Faroese Translation Services

Prism Language Solutions translates Faroese into English for USCIS filings, court files and estate matters, and Faroese interpreting is arranged remotely when a hearing or an appointment calls for it. Volumes are small: the Faroese in the United States are individuals rather than a community, and we will not pretend otherwise. What we do is read a Faroese family file correctly, translate the Faroese pages from Faroese and the Danish pages from Danish, and certify the whole set together.

Last reviewed September 12, 2026 by Sarah J, Prism Language Solutions

Nearly every Faroese file that reaches a US desk is in two languages. The Faroe Islands are a self-governing part of the Kingdom of Denmark, and the split runs down the middle of the paperwork: the parish issues in Faroese, older records and anything that passed through Danish state authorities are in Danish, and the two sit in the same envelope.

That matters because most agencies price and staff a job by one language. Assign the whole bundle to a Danish translator and the Faroese certificates get approximated. Assign it to a Faroese translator and the Danish pages are fine, because a Faroese linguist reads Danish, but you may pay a scarce-language rate on documents that did not need one. We read the file first and quote it by page.

Certified translations prepared to meet USCIS requirements
Human linguists only, matched to the subject
Fixed written quote within 60 minutes in business hours
One office in New York, linguists in every state

Certified Faroese Translation of Parish and Registration Records

The National Registration Office, Landsfólkayvirlitið, keeps the population register and assigns the p-tal, the nine-digit personal number used across Faroese administration: six digits of date of birth in day, month, year order followed by three more. The system dates from 1982, so an older document may predate it. Baptism, name and marriage certificates come from the vicar of the Fólkakirkjan, the Faroese national church, which is the civil registrar for those events.

We name the issuing parish or office exactly as printed, reproduce the p-tal without reformatting it, and state on the certification which pages were in Faroese and which in Danish. One Certificate of Translation Accuracy covers the complete record, which is what 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3) requires of a foreign-language document submitted to USCIS. Format details are on the certified translation page.

Parish birth and baptism certificates and name certificates
Marriage certificates and death certificates for probate and pension files
Population register extracts and p-tal confirmations
School and university records, employment letters and Faroese company documents

The Apostille on a Faroese Document Is Issued in Copenhagen

This is the part of Faroese practice that older guidance gets wrong, and it changed recently. Denmark joined the Apostille Convention in 2006 with a declaration that it did not extend to Greenland or the Faroe Islands, so for fifteen years there was no such thing as a Faroese apostille. Denmark withdrew the Faroese part of that declaration on 14 October 2021, and the Convention has applied to the islands since 13 December 2021. Greenland remains outside it.

The competent authority is not in Tórshavn. Apostilles on Faroese documents are issued by the Legalisation Office of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Copenhagen, although documents can be handed in through the High Commissioner in the islands rather than posted to Denmark. Allow time for that leg. Obtain the apostille before the document comes to us so the sheet is translated with the record rather than in a second pass: see apostille translation.

Faroese Names and Letters on a Certified Document

Faroese writing uses ð, ó, ý, æ and ø, and American systems lose all of them. A name printed correctly on a Faroese certificate reappears flattened on a US form, and the two then look like different people. Faroese also forms many surnames from a parent’s name, so siblings can carry different family names and a woman keeps hers at marriage, which reads to an American reviewer as a discrepancy rather than a convention.

Our handling is the same every time: passport spelling in the English text, the Faroese form reproduced as printed wherever it appears, and a translator’s note explaining the naming pattern where the file needs it. Explaining it once on the page saves an exchange of letters later.

Faroese Interpreters Are Booked Remotely, and Danish Is No Substitute

We are not going to claim a Faroese interpreter within driving distance of your courthouse. There are too few Faroese speakers in the country for that to be true anywhere, and the honest arrangement is video or telephone, which we can usually put in place within a business day. Where a hearing genuinely requires someone in the room, tell us the city and the date and we will give you a straight answer rather than a maybe.

Do not let anyone book Danish instead. Faroese and Danish share an administrative history and an alphabet, not a spoken form, and a Danish interpreter cannot render spoken Faroese. Most Faroese adults speak Danish and good English, so a Faroese interpreter is asked for by the elderly speaker or by the witness who is entitled to give evidence in the language they think in. Settings are covered under court interpreting, phone interpreting and USCIS interview interpreting. Prism works for courts and attorneys as a private agency with no court-appointed vendor status.

Faroese Translation Cost, Timing and What to Send

Send every page, including the reverse of a certificate and anything handwritten in a margin. A single parish certificate is quoted from around $24.95 per page as a US market guide and usually goes back inside two business days, a little longer than a common language because the translator pool is small and we will not rush an assignment onto whoever is free. Longer material is priced by the source word from roughly $0.10. Where part of the bundle turns out to be Danish we quote that part as Danish, which is cheaper: see Danish translation and the pricing page.

Ready to start? Send the document or the booking details through the quote form, call +1 (833) 282 8883, or email info@prismlinguistics.com. You get a fixed written price within 60 minutes during business hours.

Questions we get asked

Can one certified translation cover a record that mixes Faroese and Danish?

Yes, and that is how we prefer to do it. Each passage is translated from the language it was written in, the certification states which pages were in which language, and one Certificate of Translation Accuracy covers the whole document. USCIS asks for a complete translation, not a separate certificate per language.

Is there an apostille for Faroese documents?

Yes, since December 2021. Denmark's 2006 accession to the Apostille Convention excluded the Faroe Islands, and that exclusion was withdrawn by a declaration in October 2021. Apostilles on Faroese documents are issued by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Copenhagen, with a submission route through the High Commissioner in the islands.

Will a Danish interpreter do for a Faroese speaker?

Not for spoken Faroese. The languages look related on paper and are not mutually intelligible in speech, so a Danish interpreter will miss material. Where no Faroese interpreter is available for your date we will say so, and many Faroese speakers will then choose to proceed in Danish or English themselves.

Do you have a Faroese interpreter near me?

Probably not in person, and we would rather say that plainly. Faroese speakers in the United States are few and scattered, so nearly every assignment runs by video or telephone, which reaches any city equally. New York is our only office and the linguists work wherever they live.