My old Thai birth certificate is faded and handwritten — can it still be translated?
It can, but any illegible passage must be marked as illegible in the translation. The better route is to request a fresh certified extract from the registry that issued the original before ordering the translation.
In-depth Answer
Birth certificates issued before the computerised civil registry are often handwritten and have faded with age.
A credentialed practitioner cannot guess at unreadable text and cannot import details from another document.
What the translator can do is bracket the passage as illegible — correct practice, but exactly the point at which a receiving body asks for more.
The faster route overall is to visit the local registry that issued the original and request a certified extract of the birth register entry: cleanly printed, sealed by the registrar.
Translate that extract instead.
Applicants abroad can have a relative attend on their behalf with a properly certified power of attorney.
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