Sworn Arabic Translation in Charleroi: Moroccan and Algerian Civil Status

Charleroi is one of the Belgian cities with the highest concentration of residents of Moroccan and Algerian origin. Birth certificates, marriage certificates, divorce judgments, criminal record: every family reunification procedure, every binational marriage and every step with the Immigration Office requires a sworn Arabic-French translation produced by a sworn translator of the FPS Justice.

The Arab community of Charleroi and the Moroccan and Algerian civil status certificates

The city of Charleroi and its adjacent municipalities (Gerpinnes, Fleurus, Fontaine-l'Eveque, Montigny-le-Tilleul) are among the Belgian territories where the community of Moroccan origin is the most long-established. The first workers arrived in the mines and steel industries of Hainaut in the 1960s and 1970s, coming mainly from Casablanca, Beni Mellal, Nador and the Rif region. Several tens of thousands of Charleroi residents today have family or administrative ties with Morocco or Algeria.

These ties generate a considerable volume of Arabic documents to be translated: civil status certificates for nationality procedures, family documents for binational marriages, Moroccan or Algerian court judgments for successions or divorces. The Tunisian community, more recent in Charleroi, generates similar needs. All these official documents are drafted in classical standard Arabic (fus'ha), even if the persons concerned speak darija (Maghrebi dialect) or a Berber language such as tamazight on a daily basis.

Family reunification procedures

Family reunification is the procedure by which a Belgian resident or foreigner established in Belgium brings over their spouse, their children or other members of their family from abroad. The Immigration Office (IO) requires for each family reunification file a set of civil status documents that are translated and certified. For a family reunification from Morocco, the documents usually required include the birth certificate of the spouse in long format (full civil status extract), the marriage certificate (or the Moroccan family record book), and sometimes a divorce judgment if one of the parties was previously married.

The IO requires that these translations be produced by a sworn translator-interpreter registered on the official list of the Belgian FPS Justice. A translation produced by a non-sworn translator, even bilingual, is systematically rejected. Errors or omissions in the translation can considerably extend the processing time, already long for the family reunification files (six months to a year in the normal procedure).

Binational marriages and the procedures at the municipality

When a Belgian resident wishes to marry a Moroccan or Algerian national, the civil marriage must be celebrated in Belgium (or the equivalence of the foreign marriage must be recognised). The municipality of Charleroi, like all Belgian municipalities, requires from the foreign party a certain number of translated documents before setting the date of the civil marriage.

For a future Moroccan spouse, the municipality will generally request: a birth certificate in long format (full Moroccan civil status extract), a certificate of celibacy (certificate of non-marriage or certificate of no impediment), and sometimes a certificate of capacity to marry issued by the embassy of Belgium in Morocco. These three documents are drafted in Arabic and must be accompanied by a sworn translation into French. The embassy of Morocco in Belgium may in addition require its own apostilled translation for consular marriage files.

For couples where one of the parties is Algerian, the procedure is similar but the Algerian administrative forms have a different presentation from those of Morocco. Our sworn translators know the specificities of the Algerian, Moroccan and Tunisian civil status.

Most frequently translated Arabic documents in Charleroi

The complete list of civil status certificates and administrative documents

• Moroccan birth certificate (civil status extract): issued by the civil status officer of the Moroccan municipality of origin. Exists in short format (summary) and in long format (full). The IO and the Belgian municipalities systematically require the long format. The document is in classical Arabic, often accompanied by a transcription in Latin characters which is not a sworn translation and has no official value in Belgium.
• Moroccan family record book (chouia): a bound document containing the complete family history (marriage, births of children). Must be translated in full for the family reunification and succession procedures.
• Moroccan marriage certificate: a deed drawn up by the Moroccan notary (adoul) at the time of the marriage. Necessary for the recognition of the marriage in Belgium and for the divorce or succession procedures.
• Moroccan or Algerian divorce judgment: a decision rendered by the Moroccan or Algerian family court. May take several forms depending on whether it is a divorce by mutual consent, a khul' (divorce requested by the wife) or a talaq (repudiation). Each type of judgment has its terminological specificities that our sworn translators master.
• Moroccan or Algerian death certificate: required for the procedures of succession, survivor's pension and modification of civil status in Belgium.
• Moroccan criminal record (bulletin no. 3): a document issued by the Moroccan Ministry of Justice via the courts of first instance. Required by the IO in family reunification files and by certain municipalities within the framework of marriage procedures. Must sometimes be accompanied by a Hague apostille.
• Certificate of celibacy (certificate of non-marriage): issued by the Moroccan or Algerian local authorities. Sometimes called "certificate of capacity to marry". Essential for the binational marriage in Belgium.
• Certificate of capacity to marry (capacity certificate): a document drawn up by the Moroccan or Algerian embassy or consulate in Belgium. Translated from French into Arabic or vice versa depending on the recipient.

Turnaround and procedure for your Arabic documents

The sworn translation of your Arabic documents follows a simple procedure. You send us a legible scan of each document. Our sworn FPS Justice translators check the legibility and flag the difficult passages before starting. The translation is produced with the original signature and the official stamp of the sworn translator, in accordance with the requirements of the Immigration Office and the Belgian municipalities.

Moroccan and Algerian civil status certificates are generally translated in express 24h because our translators know these documents perfectly. The more complex divorce judgments or the multi-document files require a turnaround of 48 to 72 hours.

• Express 24h: birth, marriage, death certificates, certificate of celibacy, standard criminal record (1 to 3 pages).
• 48h to 72h: complex divorce judgments, family record books with numerous children, files of several simultaneous documents.
• Delivery format: certified PDF by email by default, postal sending of the signed and stamped original on request for the IO files or the court registries.