Does a Person Helping a Relative Complete Form I-90, Complete the Interpreters Section?

Family Interpreter Form I-90Not all permanent residents are fluent in English and not all are able to read and understand all parts of the green card renewal application. Many seek help from their relatives or friends to complete the forms. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) also allows applicants to get help to complete their forms.

Part 6 is the part of Form I-90, Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card, that needs to be completed by the interpreter who helps the applicant understand the form instructions and questions. If the applicant is not fluent in English, he or she can have the form translated or completed by someone else, who may be a friend or a relative or an attorney. It must be remembered that the one who prepares the form for the applicant will need to complete the section for “preparer” and the one who interprets will need to complete the “interpreter” section of the form.

The one who translates the form for the applicant, will need to provide their names and the organizations for which they work, if any. They will need to provide their full mailing address, phone number and email address. The interpreter also needs to confirm that he or she is fluent in English and that they translated all questions and instructions to the language that the applicant is fluent in. They also need to certify that the applicant understood all the form questions and verified the accuracy of every answer they provided. It is mandatory for the interpreter to certify that they had read Part 5 of Form I-90 to the applicant in the same language that the applicant is fluent in. They will need to affix their signature and write the date on which they signed.

The applicant will need to sign and confirm that they received help from an interpreter to complete their green card renewal/replacement application. They will need to select the appropriate box to confirm that all the form questions and instructions were read to them by someone and that they understood.

Applicants must sign and date the form and write their phone numbers. Without a signature, USCIS will not consider their applications. So applicants will need to make sure that their forms contain their signature and not a stamped or typewritten name instead of their signature.