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Using a U.S. document in Guatemala

Valid in Guatemala Accepts the U.S. apostille. Verified against official sources on 2026-11-02
Hague ConventionMember since September 18, 2017
What you needApostille from the state that issued the document
TranslationDepends on the authority
Consular informationRENAP – Inscripción de nacimiento en el extranjero (vía consular, consulados de Guatemala / MINEX) ↗

Step by step

  1. Get a certified copy of the document from the issuing office.
  2. Get an apostille from the competent authority of the U.S. state where the document was issued; federal documents (e.g., FBI background check) are apostilled by the U.S. Department of State.
  3. Register it either through a Guatemalan consulate (consular route, the consulate notifies RENAP via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) or through a Guatemalan notary, who protocolizes the foreign certificate 'with the pases de ley and sworn translation, if applicable'.

Translation

RENAP's notarial-route page requires the 'testimonio' of the protocolization of the foreign birth certificate 'with the pases de ley and sworn translation (traducción jurada), if applicable'. RENAP's consular-route page does not mention translation.

Common uses

  • Register the birth abroad of a child of a Guatemalan (consular or notarial route)
  • Register a marriage celebrated abroad
  • Register a death that occurred abroad

Important

RENAP's registration rules (Acuerdo de Directorio 176-2008, art. 17) provide two routes for births, marriages and deaths abroad: a notarial route (protocolization of the foreign document with its 'pases de ley') and a direct consular route (form sent by the Consular Services of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Late registration requires a payment receipt.

Which state issued your document?

Apostille fee and processing time in that state.

Fee per document$15.00
TimeMail: at least 2 weeks · In person: same day
See the office in Texas →

Sources

See the official sources (5)
Editor's note

HCCH: accession 2017-01-19, in force 2017-09-18; a declaration by Guatemala is listed but its text was not shown; no U.S. objection listed. RENAP pages use the term 'pases de ley' without defining it and do not explicitly mention the apostille; the apostille step is inferred from Guatemala's Hague membership plus the U.S. Department of State rule for Hague countries. No MINEX consulate checklist could be retrieved (minex.gob.gt returned 403; tramites.gob.gt is JavaScript-only), so whether a U.S. certificate must be apostilled/translated for the consular route is not verified. travel.state.gov country page could not be retrieved.