Translating documents for use in Bangladesh

A translation is not a favour you do the reader. It is part of the document, and it can be rejected on its own — for who produced it, for how it was certified, or for the order in which it was attached. This page covers what to establish before you pay a translator, and why the answer depends on who is receiving the document.

The short answer

• Ask the receiving office in Bangladesh whether a translation is required at all, and in what language, before you commission one.
• Ask who is allowed to produce it. Some offices accept only certain translators or certain forms of certification, and a good translation from the wrong source is still refused.
• Ask about the order of operations — whether the translation is made before or after legalisation, and whether the translation itself must also be certified. This ordering trips up more people than the translation quality ever does.
• Confirm this at the same time you confirm your legalisation route; see apostille vs embassy attestation.

When you actually need one

Two directions, two different conversations.

Documents going to Bangladesh. A birth or marriage certificate, a court order, a company resolution or a Power of Attorney issued in English may or may not need a Bangla translation, depending on the office receiving it. Many Bangladeshi institutions work comfortably in English; some do not, and some accept English for one purpose and not another. Do not assume either way.

Documents leaving Bangladesh. A Bangladeshi document being used abroad — a certificate for a visa application, a university transcript, a land document for a foreign lender — frequently needs a certified English translation, and the foreign body receiving it will have its own rules about who may certify it. Those rules belong to that body, not to any Bangladeshi authority.

In both directions, the person who decides is the recipient. Ask them.

Who is allowed to certify a translation

This is the question that most often produces a wasted fee. Different receiving bodies accept different things: a translation certified by the translator, one certified by a translation company, one sworn or notarised, or one produced by a body from an approved list. Some will not accept a translation produced by a relative of the applicant, however fluent.

We are not listing which of these Bangladeshi offices or particular foreign authorities accept, because it varies by office and we have not verified it. Get the requirement in writing from the recipient, then instruct a translator who can meet exactly that requirement — and ask the translator to confirm, in advance, that they can certify in the form required.

Order of operations

Sequence matters and is easy to get backwards. Depending on the requirement, any of these can be the correct answer:

• Translate first, then legalise the original and the translation together as one bundle.
• Legalise the original first, then translate the whole legalised document — including the stamps and certificates, which are themselves text.
• Have the translation certified or notarised separately, then attached.

If the legalisation stamps have to appear in the translation, translating too early means paying twice. If the translation must be part of the bundle that gets attested, translating too late means going back. Ask which applies before anyone starts work.

Practical points that save a second attempt

Spellings must be consistent. Names transliterated between Bangla and English can be spelled several defensible ways. Tell the translator which spelling appears on the passport and on the other documents in the bundle, and have them use that one everywhere, even if they would render it differently. Consistency across the bundle matters more than linguistic elegance.

Everything on the page gets translated — seals, stamps, marginal notes, handwritten endorsements — unless the recipient says otherwise. A translation that silently omits a stamp looks like a translation that is hiding something.

Keep the layout recognisable, so a reader can match the translation to the original page by page.

Keep the original and the translation together from that point on, and scan the pair before sending anything, as with everything else in document checklists.

Ask about cost per page in advance, and whether certification is charged separately. We publish no translation prices — they are a private market and vary enormously.

What we could not verify

• Whether a translation is required for any given document, office or purpose in Bangladesh.
• Which certifying bodies or translators are accepted by Bangladeshi offices, or by missions abroad.
• Whether translations must be notarised, sworn, or attested, and by whom.
• The correct order of translation and legalisation for any specific document type, particularly after the March 2025 change.
• Any price, timescale or approved-translator list.

This page is general guidance and not legal advice. A translation being linguistically correct is no guarantee it will be accepted in the form you submit it — confirm the requirement with the recipient first.