U.S. consular officers may perform notarial services similar to those performed by a notary public in the United States. Such services include taking acknowledgments of signatures on documents for use in the U.S., taking affidavits and protests of negotiable papers, taking depositions, and certifying true copies. In addition, U.S. consular officers may authenticate the signatures of Guatemalan officials and certain professionals (such as doctors, lawyers, veterinarians, and sworn translators) who are registered with the Consular Section. As explained below, the signatures of U.S. officials that need to be authenticated for use in Guatemala must be notarized by a Guatemalan Consulate in the United States.

Notarial services are available from 9:30 until noon only, Monday through Friday. Please note that on the second and last Friday of each month, the American Citizen Services Unit will only be open for emergencies.

• Authentications of signatures by lawyers, veterinarians and translators cost $30 and are given back the same day at 2:30.
• Certified copies, as well as validation of American passports for Guatemalan Immigration purposes, of any original document, cost $30.
• Additional copies of any of these documents provided at the same time will be done for $20 each. Notarization of documents before a Consul costs $30 for the first notarization, and $20 each for additional notarizations within the same transaction.

Guatemala has an embassy in Washington, D.C., and has consulates in Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, Miami, New York and San Francisco. Americans who need U.S. documents (such as birth, marriage, divorce or death certificates, police certificates/reports, etc.) notarized by a Guatemalan consulate in the United States should directly contact the consulate closest to their home in the United States. Once the Guatemalan consulate has notarized the U.S. document, the signature of the Guatemalan consular officer must be authenticated by the Guatemalan Foreign Ministry in Guatemala City for the document to be legally valid in Guatemala.

U.S. court documents must be triple certified to be valid in Guatemala. The chain of authentication is as follows: the judge signs the document(s); the clerk of the court certifies the judge's signature; and a Guatemalan consulate legalizes (authenticates) the signature of the clerk.

Embajada de los Estados Unidos de América
Avenida Reforma 7-01, Zona 10
Guatemala Ciudad, Guatemala

Phone: (502) 331-1541
Fax: (502) 332-4353
Email: AmCitsGuatemala@state.gov

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