Certified or OTTIAQ: the difference
Both translations are done by professional translators. The difference is the body that stands behind the translator, and the price.
Short answer
Certified translation fits IRCC; OTTIAQ translation is required by MIFI, professional orders, Quebec courts and the SAAQ.
Certified translation carries the translator’s signed statement. OTTIAQ translation is made or certified true by a member of the Ordre des traducteurs, terminologues et interprètes agréés du Québec, whose membership number can be verified.
Who asks for what
- IRCC: certified translation
- MIFI: a recognized translator, for example an OTTIAQ member
- Professional orders: a certified translator
- SAAQ: OTTIAQ, ALCIT or a CTTIC member association
- Directeur de l’état civil: French translation by an OTTIAQ member
Prices and turnaround
- Certified translation: from $59 per page, 1-2 business days.
- OTTIAQ translation: from $99, 2-4 business days longer.
- Prices before taxes: GST 5% and QST 9.975%.
How to decide
Read the institution’s written instruction. If it names a professional order of translators, take the OTTIAQ route. If it only asks for a certified translation, the ordinary route is enough.
Paying for the more expensive route “just in case” speeds up nothing and guarantees nothing.
Common mistake
Ordering an OTTIAQ translation for an ordinary IRCC file, or the opposite: sending an ordinary certified translation to MIFI.
Best next step
Send us the institution’s instruction with your documents: we tell you which route fits before we start.