Guatemala birth certificate (RENAP) for USCIS

To file a Guatemalan birth certificate with USCIS, you need the certificate issued by the Registro Nacional de las Personas (RENAP), front and back. You also need a complete English translation with the translator’s certification. RENAP issues the certificate at its offices, online, and at several Guatemalan consulates in the United States. If what you have is a certificate from your municipality, request a new one from RENAP before translating.

What the State Department asks for

The State Department Reciprocity Schedule for Guatemala names the document Certificado de Nacimiento and is clear about the issuing authority: request it from RENAP, not from the city or town where you were born.

RENAP, created by the Ley del Registro Nacional de las Personas (Decree 90-2005), is the agency that records civil status events. Before RENAP, each municipality’s civil registry kept those records. That’s why two different papers still circulate under the same name: the municipal certificate and the RENAP certificate.

The difference matters. In a June 2021 decision, the USCIS Administrative Appeals Office dismissed an adjustment of status case because the applicant filed a certificate from a municipal civil registry instead of one issued by RENAP.

How to recognize a RENAP certificate

The State Department describes the layout in detail. Check it before you send anything:

• Top left, under the RENAP logo: a correlativo number.
• Top right: a barcode and the verificador number.
• Bottom center: a QR code.
• Bottom right: the registrar’s digital signature.
• Sometimes a blue circular seal. The State Department notes that it isn’t needed.

RENAP adds in its official bulletins that the signature and seal on the back are also legally valid. The certificate has two sides, and both count.

Where a Guatemalan file gets complicated

Sending only the first page. The Reciprocity Schedule expressly asks for the front and the back. If you scan only the side with the data, the document is incomplete, and so is the translation. We translate both sides, including the signature, the seal and any legend on the back.

The “six-month rule.” You may hear that USCIS only accepts Guatemalan certificates issued within the last six months. We found no such rule in 8 CFR § 103.2(b)(3) or in the Reciprocity Schedule. What the State Department does say is that the QR code works for six months or three validations, whichever comes first. After that, nobody can use the QR to check the document, although the data on it is still valid. If you want whoever reviews your case to be able to scan it, request a recent certificate.

Delayed registration. If your birth was never registered, the route is a court process in Guatemala: the judge orders RENAP to issue a certificado de nacimiento extemporáneo (delayed birth certificate). The State Department warns that a delayed registration may suggest fraud and should usually come with additional evidence. The translation shows both dates, birth and registration, without merging them.

Names in Mayan languages. Many Guatemalans carry given names or surnames in K’iche’, Q’eqchi’, Kaqchikel or other Mayan languages, with spellings that don’t follow Spanish orthography. The translation reproduces them letter by letter, exactly as they appear on the certificate. If a passport or form spells them differently, explain that discrepancy outside the translation.

Book, folio and entry number. The certificate keeps the reference to the original record: the libro (book), folio (page) and partida (entry) number. We transcribe them literally, because RENAP uses them to locate the registration.

Getting it from the United States

Online. RENAP issues the certificate through its E-Portal Ciudadano and the RENAP SE app. According to RENAP’s official bulletin, you create an account with your Código Único de Identificación (CUI) and an email address, select the birth certificate, pay by credit or debit card, and receive the document by email. You print it on plain paper, and RENAP states it has the same validity as one obtained at an office.

At a consulate. In 2020, RENAP announced that birth certificates would be issued at Guatemalan consulates in the United States, including Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami and New York. Its official fee schedule sets US$6 for a birth certificate requested abroad. Check with your consulate whether it offers the service and whether you need an appointment.

To verify it. RENAP has a certificate validation page where you enter the correlativo number together with the verificador or the identificador. It’s useful for confirming that a certificate a relative sent you from Guatemala is genuine.

If you don’t know your CUI or can’t use the portal, the State Department notes that a request can be made with your full name and date of birth, or with the book, folio and entry number where the birth was recorded.

Do you need an apostille?

Guatemala has been a party to the Hague Apostille Convention since September 18, 2017, according to the Hague Conference. For a USCIS filing, 8 CFR § 103.2(b)(3) calls for a complete, certified translation. An apostille isn’t among its requirements. It comes into play when the certificate is going to another Convention country or when the receiving agency asks for it. If your certificate already carries an apostille, we translate the apostille too.

Before you send us the document

Look for the correlativo, the verificador, the QR code and the digital signature on your certificate. If they’re there, it’s from RENAP. Scan both sides, and check the issue date if you plan to file soon, because of the QR window. If your case involves other birth records, see our general guide to birth certificate translation for USCIS.

Official source

Review the applicable federal requirement directly at 8 CFR § 103.2(b)(3) on eCFR .

Fidelis Certified Translations is an independent translation service and is not affiliated with, authorized, or endorsed by USCIS or any U.S. government agency. Final acceptance of any document rests solely with the receiving agency or institution.