🇵🇰 Urdu Interpreter and Translation of Pakistani Documents

You need an Urdu interpreter when a document in Urdu issued in Pakistan or India has to be submitted to a Georgian authority, or when you need an Urdu version of a Georgian document for your family, a foreign authority or a business partner. TARGMANEBI translates personal, family, educational, medical, banking, property and court texts and, where needed, prepares the translation for notarization.

Work with Pakistani documents is also complicated by the fact that the same sheet often contains two languages at once: fields printed in English and data handwritten in Urdu, or the other way round. So the interpreter reads and compares every field in both languages, so that a name, a date or a number does not appear in one form in one place and differently somewhere else.

The two directions of Urdu translation and the certified form

Translation from Urdu into Georgian mainly covers civil records, educational documents, medical records and company papers of Pakistani and Indian citizens that have to be submitted in Georgia to a state authority, a university, a bank, a clinic or a court. Translation from Georgian into Urdu is needed when a certificate, a record or a contract obtained in Georgia has to be used in Pakistan or in an Urdu-speaking environment in India.

For other languages and the general terms of the interpreter service, see the interpreter services page.

Urdu in Pakistan, India and the diaspora

Under Article 251 of the Constitution of Pakistan, Urdu is the national language of the country. Under the same article, English may be used for official purposes until arrangements are made for its replacement by Urdu, and the provincial legislatures may promote the teaching and use of local languages. In practice this means that a family may speak Punjabi, Pashto, Sindhi or Balochi at home, while the official paper is written in Urdu and English.

In India, Urdu is one of the 22 languages included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution and belongs to the fourteen languages that were listed in the Schedule from the start, from 1950. Indian Urdu texts are often found in family archives, records of religious communities, old court cases and inheritance documents. If family members speak another regional language, the Pashto and Punjabi interpreter pages may also be useful to you.

Nastaliq: the Urdu script and right-to-left layout

Urdu uses a script based on the Perso-Arabic alphabet and is written from right to left. The traditional and most widespread style is Nastaliq, in which the letters slope diagonally down towards the end of the word and are stacked in layers on top of each other. A field printed or handwritten in this style reads differently from Arabic text set in Naskh, so knowing only Arabic or Persian is not enough to read an Urdu document reliably.

The fields above are typical of Pakistani forms: "نام" is the name, "ولدیت" denotes the father's name, "تاریخ پیدائش" is the date of birth, "شناختی کارڈ نمبر" is the identity card number and "مستقل پتہ" is the permanent address. Urdu has letters that exist in neither the Arabic nor the Persian alphabet, for example ٹ, ڈ and ڑ, which denote retroflex sounds, and ے, used at the end of a word. When a name or a place name is carried over, it is precisely these signs that determine the pronunciation and the Latin form.

For Arabic-language documents see Arabic interpreter, and for Iranian and Afghan texts - Persian / Farsi interpreter.

Urdu and Hindi: a shared spoken base, different written languages

In everyday conversation, Urdu and Hindi speakers largely understand each other, because the languages share a common grammatical base and core vocabulary. The difference shows sharply in the written and official register: Urdu is written in Nastaliq and takes its legal, administrative and religious terms mainly from Persian and Arabic, while Hindi is written in Devanagari and builds its formal vocabulary on Sanskrit.

So a person who knows Hindi may understand spoken Urdu but be unable to translate accurately a marriage contract, a court order or an inheritance document drawn up in Urdu. When ordering, always state in which script the document is written. For text written in Devanagari see Hindi interpreter, and for documents from Bangladesh and West Bengal - Bengali interpreter.

English and bilingual Pakistani documents

Because English is still actively used in Pakistan's official record-keeping, many documents are issued entirely in English: the passport, the university diploma, the bank statement, company registration documents and a large share of court decisions. Other documents are bilingual: the form headings are written in English, while the filled-in data, a handwritten note or a seal is in Urdu.

In such a case the translation covers the parts in both languages and, where needed, indicates in which language a given fragment was in the source. If the document is entirely in English, an English interpreter may be convenient; however, if there is Urdu text on a stamp, next to a signature or in an attachment, it has to be read separately by a specialist who knows Urdu.

Which Urdu and Pakistani documents are translated?

The most frequent orders can be divided into three groups. The list below is not exhaustive: if you cannot find your document here, send us a copy of it and we will tell you how it will be processed and in what form it is best prepared.

