English to Dutch Translation

This direction applies when an English document has to be submitted to a Dutch-speaking authority. The target is the Netherlands or the Flemish region of Belgium. The common case is a diploma issued in the UK or the USA going to a university in the Netherlands, or an English document being submitted in Dutch for a residence, family reunification or work application. Because the Netherlands requires the translation to come from a translator entered in a particular register, the process has to be set up correctly from the outset.

The main users of this direction are people who have an educational or professional background in an English-speaking country and have moved to the Netherlands, and companies opening their English paperwork to the Dutch market. A student applying to a Dutch university with a British or American diploma, someone making a residence or family reunification application with English income and employment documents, a family submitting English documents for a procedure in the Flemish region: these are the typical profiles in this direction. In these profiles, knowing from the outset which body is involved, immigration or education, makes it possible to assemble the right set of documents.

Challenges specific to this pair

English and Dutch are related languages, and that closeness increases the risk of false friends. Words that look alike can carry different meanings, and in an official text this changes an obligation. Dutch compound nouns can run as long as German ones, so the line layout of forms with narrow columns has to be rebuilt. Since both languages use the Latin alphabet, transliteration of names is not an issue; date and number formats are set according to Dutch usage.

The second difficulty is that Dutch administrative bodies ask for different sets of documents. The immigration service (IND) and the education side (DUO/Nuffic) set separate requirements, so a set prepared for one application cannot be submitted to the other as it stands. English degree titles are not forced into an equivalent Dutch degree; the recognition decision is left to an assessing body such as Nuffic, and marking systems are not converted but explained. The positions of the seals and signatures in the source document are preserved in the translation with a note.

Third, because English documents can come from different countries, consistency is a separate point of attention. US state records, British central registers and Irish templates carry different formats; as they are all carried into a single Dutch presentation, the person’s name, the equivalents given for institutions and the date format are kept the same across every document. Abbreviations are spelled out, and registration and file numbers are not translated but identified by the record they belong to. The IND or DUO can then read the documents belonging to one person as a single file.

A practical first question in this direction is whether the translation is really needed. A significant part of Dutch higher education is conducted in English, so some university procedures accept an English document directly; the immigration service and civil registry procedures, by contrast, ask for a Dutch translation. The expectation of the target institution is therefore confirmed at the outset and needless translation avoided. Where translation is required, Dutch practice has the sworn translation bound to the original document and sealed; this physical requirement is strictly applied, so every page of the document must be submitted in full. In academic documents, when the ECTS-based credit system used in the Netherlands is compared with the English source system, it is essential that credits are carried across without conversion and that the assessment is left to Nuffic. The positions of the official seals and signatures in the source document are preserved in the translation with a note; their contents are translated and their functions left unchanged. The document is then processed in one pass in the form the counterpart on the immigration or education side expects, and needless correspondence is avoided.

Documents for which this direction is asked

Education and residence files lead the way; English diplomas, transcripts and course descriptions are asked for in recognition matters, while income and civil registry documents are asked for in residence and family matters. Employment contracts and company documents follow. In family matters, the names in the civil registry records carry the same spelling as the other documents in the file.

• English diplomas, transcripts and course descriptions
• English birth, marriage and criminal record certificates
• Income documents, employment contracts and company documents

Chain of certification

The Netherlands requires the translator to be entered in the Rbtv register as a beëdigd vertaler; a translation from outside the register is not accepted. In the Flemish region of Belgium, a translation by a sworn translator (beëdigd vertaler) is required. The immigration side (IND) and the education side (DUO) ask for separate sets of documents, so the two should not be mixed. To choose the right regime at the outset, review the certification regime of the target country and the requirements for the document.

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The price and turnaround information on this page is based on the current tariff and may vary with the features of the document. Settling the format the institution requires at the outset saves repeat work later.