Guide
Financial documents for a bank abroad: what to translate, how, and why into English
Opening an account, applying for a mortgage or proving income to an institution abroad — and almost all of your paperwork is in Hebrew. Here are the documents that actually get asked for, why English is nearly always enough, and what separates a translation that is accepted from one that comes back.
What foreign institutions actually ask Israelis for
Payslips (תלושי שכר)
Usually the last three to six months. They evidence current income, and the reviewer matches the net figure against the credits in your bank statement.
Form 106 (טופס 106)
The annual employer certificate. It states a whole year's pay and withholding in one authoritative document — what an institution wants when a monthly picture isn't enough.
Current-account statements
Transaction history with a running balance. The most closely read document in the file: salary, source of the deposit and day-to-day conduct are all verified from it.
Credit data report (דוח ריכוז נתונים)
The report from the Bank of Israel credit data register. Lenders abroad ask for it when they want to see existing obligations — it is the closest Israeli equivalent to a credit report.
National Insurance confirmations
Entitlement, benefit or insurance-period confirmations from the National Insurance Institute (ביטוח לאומי). Relevant where part of the income isn't salary, or where status has to be evidenced.
Bank and address confirmations
An account-management letter (אישור ניהול חשבון), an employment confirmation, an arnona or utility bill for proof of address. Short documents — and asked for in nearly every file.
Why English is usually enough, even outside English-speaking countries
Before any of this, ask your own bank. Hapoalim and Leumi issue an account-management letter in English through their own online service, free, with the language chosen at the point of issue; Discount publishes a list of English letters — account details, balance, total balance across accounts, a financial-capacity letter written for students — issued for a fee and at the branch manager's discretion. If the document your institution named is one of those, the bank supplies it and there is nothing here to translate. The catch is that the free English document usually carries no balance and no transactions: it answers "does this account exist and whose is it", not "is there money in it".
Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, the United States — the recurring question is whether the documents must be in the country's own language. In most cases they need not be: in our experience English is widely accepted by credit and compliance departments across Europe, and an English document is read by the reviewer directly, with nobody in between.
The real exceptions exist: a notary handling a property deed, a municipality, or an institution that specifically demands the local language. That demand almost always arrives in writing — so ask for it in writing before ordering a second translation. Don't pay for a third language just in case.
Certified, notarized, sworn — in plain terms
A certified translation is a faithful, complete translation accompanied by a signed certificate of accuracy: who translated it, which documents it covers, and a signed statement that the translation is, to the best of the translator's knowledge and ability, a true, complete and accurate translation of the original. This is what most foreign bank submissions rest on.
A notarized translation adds a notary's certification above the translation. Under Israel's Notaries Law, a notary may certify that a translation is correct only where the notary is fluent in both languages; otherwise what is issued is a certification of the translator's signed declaration. It is priced on a statutory scale set by regulation rather than by the notary, it rises with the length of the document, and it adds days. For Hebrew and English, many Israeli notaries are fluent in both and certify the translation directly — at the statutory fee, which rises with the document's length. It is genuinely needed when the receiving institution asks for it, not on the assumption that heavier certification looks safer. A "sworn translator" is a person a court has registered — a status that exists in some countries and not in Israel; here the equivalent is one of the first two. The full treatment, with the current tariff, is in the guide below.
What gets a translation accepted — and what bounces it
Completeness
Every line in the original appears in the translation. A summary, "just the important pages," or a shortened table breaks the reviewer's ability to cross-check — in our experience, one of the most common reasons a document is returned.
Exact numbers
Amounts, balances, ID and account numbers, dates. One wrong digit is enough. Subtotals must sum to the total, and a running balance must carry from page to page.
Fidelity to the original's appearance
Same table, same columns, same order. A reviewer holding the Hebrew beside the English should be able to move between them without reading Hebrew.
Consistent names
Given and family names exactly as in the passport, and each employer or counterparty spelled identically in every document in the file. A small mismatch between documents is an avoidable query.
Someone standing behind it
An anonymous translation invites doubt. A signed certificate of accuracy answers the question before it is asked.
The process, and what it costs
Send the documents as the institution issued them — a PDF downloaded from the bank's site beats a screenshot or a photo, because the text in it is real and legible. Send the whole period requested, every page, in one go: translating a batch together is what keeps names spelled the same way across the file.
Each document is quoted in advance and confirmed with you before work starts: payslips from ₪99 including VAT (₪85 each for three or more), Form 106 from ₪149, a bank statement of up to three pages from ₪129, and a signed certificate of accuracy on request. Longer or unusual documents are quoted by length.
Most single documents are ready within a few days. If the bank gave you a date, put it in your message.
Common questions
Does it have to be translated into the country's language, or is English enough?
English is enough in most cases — in practice it is widely accepted by credit and compliance departments across Europe. If an institution specifically requires the local language, ask for that requirement in writing so you know exactly what you're paying for.
Do I need a notarized translation for a bank abroad?
Usually not. A faithful translation with a signed certificate of accuracy is what most bank files rest on. A notarized translation or an apostille is called for when the bank or a notary asks for it explicitly — and then you match their wording exactly.
Can I translate only the relevant pages?
You can, but institutions generally won't accept it. A financial document is evidence because it is continuous; once rows or pages are missing there is nothing to cross-check. If budget is the concern, tell us — we'll quote the full set rather than cut the document.
My document is a scan, or the quality is poor.
Send it and say so. A weak scan is read more slowly, and anything we can't read with certainty is flagged to you rather than guessed. Where possible, download the original PDF from the bank or employer instead.
How long does it take?
Most single documents within a few days; a full set is scheduled with you in advance. Quotes usually come back within a few hours, and always within two business days.
Preparing documents for an institution abroad?
Print-ready PDF · handled in confidence · a few days for most jobs