NADRA, the CNIC and the 13-digit identification number

In Pakistan, citizens' identification data are kept by the National Database and Registration Authority, NADRA. An adult citizen is issued a Computerized National Identity Card, the CNIC, whose number consists of 13 digits and is often written with hyphens, grouped into five, seven and one digits. The number assigned when a child is registered later carries over to the adult card as well.

In the translation, the CNIC number is not translated or changed, and the grouping of the digits is kept as in the source. In old documents issued earlier you may come across an 11-digit number that does not match the new one. In that case both numbers are carried over exactly as written, and the interpreter does not link them to each other on their own initiative.

For Pakistanis living abroad NADRA issues the NICOP, and for children the Child Registration Certificate, commonly called the B-Form. In all three documents the father's or spouse's name, the permanent and current addresses and the dates of issue and expiry are important. If both sides of the card have not been photographed, the translation will also be incomplete.

Family Registration Certificate (FRC)

The Family Registration Certificate, based on NADRA data, shows the composition of a family by birth, i.e. parents and siblings, or by marriage, i.e. spouse and children. The certificate shows only those persons who are registered with NADRA and have a 13-digit number. If a parent's number is not linked to a family member's card, that person may not appear on the list at all.

In Georgia, a translation of the FRC is often needed to show a family relationship, for example in residence, family reunification or inheritance matters. However, the FRC cannot automatically replace a birth or marriage certificate. Check in advance which document the receiving authority asks for: sometimes both are needed, and sometimes only one.

Birth, marriage and divorce: local registration

In Pakistan, civil events are registered at the local level, in a union council or the relevant city body, while the computerized certificate is printed from the NADRA system. So for the same event there may be both a handwritten local record and a computerized certificate. If both are submitted, their data have to be compared with each other precisely.

In a birth certificate, the date of registration is carried over with particular care, because in the case of a late-registered birth it does not match the date of birth. In a divorce certificate, the issuing authority, the case number and all the dates have to be reflected exactly. For more information on submission to a Georgian authority, see the pages birth certificate translation and marriage certificate translation.

Nikahnama: the marriage contract in Urdu

The Muslim Family Laws Ordinance of 1961 makes registration of the marriages of Muslim citizens mandatory, and registration is carried out by a Nikah Registrar licensed by the union council. The nikahnama, in Urdu نکاح نامہ, is often filled in on an Urdu or Urdu-English form and consists of many numbered columns.

The translation has to reflect exactly the names of the parties, their fathers, the witnesses and the representatives, the date and place of the marriage, the terms of the mahr, i.e. the marital property obligation, and also the columns that concern the delegation of the right of divorce or additional conditions. An empty or crossed-out column must also be noted, because the absence of an entry is in itself important information.

One copy of the nikahnama stays with the registrar, another is sent to the local body, and the rest are handed to the spouses. After that, a computerized marriage registration certificate can be obtained. In Georgia both documents are often translated: the nikahnama for the full picture of the terms, and the computerized certificate to confirm the registration.

The Pakistani passport, the order of names and the father's name

The Pakistani passport is issued in the system of the Directorate General of Immigration and Passports, and the data in it are written in Latin letters, in English. In an official translation this form is the main reference point: if an Urdu document says محمد and the passport says Muhammad or Mohammad, the Georgian transliteration follows the passport version and not the interpreter's personal choice.

South Asian documents often use the abbreviations s/o, d/o and w/o, meaning "son of", "daughter of" and "wife of" respectively, followed by the father's or husband's name. On an Urdu form the same information is in the "ولدیت" or "زوجہ" field. This element is not part of the surname and is carried over separately in the translation. Many Pakistanis do not have a fixed family surname, so the split between the Surname and Given Name fields in the passport has to be checked by comparison with other documents.

Educational documents: IBCC, HEC and diploma translation

In Pakistan, school-level certificates, the SSC (matric) and the HSSC (intermediate, twelfth grade), are issued by the regional Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education. They are attested by the IBCC (Inter Boards Coordination Commission), while bachelor's, master's and doctoral degree documents are verified by the Higher Education Commission, HEC. According to the IBCC, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs attests SSC and HSSC certificates only after IBCC attestation.

IBCC and HEC stamps and stickers are considered an integral part of the certificate, so they also appear in the translation. For the general rules see diploma translation. Because the requirements may change, the current attestation procedure has to be checked with the HEC or the IBCC.

Pakistan and the apostille: what has changed since 2023

According to the status table of the Hague Conference on Private International Law, Pakistan acceded to the Apostille Convention on 8 July 2022, and the Convention entered into force for it on 9 March 2023. Georgia has been a party to the Convention since 14 May 2007. In Pakistan, the competent authority for issuing apostilles is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), with its central office in Islamabad and its regional offices, and an issued apostille is verified by QR code or through the Ministry's online system.

