Translating WhatsApp messages for an Australian partner visa: what should you prepare?

WhatsApp messages are one of the most useful pieces of evidence in a partner visa (820/801) application, especially for any period when you and your partner lived apart. They are also one of the most confusing to prepare. If your messages are in French, Spanish, Portuguese or any other language, you end up with the same questions: do all of them need translating? Should you export the chat or take screenshots? What about nicknames, voice notes and emojis? And how much is this going to cost?

Here is how it works in practice.

Do you need to translate your WhatsApp messages at all?

If you submit them and they are not in English, yes. The Department of Home Affairs requires an English translation for any document in another language, and a screenshot of a conversation is treated like any other document. If the translation is done in Australia, it must be done by a NAATI-certified translator. If it is done overseas, the translator must include their full name, address, phone number and qualifications.

Two things make this easier than it sounds.

You are not required to submit messages. They are evidence under the "social aspects" and "nature of the commitment" headings of the relationship requirement, alongside photos, travel, statements from friends and family and so on. If you have strong evidence elsewhere (joint lease, joint account, travel together, Form 888s), a small selection of messages is enough. If you spent a long period apart, messages are often the main evidence for that time and deserve more room.

Mixed-language chats only need the non-English parts translated. Many couples switch between languages. If most of a conversation is in English, tell the translator to leave those messages as they are. You pay less, and the case officer still sees the full exchange.

How many messages should you include?

Fewer than you think. A case officer reads a lot of applications and does not have time for a full chat history. The goal is to show that the relationship started when you say it did, continued without a gap, and is still going.

A reasonable target is 10 to 20 conversations, each 2 to 5 screenshots long, spread across the whole relationship. For a period apart, aim for roughly one conversation per month. For periods when you lived together, one every few months is enough, since your lease, bills and photos cover that time.

Once you choose a conversation, include it whole. A screenshot with the replies cropped out, or a conversation with the middle missing, raises more questions than it answers. It is better to include fewer complete conversations than many partial ones.

Which conversations to pick

Choose messages that mark a stage in the relationship rather than messages that are simply affectionate. The affection is assumed; what the officer needs is a timeline.

Everyday messages are good evidence. Asking who is picking up groceries on a Tuesday in 2023 says more about a shared life than a long declaration of love. And limit the conversations about the visa itself to one or two; more than that and the application starts to look like the point of the relationship.

Screenshots or chat export?

Screenshots. WhatsApp's "Export chat" option produces a plain text file that anyone could edit, and it exports the entire conversation history. Screenshots show the contact name, the date header, the timestamps and the message bubbles exactly as WhatsApp displayed them, which is what makes them credible and what the translator certifies.

The export has one good use: if a conversation is long and you want the translator to have the exact text for accuracy, send the export as a reference next to the screenshots. The certified translation is still made from the screenshots.

A few practical points when taking them:

1. Make the date visible. WhatsApp shows the date header ("12 March 2023") once per day. Scroll so it appears at the top of your first screenshot, otherwise the translation has to say "date not shown".
2. Overlap each screenshot with the next. The last message of one should be the first message of the following one, so it is clear nothing was cut.
3. Use your phone, not WhatsApp Web. Desktop screenshots often crop the contact header and are harder to read once printed or uploaded as a PDF.
4. Keep the originals. Home Affairs can ask for the untranslated screenshots, and a translation without its source is not accepted.
5. Name the files in order, for example 2023-03-12_apart_01.png, 2023-03-12_apart_02.png. It makes the translator's job easier and keeps the pages in sequence.

Names, numbers and dates: make the screenshots readable

The most common problem with WhatsApp evidence is that the case officer cannot tell who is talking. The contact is saved as "Babe" or "Mon cœur", and nothing on the page matches the name in the application.

Sort this out before you take the screenshots:

• Rename the contact to your partner's full name as it appears on their passport. Take the screenshots, then rename it back if you like. The translator can only reproduce what is on screen; if the screen says "Babe", the translation says "Babe".
• Screenshot the contact info page once for your partner and once for yourself. It shows the name and phone number, and the numbers should match the ones in your application forms.
• Avoid relative dates. Recent conversations show "Today", "Yesterday" or a weekday instead of a date. Only use conversations old enough to show a full date, or note the real date in your cover note.
• Mention which phone the screenshots come from. If one of you was in Paris and the other in Sydney, the same message shows different times on each phone. That is normal, but say so once so the translator can note it.
• Group chats. If you include a family group, rename the relevant contacts (your partner's mother, a sibling) to their real names too, and explain who they are in the cover note.

Add a short context note to each conversation

A screenshot of two people saying goodnight means little on its own. The same screenshot with a note saying "week 3 of Camille's six months in France for her father's surgery; we spoke every evening" is evidence. The translator cannot add that context for you, so write it yourself, in English, on a cover page before each translated conversation.

Keep it to a few lines:

Number the conversations and refer to them by number in your relationship statement ("see conversation 7"). It saves the officer time, and anything that saves the officer time helps you. The cover notes are in English, so they do not need translating; only the screenshots go to the translator.

