Yes, you can translate a Chinese hukou yourself, and the two tables below are a Chinese hukou translation template in English: one for the household page, one for each person’s resident registration card. For a landlord, a letting agent or a bank that is usually enough. UK Visas and Immigration and HM Passport Office are a different matter: their guidance asks for a translation from a named, contactable translator, so a translation you confirm yourself usually won’t get through. In those cases what you need is a certified translation of the 居民户口簿, which I produce as an ITI-certified translator — £30 per page of 250 words, with a three- or four-page booklet usually back in 2 working days.
The hukou’s pages and fields in English
The labels are set nationally: the Ministry of Public Security’s 1995 notice (公通字〔1995〕91号) fixed the booklet’s 28 registration items, and Hubei’s 2022 household-registration rules still prescribe the Ministry’s format. Treat the tables as a layout template — replace everything in [square brackets] with what your own booklet prints.
Which pages: every page you submit — the cover, the household page and its reverse (mark the address-change record even when empty), and each registration card you hand in, front and back. Seals and 注销 or 迁出 annotations are translated where they sit, never moved or dropped.
Table 1: cover and household page
| Chinese label | English label | How to write it | Common mistake |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cover; 注意事项 | Household Register; Notes | [cover title as printed; emblem as [National emblem]]; [the printed notes, in full] | Skipping them as packaging |
| 户别 | Type of Household | [家庭户 → Family household; 集体户 → Collective household; older wording such as 非农业家庭户 as printed] | Leaving 集体户 unexplained |
| 户主姓名 | Name of Head of Household | [as spelled and ordered in that person’s passport] | Textbook pinyin that differs from the passport |
| 户号 | Household No. | [copied digit by digit] | Confusing it with the ID number |
| 住址 | Address | [number, road, district, city, province — as in your ID card translation] | Not matching the ID card |
| 户口专用章 (two seals) | Seal | [Seal: Household Registration Seal of [issuing authority]] — one provincial, one local | A bare “(stamp)” |
| 承办人签章; 签发日期 | Registrar’s Signature/Seal; Date of Issue | [Seal: registrar’s name in pinyin]; [DD Month YYYY] | Mixing it up with a card’s registration date |
| 住址变动登记 (reverse) | Record of Change of Address | [new address / date of change / registrar, row by row; if empty, [No entries]] | Skipping it, so a page looks missing |
Table 2: resident registration card (常住人口登记卡, one per person)
| Chinese label | English label | How to write it | Common mistake |
|---|---|---|---|
| 姓名 | Name | [SURNAME Given-name, exactly as in the passport] | Pinyin that differs from the passport |
| 户主或与户主关系 | Relationship to Head of Household | [Head of household / Wife / Son / Daughter …] | Reversing it: 母 means this person is the head’s mother |
| 曾用名 | Former Name | [in pinyin, or [Blank]] | Deleting the row |
| 性别; 民族 | Sex; Ethnicity | [Male / Female]; [established English name, e.g. Han] | “Gender” for a field that records sex |
| 出生地 | Place of Birth | [district or county, city, province] | Merging it with 籍贯 |
| 籍贯 | Native Place | [county or district, city, province] | “Place of birth” — it records the grandfather’s place of residence |
| 出生日期 | Date of Birth | [DD Month YYYY] | Numeric dates read back to front |
| 本市（县）其他住址; 宗教信仰 | Other Address in This City (County); Religion | [as printed, or [Blank]] | Dropping blank rows |
| 公民身份证件编号 | Citizen ID No. | [all 18 characters, keeping a final X] | “Correcting” the trailing X |
| 身高; 血型 | Height; Blood Type | [number] cm; [A / B / AB / O, as printed] | Omitting them |
| 文化程度 | Education | [研究生 → Postgraduate; 大学本科 → Undergraduate; 大学专科 → Junior college; 高中 → Senior secondary] | Updating it to your current degree |
| 婚姻状况 | Marital Status | [未婚 → Unmarried; 已婚, or 有配偶 in some booklets → Married; 离婚 → Divorced; 丧偶 → Widowed] | Translating today’s status, not the entry |
| 兵役状况 | Military Service Status | [退出现役 → Discharged from active service; 士兵预备役 / 军官预备役 → Reserve (enlisted / officer); otherwise as printed, or [Blank]] | “Retired” for 退出现役 |
| 服务处所; 职业 | Employer; Occupation | [full name of employer or school]; [as printed] | Abbreviating the employer |
| 何时由何地迁来本市（县）; …本址 | When and From Where Moved to This City (County); to This Address | [Moved from [place] on [DD Month YYYY]]; 久居 → Lifelong resident | Leaving 久居 untranslated |
| 承办人签章; 登记日期 | Registrar’s Signature/Seal; Date of Registration | [Seal: name in pinyin]; [DD Month YYYY] | Reading it as a date of birth |
| 登记事项变更和更正记载 (reverse) | Record of Changes and Corrections | [item / after change / date / registrar, row by row] | Translating the front only |
| 注销 / 迁出 annotations | Cancellation / Moved-out Annotation | [in place: [Stamp: CANCELLED – reason, date]; for 迁出, the destination] | Dropping the page, or a bare “(stamp)” |
Check each field against the booklet before use. In my experience the ID number and the name spelling are where it goes wrong.
