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ICA TranslationsSingapore · since 2010
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Founded 2010 Suntec Tower One Singapore-registered

We have spent sixteen years on one narrow problem

Most translation companies handle marketing copy on Monday and a birth certificate on Tuesday. We have never done the Monday work. Since 2010 this office has translated one kind of document — the paperwork Singapore’s Immigration & Checkpoints Authority, MOM and ROM ask people to hand over — and everything about how we operate comes from that choice.

Talk to us about your document Read what clients say

Why a company like this exists at all

In 2010 our founder sat in a waiting room at ICA behind a woman who had been sent home twice. Her Indonesian birth certificate had been translated by a general agency that did a linguistically fine job and got everything else wrong: the registrar’s embossed seal was left out, her name was romanised differently from her passport, and there was no certification page identifying who had done the work. Three visits, six weeks, and a fee paid twice.

That is not a translation problem. It is a document problem. The English words were correct; the artefact was unusable. Nobody at that agency had ever watched an officer put two documents side by side and run a finger down them looking for a mismatch.

So we built the opposite kind of company. Every process here starts from the counter and works backwards: what will the officer check, in what order, and what would make them reach for a query letter? The linguistics are table stakes. The formatting, the seal descriptions, the name conventions, the certification wording — that is the actual product.

What we are not

We do not translate websites, brochures, subtitles, product manuals or novels. We turn work away weekly for exactly that reason. A specialist who says yes to everything stops being a specialist by the following quarter.

Sixteen years, counted honestly

Agencies advertise startling figures. Ours are modest by comparison and they reconcile with each other, which we think matters more. Roughly two and a half documents make up an average application file, so the document count and the client count sit in a sensible ratio. Around six percent of clients leave a public review, which is what a normal service business sees.

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Documents delivered since our first job in 2010
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Applicants, families and companies served
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Translators on the panel, 36 of them in-house
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Languages we can issue a certified translation in
99.4%Accepted on the first submission, tracked since 2018
1,247Public reviews averaging 4.9 out of 5
340+HR departments and law firms on standing terms
4 hoursFastest certified turnaround we will commit to
Our journey

From a two-person desk to a 214-strong panel

Nothing here happened as a leap. Each of these was a response to a problem a client actually walked in with.

2010

Two translators, one filing cabinet

We registered the company and took our first job: a Mandarin birth certificate for a PR application in Toa Payoh. The format we designed for that single document — mirrored layout, bracketed seal descriptions, a certification page naming the translator — is still the backbone of every file we issue today.

2012

We stopped sending clients to the notary

Too many people were being handed a translation and a phone number. We built a standing arrangement with a Singapore Notary Public and started attending appointments ourselves, with the statutory declaration drafted in advance. Clients have not had to book one since.

2014

Suntec Tower One, and the thousandth document

We moved into the office we still occupy, chosen for one unglamorous reason: it is a short walk from the places our clients are already going. The thousandth translation went out that November — a Malay marriage certificate for an ROM registration.

2016

The language panel passed a hundred

Singapore’s inbound population widened faster than most people noticed. Burmese, Nepali, Sinhalese and Amharic files started arriving weekly, and we began recruiting for languages before demand rather than after it. The first corporate HR retainers were signed the same year.

2018

Two pairs of eyes, permanently

We made second review mandatory on every file, not just complex ones, and started logging the reason behind every query letter a client forwarded to us. That log is why we can tell you today which five mistakes cause most rejections — and why our first-time acceptance figure is a measurement rather than a slogan.

2020

The office emptied and nothing slipped

Intake moved entirely to upload, email and WhatsApp within a fortnight. Appointments were being cancelled and rebooked constantly, so we rebuilt our scheduling around the client’s appointment date instead of our own queue. That change outlasted the pandemic.

2021

Apostille, end to end

When Singapore joined the Apostille Convention, documents heading overseas stopped needing consular legalisation. We folded notarisation, Academy of Law authentication and the apostille into a single order so clients were not chasing three separate counters with three separate lead times.

2023

Four hours, without a rush fee

Enough people were arriving in genuine panic — appointment tomorrow, document untouched — that we restructured the morning shift around it. Confirm before 11 AM and a certified translation goes back the same working day, at the ordinary price.

2026

Still the same narrow brief

Fifty-four thousand documents later, the company does exactly what it did in 2010, for more people and in more languages. We have turned down the adjacent work every time it was offered, and we intend to keep doing that.

What we are aiming at

Vision and mission, without the poster language

Two statements we actually use internally when deciding whether to take a job or change a process.

Vision

A Singapore where nobody’s immigration application is delayed by a piece of paper that was translated badly.

It is a narrow ambition on purpose. We are not trying to be the largest language services provider in Southeast Asia. We want the situation where an officer opens a translated document, finds everything where they expect it, and moves on — to be the ordinary experience rather than the lucky one.

Mission

Issue every translation so it is accepted the first time, priced before work begins, and explained in plain language to someone who has never done this before.

Three commitments in one sentence, and each is measurable. Accepted first time: we track it. Priced before work begins: no invoice ever exceeds the quote. Explained plainly: if you leave a conversation with us still unsure what you need, we did that part badly.

How we work

Six habits that came from getting things wrong

None of these are industry standards. Each one exists because something went sideways once and we decided it should not be possible again.

Two people, always

A native speaker translates; a senior reviewer who has read thousands of ICA files checks it. No document leaves on one person’s judgement, however routine it looks.

Names follow your passport

We never impose the “correct” romanisation. We ask which document your translation will sit beside and match it exactly, with a note recording any alternative spelling.

Nothing on the page is ignored

Seals, embossings, marginal corrections, revenue stamps and reverse-side endorsements all get described. A missing seal note is one of the quickest routes to a returned file.