Two details need to be taken into account. First: several states objected to Pakistan's accession on the basis of Article 12 of the Convention, and the apostille regime did not take effect between those countries and Pakistan. Second: on accession, Pakistan declared that it will not apply the Convention in relation to India. So before you send a document for an apostille, check with the receiving authority in Georgia what form it will accept. For details see the apostille page.

Urdu documents issued in India

India acceded to the Apostille Convention on 26 October 2004, and the Convention has been in force for it since 14 July 2005. Apostilles on Indian documents are issued by the country's Ministry of External Affairs, including through the online system e-Sanad. Before that, the document generally has to be verified by the issuing state or the relevant authority.

In India, Urdu appears on official forms less often than in Pakistan. More common are bilingual English-Urdu or Hindi-Urdu records, a marriage certificate issued by a religious organization, or an old family document. If one document contains both Urdu and Hindi, the translation is done by a specialist who knows both scripts, or the text is processed in parts and combined at the end.

Notarized translation in Georgia

Georgian authorities generally require a foreign-language document with a Georgian translation, and for official submission a notarized translation is often needed. On such a translation, the notary's certification concerns only the interpreter's signature: the notary does not give an opinion on the accuracy of the translation and does not confirm the authenticity of the Pakistani or Indian document; the latter, where needed, is confirmed by an apostille or legalization.

A notarized translation is drawn up with the original or a copy of it attached. For more details see the notarized translation page. If you have to submit the document to several institutions, tell us in advance how many certified copies you will need.

Students, medical and banking documents

Pakistani and Indian students study at Georgian universities, including on medical programmes. They often need translations of school certificates, the birth certificate, a health certificate and their parents' financial documents, as well as Georgian certificates prepared in Urdu for their family.

In a medical record - whether a diagnosis, a test result, a prescribed medicine or the description of an operation - dates, doses and units are carried over unchanged, and illegible handwriting is marked so that the reader knows where the source cannot be read. In a bank statement, the account number, the IBAN, the currency, the period and the description of transactions are kept exactly; amounts are not rounded and are not converted into another currency.

Property, powers of attorney and court cases

Pakistani property documents often use mixed English-Urdu terminology, and land records may contain local units of area, for example the marla or the kanal. Such a unit keeps its own name in the translation, and it is converted into the metric system only on separate request and with the source indicated.

In a power of attorney, a court order, an inheritance certificate or a statement of claim, every power and obligation has to be carried over exactly, neither extended nor reduced. If you need a Pakistani power of attorney in Georgia for the disposal of property or for a banking transaction, check in advance in what form and with what certification the notary, the Public Registry or the bank will accept it.

Translation from Georgian into Urdu

In the opposite direction, the documents most often translated are birth and marriage certificates issued in Georgia, criminal record certificates, student status certificates, medical reports and contracts. Before work starts, it is important to establish who will read the text: many official bodies in Pakistan also accept an English version, while for a family or a local community Urdu is easier to understand.

Georgian names are rendered phonetically in Urdu, so the Latin form in the Georgian passport may be added in brackets. This reduces the risk that the same person is written in a different form in two different documents.

How do I order an Urdu translation?

Call us on 501 113 200 or bring the document to the office. When photographing it, include every page, both sides of the card, the attestation stamps and the attachments. Tell us in which country and at which institution you will use the translation, so that we can choose the right form from the start.

Turnaround, remote ordering and our office in Tbilisi

For a document of standard size, for example a CNIC, a birth certificate or a one-page certificate, the translation is usually ready the same or the next day. This is our usual practice and not a binding condition: a handwritten nikahnama, a multi-page court case or a poorly scanned old document takes more time. We will tell you the exact turnaround after seeing the document.

You can bring the document to our Tbilisi office at 118 Davit Aghmashenebeli Avenue. If you live in Batumi, Kutaisi or another city, or the document is still in Pakistan, we can start work from an electronic copy. For notarization, we may need the original or a physical copy of it later.

Quality control in Urdu translation

The finished translation goes through a linguistic check and a data check. The linguistic part checks the terminology, the legal wording and the naturalness of the Georgian text, while the data part checks every element whose error would make the document unusable.

• CNIC, NICOP, passport and registration numbers are compared with the source digit for digit.
• Names and s/o, d/o, w/o entries are checked against the Latin form in the passport.
• The Urdu and English fields within one document are compared with each other.
• Stamps, stickers, signatures and unclear places are marked separately.

Frequently asked questions