Document Translation for Bulgaria

Who did the translation matters more than how it was done

A translation accepted in official dealings in Bulgaria must have been produced within a particular framework of authorisation; the translator’s declaration and the agency’s registration details form an inseparable part of the text. That is why translations prepared in another country, with no link to the local framework, may not be accepted at every institution. The scenario that arises with files sent from Türkiye runs like this: the translation is technically correct, but the receiving institution says it “was not done by the procedure we recognise”, and the work is done over again from the beginning.

The way to reduce that risk is to put a single question to your contact before you apply: where and by what procedure do you expect me to have the translation done? If the answer is not clear, the safest course is to keep the certification chain on the source document complete alongside the translation prepared in Türkiye. That way a local corrective step can be added if it turns out to be needed, without having to rebuild the whole file.

The Cyrillic alphabet: your name changes on the way back

Once your documents are translated into Bulgarian, your name is written in the Cyrillic alphabet. The difficulty appears years later, when a new document issued to you from that record turns your name back into the Latin alphabet: on the way back the letters do not always return to the original spelling. A surname beginning with “Ç” in your passport can come back to you as a different string of letters, and your two documents no longer look as though they belong to the same person.

The way to prevent this is to choose the Cyrillic spelling used in the first translation deliberately, and then to insist on the same spelling in every document that follows. If you hold a document already issued to you by the Bulgarian authorities, send us the spelling used there and we will align the new translation with it. Consistency matters more here than correctness.

Ancestry and citizenship files

A good share of the enquiries about Bulgaria concern neither migration nor education but ancestry and citizenship. The documents sought in these files are different ones: old civil registry records, papers dating from the period of migration, and the birth and marriage records that establish the family link. Family members’ names having been recorded in different forms in the past is a frequent occurrence in such files, and it is where the file is at its most delicate.

Where that happens, the answer is not to conceal the discrepancy but to document it: once an official document showing the change of name or the difference in the record is added to the file, the official can establish the chain. Reading old handwritten records is a speciality in itself, and guessing at a line that cannot be read casts doubt over the whole file. That is why we particularly ask you to send documents of this kind as high-resolution scans.

The document set by purpose

How to proceed

Obtain the original document first, have the certification annotation added, then have the translation done. Ancestry files carry one further step: retrieving a document from the archives can take far longer than the translation itself, and that has to be built into the timetable from the start. The translation side, depending on the number of pages, can be finished within a few working days.

Assessing the documents you hold together always gives a more accurate result. Upload your file and we will sift through which documents genuinely need translating; we can then settle the scope of the service accordingly.

What is different about student files?

Because the number of Turkish students heading for Bulgarian universities is high, these files form a category of their own. At the application stage the school leaving certificate, the transcript of marks and identity documents are asked for; at enrolment a medical report and, on some programmes, further documents are added. The critical point is that the set of translations prepared for the application can be asked for again at enrolment; preparing the documents in a single copy and parting with the original set causes trouble later.

The second critical point concerns what happens after graduation. Using a diploma obtained in Bulgaria in Türkiye is subject to a separate recognition process, and that process runs independently of the preparation for the outward journey. Students who are going to study in the health field in particular need to learn the recognition conditions for the return leg while they are still enrolling in their first year; that is a matter of planning rather than translation, but it bears directly on the file.

The third point is the documents obtained during the studies themselves: student certificate, academic transcript, course descriptions. These usually need translating for scholarship, placement or transfer applications, and more often than not they are wanted in a hurry. A set prepared once at the start of term can serve you many times over the year.

The information here is general in nature; the acceptance conditions and the certification chain of the destination country can change from time to time. Before you decide anything, it is worth looking at the institution’s own publication.