How Does an Interpreter Credentialed Elsewhere Become Eligible to Work as a Contract Interpreter in New Jersey?

Interpreters of Spoken Languages The first thing that an interpreter of a spoken language who has already been certified by another state or the Administrative Office of the United States Courts and wishes to work in New Jersey's Superior, Tax and Municipal Courts should do is review our policy on reciprocity. Depending on each individual's background, one or more of the first three steps of New Jersey's court interpreter approval/registration process may not be required. The principle that guides New Jersey's policy on reciprocity is to treat persons from out of state the same way we would treat persons who went through New Jersey's court interpreter approval / registration process. New Jersey recognizes and therefore accepts the following as equivalent exams: The Spanish certification exam administered by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts; and The exams in numerous languages administered by members of the Certification Council of Language Access Coordinators (CLAC), formerly Consortium for State Court Interpreter Certification so long as the exam taken was a Consortium exam which was given after the state became a member of the Consortium or is otherwise equivalent. New Jersey accepts the scores of tests administered in those jurisdictions and will view a person as being able to waive the New Jersey exam so long as the test scores equal or exceed the scores required for approval in New Jersey. There is one exception to this general principle: if a person starts the testing process in New Jersey, he or she must finish it in New Jersey. There is no reciprocity for Consortium exams subsequently taken in Consortium states, but New Jersey does accept Federal certification in these circumstances. For example, if a person takes the qualifying exam in New Jersey and fails it, then subsequently becomes certified in another consortium state pursuant to passing a Consortium exam in that language, the person must be retested by New Jersey on those parts of the test that were failed in New Jersey, and pass them at New Jersey’s standard, in order to become approved to work in New Jersey. New Jersey does not accept any other test results. That includes certification in California, Massachusetts, or New York as administered in the past and in the present time, or certification by NAJIT. The requirement to complete the one-day Orientation Seminar may be waived under a limited set of circumstances. Persons who have not attended such training will be required to attend the seminar either before becoming registered and starting to work, or within six months of becoming registered and starting to work. Anyone who wishes to work as a contract, self-employed interpreter must complete separate registration requirements with both the Language Services Section of the Administrative Office of the Courts and the Division of Revenue in the Department of the Treasury. Three documents need to be downloaded, filled out, and submitted to the Language Services Section: Individual Registration Form NJSTART Professional Service Statement of Work (PSSW). Before executing the PSSW and mailing it in, interpreters should carefully read it because it outlines the specifics of the contractual agreement, including the actual rates of compensation and cancellation policy. Also, a new PSSW must be executed before the beginning of each court year (July 1). These are ordinarily mailed to all registered, unrepresented contract interpreters each spring and anyone who does not execute and return a new contract by June 30 will be ineligible to provide contract interpreting services starting July 1st until a new contract is received by the Language Services Section. In addition, one must register as a business with the Division of Revenue. Once all of these registrations have been completed, the interpreter is listed in the Registry of Interpreting Resources and is contacted directly by the courts that need their services