Download: this template as a Word file (.docx), with the table laid out ready to fill in.
Is a self-translation accepted? What the UK rules say
What “certified” means. gov.uk says to “ask the translator to confirm in writing on the translation” that it is “a true and accurate translation of the original document”, “the date of the translation” and “their full name and contact details”.
Visas. The Home Office guide to supporting documents for visitors says: “If you submit a document that is not in English or Welsh, it must be accompanied by a full translation that can be independently verified by the Home Office”, including “the translator’s full name and signature” and contact details. Appendix FM-SE, behind family applications, asks the same in paragraph 1(j) and adds, for leave to remain and settlement, “certification by a qualified translator and details of the translator or translation company’s credentials”. How much of the booklet a spouse visa needs is covered in hukou translation for a UK spouse visa.
Passports. The gov.uk page for a first adult passport says: “If your documents are not in English or Welsh, you need to send a certified translation.” HM Passport Office’s guidance for applying from abroad adds that it “must be signed and stamped by a translator who is a member of a recognised professional organisation”.
In practice that splits into two groups:
- A careful self-translation is usually enough (my experience, not a published rule): a landlord or letting agent, a bank, an employer’s informal check.
- A certified translation is what the guidance describes: UKVI and HM Passport Office. Courts, universities and regulators set their own terms.
When you need it certified: what my version adds
Britain has no state-appointed sworn translators (the ITI: “there is no such thing as a sworn translator”), so the “professional organisation” and “credentials” above mean accreditation by a professional body. Qualified ITI members “can affix ITI Certification Seals to certify a translation”, which the Institute says “renders the translation ‘official'”, and my membership sits on a public register a caseworker can check without contacting you.
A certified version follows the same fields as the tables, and adds what a self-translation cannot:
- Names fixed against the passport, so the hukou, the ID card and the application agree; where the booklet’s pinyin differs, a note says so instead of a silent correction.
- Translator’s notes where a UK reader would stall — why a collective household is registered at an employer’s address, why native place and place of birth differ, what 久居 and 有配偶 mean.
- Seals and annotations described in place — the authority named on each seal; 注销 and 迁出 with their reason and date, where they appear.
- A certification page in the gov.uk wording, dated and signed, with my full name, ITI membership and contact details, delivered as a signed PDF.
One honest limit: certification vouches for the English, not for the booklet. It does not prove the document is genuine, and some offices will still want to see the original.
What to do next
- Work out who is receiving it. UKVI or HM Passport Office → certified. A landlord or bank → the template is usually enough. Anyone else → check their instructions.
- For a certified version, photograph every page you will submit, front and back, flat and in colour. Red seals over black print are the first thing a blurred photo loses.
- Send your passport name page too, so the romanisation is fixed against it.
- If an ID card goes in the same bundle, its address and number should match the hukou — see the ID card field-by-field template. My document translation pages list the other records I certify, including the marriage certificate.
- Expect £30 per page of 250 words; a three- or four-page booklet is usually ready in 2 working days, as a signed PDF you upload alongside the scans.
- If someone asks for notarisation or an apostille, get it in writing first: those speak to the Chinese original, not to the English.
Frequently asked questions
What is a hukou called in English?
Usually “Household Register”; English-language sources also keep “hukou”. If the cover carries an English title, copy it; “Household Register (hukou)” at first mention helps a UK reader.
A relative has died or moved away. Do I still translate that page?
Yes, if it is in what you submit. The Ministry’s rules require a cancelled registration to be noted in the booklet; Hubei’s rules add the reason, a “注销” mark and the registration officer’s seal. Translate all of it in place.
Can I use a hukou translation template downloaded online?
As a reference, yes — but check each field against your own booklet, because wording such as household type varies by year and place. For UKVI or HM Passport Office, even an accurate template lacks a translator who can be verified.