How pet names, slang, emojis and voice notes are translated

People are often embarrassed about this part. The messages are personal, full of typos and inside jokes, and it feels strange to have them translated for a government department. It is completely normal, and any translator who works on partner visas has seen it all before. A certified translation reproduces the conversation faithfully, which in practice means:

• Pet names are translated when they have a meaning ("mon cœur" becomes "my heart") and kept with a short note when they do not ("Chouchou [term of endearment]"). Do not ask for them to be removed. A conversation between partners with no affection in it looks staged.
• Slang, abbreviations and typos are rendered as equivalent English, not corrected. The aim is to show what the message meant, not to tidy it up.
• Emojis are kept as emojis, or described in brackets where the layout does not allow them.
• Voice notes cannot be translated from a screenshot. The translation will say "[voice message, 0:42]". If one voice note really matters, transcribe it yourself in the original language and send the audio with the transcript; the translator can then certify the transcript's translation. Most applicants skip this, and that is fine.
• Photos and stickers appear as "[image]" or "[sticker]". If a photo is evidence in its own right, put it in your photo bundle rather than relying on the WhatsApp thumbnail.

The translation carries the translator's NAATI stamp and a note that it was produced from screenshots supplied by the applicant. That note is standard and does not weaken the evidence.

The mistakes we see most often

• Retyping the messages. Some applicants copy their conversations into a clean document, fix the spelling and remove the awkward bits, then send that for translation. It can be certified, but it is no longer evidence of anything; it is a document written last week. Send the screenshots.
• Only one side of the conversation. Replies cropped out, or a selection where the partner never seems to answer. If your partner is a short texter, say so in the cover note and include the short replies anyway.
• No dates. "Yesterday" headers, or screenshots taken mid-conversation with no date in view. The translation then floats free of your timeline.
• Unexplained gaps. Conversations from March and from November and nothing in between. If you simply did not select anything from that period, say so in the cover note. If something happened, your relationship statement is the place to address it.
• Dates that contradict the forms. The messages show you planning to move in together in June; the form says you started living together in March. Reread your application before you select conversations.
• Translating everything. We regularly receive 300-page exports with a request to "translate it all, just in case". The quote usually changes people's minds. Selecting first is cheaper and produces a better application.
• Using an uncertified translator to save money. A bilingual friend, a relative or an online tool. For documents lodged in Australia, Home Affairs expects a NAATI-certified translation, and if it is queried you end up paying twice. The same trap applies to birth certificates and police checks.

What does it cost?

WhatsApp translations are priced per page, because each screenshot is its own layout to reproduce. At EzyTranslate, a NAATI certified translation costs $69 for the first page and $49 for each additional page. Ten screenshots come to $510; twenty come to $1,000. The number of pages is the only lever you control, which is why selection matters: twenty conversations of three screenshots each is 60 pages, the same conversations trimmed to the two screenshots that matter is 40.

Turnaround for a bundle of 20 to 40 screenshots is usually 2 to 4 working days. Sending them in order, with the dates and names already sorted, avoids the back and forth that adds days.

Checklist before ordering your translation

1. Choose 10 to 20 conversations spread across the whole relationship, with about one per month for any period apart.
2. Rename your partner's contact to their full legal name before taking the screenshots.
3. Screenshot the contact info page for each of you, showing name and phone number.
4. Make sure a full date header is visible at the top of each conversation.
5. Overlap your screenshots so nothing looks cut, and keep both sides of every exchange.
6. Name the files in order by date and conversation number.
7. Write a short English cover note for each conversation: number, dates, who, context, source phone.
8. Check the dates in the messages against the dates in your forms.
9. Flag mixed-language conversations so the English parts are not translated.
10. Keep the original untranslated screenshots for your application.

Get a quote for your messages

Not sure how many conversations to include, or whether your screenshots are readable enough? Send us your selection and tell us which visa you're applying for. We'll tell you what needs translating, give you a fixed price upfront and deliver a NAATI-certified translation accepted by Home Affairs.

Start your order online: choose "Other document", upload your screenshots and see the price before you pay.

Related guides

• What documents you need for a partner visa (820/801)
• Partner visa 820/801: how can it go wrong, and what to do about it
• Every email you'll receive during your partner visa application

FAQ

Do I have to translate my whole WhatsApp history? No. You translate what you submit, and you decide what to submit. A selection of 10 to 20 conversations across the relationship is usually enough.

Can I use the WhatsApp "Export chat" file instead of screenshots? You can send it as a reference, but the certified translation should be made from screenshots, which show the names, dates and layout as WhatsApp displayed them.

My partner is saved under a nickname. Is that a problem? Yes, if nothing on the page links the nickname to the name in your application. Rename the contact to their full name before taking the screenshots.

Will the translator remove embarrassing messages or pet names? No. A certified translation is faithful to the original. If you would rather not include a conversation, choose a different one rather than cropping it.

Can voice notes be translated? Not from a screenshot. If a voice note matters, transcribe it in the original language and send the audio with the transcript.

Do the English messages in a mixed chat need translating? No. Tell the translator which parts are already in English and only the rest is translated and charged.