Medical Certificate

Planning a move to Germany, applying for a visa, starting a job, or enrolling at a university often means your medical certificate or vaccination record must be submitted as a sworn (certified) translation English–German. Authorities, universities, employers, especially in healthcare insurers, and consulates rely on certified translations to verify health status quickly and without ambiguity. A sworn translation ensures the terminology, dates, and names are rendered precisely and carry legal credibility in Germany and, in many cases, abroad.

For medical certificates, officials typically expect clear statements about fitness for work or study, activity limits, treatment confirmations, or recovery periods. These details must be translated verbatim, including physician notes, clinic identifiers, stamps, and reference numbers. For vaccination certificates, accuracy hinges on vaccine names, dose numbers, booster information, and—where present—brand and batch/lot references. Because brand names and active substances vary internationally, precise mapping between English and German medical terminology prevents costly back-and-forth with immigration, admissions, or HR teams.

Consistency is critical. Your name must match your passport exactly (including middle names and umlauts), and all dates should be unambiguous (DD.MM.YYYY). Handwritten entries can be translated if legible; multi-page booklets and double-sided records should be included to avoid gaps. Many offices accept secure PDFs, while some still request a stamped paper translation. If extra validation is ever required, it usually concerns the original document (e.g., apostille/legalisation) rather than the translation itself. In regulated professions (medicine, nursing, allied health), recognition procedures frequently require a complete immunization history and sometimes recent antibody titres; where lab reports are cited, they should accompany the translation.

Whether your goal is visa approval, university enrollment, professional recognition, employment onboarding, insurance, or international travel, a sworn EN–DE translation of your medical or vaccination certificate makes your file understandable and trusted from the first review.
Nachtigal Services is a sworn English to German translation provider specializing in precise, legally recognized translations for medical certificates.