What it costs

All figures exclusive of GST. Varies by language pair and document type; quoted per job before work starts.

These are starting figures, not flat rates, and we would rather say so than quote one number that turns out not to apply to your document. A one-page birth certificate in a common pair sits at the bottom of its band. A dense twelve-page court judgment in a scarce pair does not.

The bands reflect how many qualified translators work in each pair in India, which is the honest reason Japanese costs more than Hindi — not that the work is harder, but that fewer people can do it.

Send a photograph and you get a fixed price for your actual document, before any work starts. That takes a few minutes and removes the guesswork for both of us.

Notarisation, apostille and attestation

These are quoted separately, because they involve third-party and government fees that we pass through rather than mark up. Notarisation adds a notary's fee. Apostille and embassy attestation add government and mission fees that vary by document and destination, and — more significantly than the money — they add time we do not control.

We will tell you which of these you actually need before you pay for any of them. Being asked for "attestation" when a certified translation would have satisfied the authority is common, and it is an expensive misunderstanding. See our services for what the three terms mean.

What changes the price

• Language pair. Hindi to English costs less than Japanese to English, because of how many qualified translators work in each pair.
• Certification level. A certified translation is one price. Notarisation adds a notary's fee. Apostille adds a government fee and, more significantly, time.
• Length and density. A birth certificate is a fixed job. A twelve-page court judgment or a full set of eight semester marksheets is not.
• Legibility. A faded 1970s handwritten record takes substantially longer than a laser-printed certificate, and we will say so before starting rather than after.
• Urgency. Same-day work costs more because it displaces other work.

What we do not charge for

• Quotes. Send a photo, get a price. No obligation and no follow-up calls.
• Telling you that you do not need us. If your authority accepts a self-declaration or an existing bilingual document, that is the answer you will get.
• Fixing our own errors. If a document is returned because of a mistake we made, we correct it at no cost.

What we cannot do

We cannot quote a single flat rate for "a translation" without seeing the document, and any agency that does is either overcharging on simple jobs or about to revise the price on complex ones. Send a photo — a quote takes minutes.