The quote is the invoice

One figure, given in writing, covering translation, certification and delivery. No per-word recalculation at the end, no separate certification charge, no discovery fees.

We talk you out of things

Roughly one in four people who ask us for notarisation do not need it. We would rather read your requirement letter and say so than quietly bank the extra fee.

Your file is not our archive

Documents are handled under Singapore’s PDPA, encrypted in transit, restricted to the two linguists on your job, and deleted after thirty days unless you ask us to keep them.

What we do

Four layers of certification, one conversation

Most people arrive knowing they need “a translation” and discover there are several versions of that. Here is the whole ladder, in the order it stacks.

Certified translation The base layer — signed accuracy declaration on our letterhead Most ICA files need only this Notarised translation A Notary Public witnesses the translator’s oath and seals the set We attend, you don’t SAL authentication The Academy of Law verifies the notary’s signature is genuine Required before an apostille Apostille & legalisation Makes the Singapore chain readable to a foreign government For documents leaving the country Sworn translation For court exhibits, probate and embassy filings Legal proceedings Certify true copy Keeps your original clean while a verified copy travels We sight the original Transcription Interviews, hearings and recordings, transcribed then translated Legal & corporate Every document type Birth, marriage, passport, transcripts, court orders and more Browse the list

The 214 people who actually do this

A translation agency is only its linguists. Ours are not anonymous contractors picked from a marketplace at 2 AM — every name on the panel has been through the same five gates, and the ones handling your language are the ones who grew up reading it.

How someone joins the panel

  1. Native-speaker requirement. The source language must be their first language, not a language they studied. There is no exception to this, including for languages where recruiting is hard.
  2. Credentials verified at source. Degrees and translation qualifications are checked with the issuing institution, not accepted as a PDF.
  3. A real test document. Candidates translate a redacted certificate from our archive — one with a difficult seal, an ambiguous name and a non-Gregorian date. We are watching what they do with the awkward parts, not the sentences.
  4. Format training. Two weeks learning our conventions: mirrored layout, bracketed non-text descriptions, name-matching policy, translator’s notes, certification wording.
  5. Supervised probation. The first twenty jobs are fully re-checked by a senior reviewer before release. Roughly a third of candidates do not come out the other side.

Who is on it today

Thirty-six senior linguists work in-house and carry the review responsibility — they are the ones who sign. A further one hundred and seventy-eight vetted translators cover the long tail of languages, several of them in the country the document was issued in, which turns out to be enormously useful when a provincial registry format changes.

The six languages Singapore asks for most — Chinese, Malay, Tamil, Hindi, Indonesian and Vietnamese — have at least four translators each, so nobody’s holiday becomes your delay.

Nobody translates their own review

The translator and the reviewer on a file are never the same person, and never the same person twice in a row on repeat work for one client. Familiarity is how small errors survive a second reading.

Annual re-checks

Panel membership is not permanent. Every translator’s work is sampled once a year, and anyone whose files generate more than one query letter in a twelve-month period is moved back to supervised status until the pattern clears. It is not a comfortable policy, and it is the reason our acceptance figure has stayed where it is while the panel grew fivefold.

Where we are

One office, the whole island served

Suntec Tower One

7 Temasek Boulevard, #12-07, Singapore 038987. Drop in if you prefer to hand over a document in person — though almost nobody needs to any more.

Everything works remotely

Upload, WhatsApp or email your document, approve the quote, pay by PayNow or card, receive a signed PDF. Hard copies and notarised sets are couriered free, island-wide.

When we’re open

Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 7 PM. Saturday, 10 AM to 3 PM. Same-day work has to be confirmed before 11 AM Singapore time to make the delivery window.

About the company

Questions people ask before hiring us

Are you approved or licensed by ICA?+
ICA does not operate an approved-vendor list, and any agency claiming to hold one is describing something that does not exist. What ICA requires is that a translation comes from a translator or company that identifies itself, states its credentials and takes responsibility for accuracy in a signed declaration. That is what our certification page provides, and it is why our work is accepted. We are a Singapore-registered company and our details are on every document we issue.
How do you calculate the 99.4% acceptance figure?+
Since 2018 we have asked every client to tell us if a file was returned, and we log the reason. The figure is the share of documents that were accepted without any query relating to the translation itself. It excludes returns caused by things outside our work — a missing supporting document, an expired police certificate, an incomplete application form. We would rather publish a number we can explain than one that sounds better.
Do you actually employ 214 translators?+
Thirty-six are employees working in-house. The other one hundred and seventy-eight are contracted specialists on our vetted panel, engaged per job. Covering 175 languages with a fully salaried team is not something any honest agency in Singapore can claim, and we would be suspicious of one that did.
What happens to my document after the job is finished?+
Files are encrypted in transit, stored on access-restricted systems, visible only to the translator and reviewer assigned to your job, and deleted after thirty days. If you expect to need a reissue later, tell us and we will retain the file with your written consent. Everything is handled under Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Act.
Do you work with companies and law firms, or only individuals?+
Both. Around 340 HR departments, relocation consultancies and law firms hold standing terms with us, mostly for work pass documentation and litigation exhibits. Corporate accounts get consolidated monthly billing, a named contact and agreed turnaround commitments. Individual applicants remain the majority of our work and are treated identically on quality.
Why don’t you offer general translation services?+
Because the skills barely overlap. Translating a marketing campaign rewards fluency and invention; translating a civil registry document rewards fidelity, restraint and an obsessive attention to layout and non-text elements. Companies that do both tend to be excellent at one of them. We decided early which one we wanted to be.

Sixteen years of practice, pointed at your document

Send a photo of what you are holding and the letter asking for it. You will get a straight answer about what is actually required, and a fixed price, within thirty minutes.

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