Sworn translator in Poland: official rates per page and surcharges
Short answer: Official sworn translator rates run from 44.07 zł to 94.37 zł per 1,125-character page, but they apply to work for courts and authorities. Private orders are priced by agreement.
Many procedures in Poland ask for a certified translation of a foreign document: a residence permit file, a marriage, a diploma recognition, a car registration. That translation must come from a sworn translator (tłumacz przysięgły), who signs and stamps it. Price questions come up straight away. This guide explains the official rate table that exists in Polish law, and, just as important, where it does not apply. It is based on the Minister of Justice regulation on sworn translator remuneration, in the consolidated text published in the Journal of Laws of 13 March 2025, item 312. The rates have applied since 1 January 2024.
Where the official rates apply, and where they do not
The regulation says it sets the rates for work that a sworn translator does at the request of a court, a prosecutor, the Police and public administration bodies. That is the first limit. When you walk into a translation office yourself and order a certified translation for a private purpose, the regulation does not set your price. In that case the price is agreed with the translator or the agency, so it can be higher or lower than the table. The official table is still useful as a reference point, because it is the only published official scale.
Rates per page for a certified translation
A page for these purposes is 25 lines of 45 characters, so 1,125 characters. A started page counts as a whole page. Under the regulation, the rates are as follows.
Translation into Polish, per page:
- From English, German, French or Russian: 44.07 zł
- From another European language or Latin: 47.49 zł
- From a non-European language that uses the Latin alphabet: 57.65 zł
- From a non-European language with a non-Latin alphabet or ideograms: 64.44 zł
Translation from Polish, per page:
- Into English, German, French or Russian: 57.65 zł
- Into another European language or Latin: 67.82 zł
- Into a non-European language with the Latin alphabet: 78.01 zł
- Into a non-European language with a non-Latin alphabet or ideograms: 94.37 zł
Surcharges
The regulation adds these supplements:
- Urgent work: a translation made within 24 hours of the request, or in accelerated proceedings, is paid 100 percent more.
- Difficult texts: 25 percent more for texts with specialist terminology, handwritten texts or forms filled in by hand (except technical script), and texts that are hard to read because of damage or poor copy quality. These grounds are not added together.
- Extra copies: 64 groszy for each additional requested page of a certified translation.
- Checking and certifying a translation made by someone else, or certifying a copy of a foreign-language document: 50 percent of the translation rate. Checking a copy of a document or the fixed part of a form: 30 percent.
- Interpreting: for each started hour of the translator's presence, the rate for a page of translation from Polish plus 30 percent, and plus 100 percent when it is done within 24 hours or in accelerated proceedings. At night, on Sundays and on holidays, a further 20 percent is added.
- VAT: if the translator is a VAT payer, the VAT is added to the fee.
A worked example
A one-page certificate in English, translated into Polish, has a rate of 44.07 zł. If it is handwritten, the 25 percent supplement raises it to about 55.09 zł. If the same document needs a translation within 24 hours, the urgent supplement doubles the base rate to 88.14 zł. Translating a one-page Polish document into English costs 57.65 zł at the table rate. These numbers show the scale of the official rates, before VAT.
What this means in practice
- Check whether the office that asks for the translation is a court or an authority that will order and pay for it. If you are paying for the translation yourself, ask for a written quote.
- Count pages by characters, not by the number of pages in the document. A page with a small stamp is not a full page of text.
- Allow time. The urgent supplement in the regulation shows that a 24-hour turnaround is a special case.
- Ask whether a translator is a VAT payer.
* Images: Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language, 1902 (public domain, Wikimedia Commons); a 1956 dictionary page (public domain, Wikimedia Commons). Images are illustrative.
Frequently asked questions
Does the official rate table limit what a translation agency can charge me?
Not directly. The regulation sets rates for work done at the request of courts, prosecutors, the Police and public administration. A private order is priced by agreement with the translator or agency.
How is a page counted?
A page is 25 lines of 45 characters, so 1,125 characters. A started page counts as a full page.
Is VAT included in the rates?
No. If the translator is a VAT payer, the VAT is added to the fee under the regulation.
