Translation and Interpreting Services in Boston

Boston clients get two things from Prism Language Solutions: certified translation delivered to any Boston address, and court, medical and USCIS interpreters assigned from a nationwide network for on-site, phone and video work. Orders are handled from New York, and for a Boston appearance we book a linguist who lives within reach of the city. Spanish is the largest share of the work; Haitian Creole, Cape Verdean Creole, Chinese, Vietnamese, Portuguese, Arabic and Somali make up most of the rest. Boston orders are priced in writing within 60 minutes of your scans reaching the quote form during business hours.

Most of Boston’s immigration paperwork ends up in a single federal building. The JFK Federal Building at 15 New Sudbury Street houses the USCIS Boston field office (Room E-160) and the Boston Immigration Court (Room 320), with the public entrance on Cambridge Street. The Boston Asylum Office is a short walk away, on the 14th floor of the McCormack building at 5 Post Office Square, and it decides affirmative asylum claims for Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.

In the 2020-2024 American Community Survey, Boston has 635,495 residents aged five and over. Of those, 98,171 speak Spanish at home, 26,864 speak French or Haitian Creole, and 26,145 speak a Chinese language. Another 30,030 fall under the survey’s “other Indo-European” heading, which is where Portuguese is counted. Those numbers track closely with what Boston clients actually order from us.

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 Translation for the Boston USCIS Field Office

Any document in another language that goes with an I-485, N-400 or I-130 needs a full English translation and a translator’s certificate of competence and accuracy. That rule is 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3). Our translation covers every stamp and marginal note on the page, and the translator signs a Certificate of Translation Accuracy. The officer who reviews the file makes the acceptance decision. See USCIS translation.

Not every Massachusetts address is interviewed on New Sudbury Street. According to USCIS’s own ZIP code table, Boston and Cambridge ZIP codes go to the Boston field office, while Lowell, Worcester and Springfield ZIP codes go to the Lawrence field office at 280 Merrimack Street. Check your appointment notice before you plan the day. The same certified translation works for either office.

The documents that give Boston applicants the most trouble are Haitian civil records, which are usually written in French and not in Creole, and Cape Verdean certificates in Portuguese with handwritten civil registry notes in the margins. Both need a translator who reads the original script and handwriting, not only the language. See birth certificate translation and marriage certificate translation.

Boston Immigration Court Interpreters and Declaration Translation

At a hearing, the immigration judge’s interpreter is supplied by the court. Everything outside the courtroom is the attorney’s job: the intake interview, the client’s declaration in their own words, identity documents and country evidence, and the practice session before a merits hearing. That is where we come in, usually with a Haitian Creole interpreter or a Portuguese interpreter at the law office and a certified translation of the exhibits.

Some cases may be moved, so read the notice. EOIR opened the Chelmsford Immigration Court at 150 Apollo Drive in April 2024, and Maine residents with cases that were previously heard in Boston may be transferred there. An interpreter booked for New Sudbury Street will not help a client who is due in Chelmsford. See translation for immigration attorneys.

Court Interpreters for Boston Municipal Court

Boston Municipal Court has eight divisions: Brighton, Central, Charlestown, Dorchester, East Boston, Roxbury, South Boston and West Roxbury. Together they cover Boston and Winthrop. The Central division and the court’s administration are in the Brooke Courthouse on New Chardon Street. BMC hears misdemeanors and some felonies, civil claims under $50,000, small claims under $7,000, restraining orders and evictions. Always tell us the division. A Dorchester arraignment and an East Boston eviction are two different buildings on two different transit lines.

Felony trials and larger civil cases go to Suffolk Superior Court. Federal cases are heard at the Moakley Courthouse at 1 Courthouse Way on Fan Pier, which is home to the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts and the First Circuit. Across all three court levels, attorneys use us for depositions, witness preparation and translated exhibits. See court interpreting and legal translation.

Medical Interpreters and Records Translation for Boston Hospitals

Boston Medical Center provides interpreting in more than 150 languages, in person, by phone or by video, at any hour. It names fourteen languages as the ones its patients use most: Spanish, Haitian Creole, Portuguese, Cape Verdean Creole, Vietnamese, Arabic, Albanian, Amharic, French, Mandarin, Cantonese, Somali, Tigrinya and American Sign Language. Bedside interpreting is the hospital’s own responsibility.

Outside providers are brought in for the work around the bedside. That includes translating a patient’s records from abroad for a specialist, independent medical examinations in injury claims, disability evaluations and long family meetings where the patient’s attorney also needs to be present. That work is described on our medical interpreting and medical records translation pages, and hospital administrators can start with translation for healthcare.

Haitian Creole and Cape Verdean Creole Translation in Boston

Boston Public Schools translates and interprets in nine major languages: Arabic, Cape Verdean Creole, Chinese, French, Haitian Creole, Portuguese, Somali, Spanish and Vietnamese. Its 46,000 students speak more than 75 home languages, and 45 percent are multilingual learners. For a Boston client, that is a practical list of the languages a family is likely to need.

The two creoles are the most common place for a booking to go wrong. A Cape Verdean client might need Cape Verdean Creole for an interview and Portuguese translation for the documents. A Haitian client might speak Haitian Creole but have civil records in French. Tell us which country the person is from and which language they actually speak, and we book for each part of the job separately. Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Somali and Arabic round out the district’s list.

Diploma Translation for Boston University Applicants

Massachusetts had 84,097 international students in 2024-25, the fourth-largest number of any state. Northeastern’s Boston campus had 22,465 of them and Boston University had 12,845. India and China together account for close to three in five. Most of the diploma translation and academic transcript translation we do for Boston clients is for graduate applicants, credential evaluations and graduates applying for state professional licenses.

A certified translation of a short certificate starts at around $24.95 a page as a guide, and on-site interpreting typically runs $45 to $95 an hour with a two-hour minimum. Your written quote is the price you pay. Boston bookings go through the quote form or +1 (833) 282 8883, and urgent interpreting requests are picked up 24 hours a day (pricing).

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

Which USCIS office interviews Boston applicants?

At the USCIS Boston field office, JFK Federal Building, 15 New Sudbury Street, Room E-160. Affirmative asylum interviews are held separately, at the Boston Asylum Office, which sits in the McCormack building at 5 Post Office Square.

Which Boston Municipal Court division will the interpreter go to?

The one on the paperwork. BMC sits in eight divisions across the city, from Brighton to West Roxbury, and the Central division is in the Brooke Courthouse on New Chardon Street. Send the notice with your booking and we match the interpreter to that building.

Can you supply a Cape Verdean Creole interpreter in Boston?

Yes, on site or by video. Cape Verdean records are usually in Portuguese, so we often assign a Creole interpreter for the interview and a Portuguese translator for the documents.

Do I have to visit an office to order a Boston translation?

No. You upload scans through the quote form and receive the certified translation by email, with hard copies mailed if you need them. Interpreters for Boston appointments travel from where they live in the area.