Bosnian Translation in Belgium: Bosnian Diaspora, CGRS and Naturalisation

Bosnian is the official language of Bosnia-Herzegovina, written in the Latin alphabet. The Bosnian diaspora in Belgium numbers over 50,000 people, concentrated mainly in Liège and the Walloon industrial basin. Whether you need a sworn translation for a CGRS asylum dossier, a DVZ family reunification file or Belgian naturalisation, TranslateBE delivers certified Bosnian-French translations by registered sworn translators — quote within 1 hour, delivery within 24 hours.

The Bosnian diaspora in Belgium: history and presence

Belgium's Bosnian community has two distinct historical layers. The first arrived in the 1960s–1970s as economic migrants — mostly workers who settled in the Liège steel industry, mines and glassworks. The second, larger wave arrived as refugees during and after the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s — particularly after the siege of Sarajevo and the Srebrenica genocide of 1995. These two waves created a well-established Bosnian community, primarily in Liège, Seraing, Herstal, Charleroi and Brussels.

Today, members of this community have varied translation needs: some are pursuing Belgian naturalisation and need certified translations of Bosnian civil documents; others have property in Bosnia and need notarial document translations; still others are bringing family members under family reunification procedures, which require sworn translations of Bosnian civil status documents.

When do you need a Bosnian translation in Belgium?

• CGRS (Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons): Bosnian asylum seekers with documents in Bosnian, Serbian or Croatian to support their dossier
• DVZ / Office des Étrangers: Bosnian civil status documents for family reunification, naturalisation and regularisation — these documents must be translated by a sworn translator registered with the RNEJ
• Belgian naturalisation: the naturalisation procedure requires a certified sworn translation of the birth certificate and sometimes the criminal record extract from the country of origin
• Belgian communes: population register, marriage, recognition of Bosnian civil status documents
• Notaries: real estate transactions in Bosnia, international successions involving assets in both countries
• Belgian courts: evidence documents, judgments and notarial deeds from Bosnian courts for Belgian proceedings

Specificities of Bosnian documents

Bosnian uses the Latin alphabet exclusively — unlike Serbian, which uses both Latin and Cyrillic. Bosnian civil status documents are issued by municipalities (općine) and follow specific administrative formats that distinguish them from Croatian or Serbian documents. An important historical reality: after the Yugoslav Wars, many civil status records were lost, destroyed or are difficult to obtain — particularly for people from the conflict zones of Srebrenica, Foča and Mostar. Reconstructed civil documents exist for these cases, established by Bosnian courts or international missions, and require translators with specific knowledge of this context.

Most commonly translated Bosnian documents in Belgium

• Birth certificates (Izvod iz matičnih knjiga) for naturalisation and DVZ
• Marriage certificates (Izvod iz matičnih knjiga vjenčanih) and death certificates
• Bosnian criminal record extracts (Uvjerenje o nekažnjavanju)
• Diplomas from Bosnian universities (Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Tuzla, Mostar)
• Notarial deeds: real estate contracts, wills, powers of attorney
• Divorce judgments from Bosnian courts
• Documents from the State Court of BiH (Državni sud BiH) for asylum dossiers
• Reconstructed civil status documents for war-affected individuals

Bosnian, Serbian and Croatian: a crucial distinction

Although linguistically very similar, Bosnian, Serbian and Croatian are considered distinct languages under international law and by Belgian administrative authorities. A Bosnian-French translator is a different professional from a Serbian-French translator. TranslateBE works with native Bosnian translators familiar with the specific administrative and legal particularities of post-Dayton Bosnia-Herzegovina.