese?

Yes. It detects Portuguese from Brazil or Portugal on its own.

### Do I translate the averbações on a certidão?

Yes. USCIS asks for a full English translation[1], and the averbações record later changes such as a divorce.

### How do I write Brazilian dates in English?

Keep the numbers as written and add the month in words, such as 03/02/1990 (3 February 1990), so nobody reads it as March 2.

## Sources

1. [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
2. [Google Translate Help: Translate documents and websites (computer)](https://support.google.com/translate/answer/2534559?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop), accessed November 3, 2026

By Matt Mountain · Updated November 3, 2026