OFPRA Document Translation from Belgium: Asylum File and Rare Languages

Are you living in Belgium and need to build an asylum application file with OFPRA in France? This guide explains the differences between the CGRA (Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons, Belgium) and OFPRA (France), which documents need to be translated, the rare languages available, and our confidentiality guarantees.

CGRA (Belgium) vs OFPRA (France): key differences

Belgium and France each have an independent institution responsible for examining applications for international protection (asylum):

• CGRA, Belgium: the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGVS in Dutch) examines asylum applications in Belgium. Applicants file their case with the Immigration Office (OE) and are then summoned for an interview at the CGRA. The language of proceedings depends on the region of reception (French in Wallonia-Brussels, Dutch in Flanders).
• OFPRA, France: the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons examines asylum applications in France. The procedure is conducted entirely in French. The applicant must register at a Single Window for Asylum Seekers (GUDA) and then submit their file to OFPRA within 21 days.

Dublin Regulation: if you entered the EU through another Member State, or if you have already applied for asylum in another European country, the Dublin III Regulation determines which State is responsible for your application. A file cannot be examined simultaneously by the CGRA and OFPRA. It is crucial to understand in which country you must file your application.

Documents to translate for an asylum file

Whether for OFPRA or the CGRA, civil status documents and evidence of persecution play a central role in the examination of the file. The main documents requiring translation are:

• Identity documents: passport, identity card, travel document. Even if partially bilingual, a full translation may be required.
• Civil status records: birth certificate, marriage certificate, children's birth certificates. These documents prove identity and family composition.
• Political or judicial documents: police or court summonses, arrest warrants, court judgements, threat notifications. These pieces can constitute direct evidence of persecution.
• Documents proving nationality: official administrative documents from the country of origin (electoral card, administrative acts, school diplomas with nationality indication).
• Press articles or NGO reports: if journalistic or association documents in the language of the country of origin are produced in support of the file, a summarised or full translation may be useful.

Special case: some applicants have no official documents (voluntary destruction, hurried flight, countries with failing civil status systems). In such cases, our sworn translators can attest to the authenticity of oral or fragmentary documents and draft circumstantial reports on request.

Rare languages: our coverage

Asylum seekers often come from countries where vernacular languages are rarely taught in Europe. TranslateBE has sworn translators and specialist translators for the following languages, among the most sought after for asylum files:

• Dari and Pashto (Afghanistan)
• Tigrinya and Amharic (Eritrea, Ethiopia)
• Somali (Somalia, Somaliland)
• Dialectal Arabic (Syria, Iraq, Libya, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia...)
• Kyrgyz, Tajik, Uzbek (Central Asia)
• Lingala, Swahili, Kinyarwanda (Central Africa)
• Fula (Fulfulde), Bambara, Soninke (West Africa)

For very rare languages, our sworn translators work with sworn native speakers or have specialist training in languages and Oriental civilisations (INALCO, specialist universities).