This is the layout of an English translation of a Mexican birth certificate in the standardized national format, the one most actas issued since the mid-2010s use, including those printed from gob.mx. Older actas copied from handwritten or typed registry books look different but record the same facts, so the same layout works for them. The bracketed items are placeholders: replace each with what your acta says.
The template
What each part means
Registry entry
The state, municipality, Civil Registry office (oficialía), book (libro) and certificate number (número de acta) are how a registry or consulate finds the original entry. Transcribe each exactly, with its label. Mexican birth records are kept by each state's Civil Registry, so the state of registration matters as much as the place of birth.
Two surnames
The first surname (primer apellido) usually comes from the father and the second (segundo apellido) from the mother. Keep both, in the order printed, with every accent. Don't drop the second surname to match a US form, and don't add a hyphen the acta doesn't have. If your passport spells the name differently, keep the acta's spelling and explain the difference in a translator's note.
CURP
The CURP is an 18-character population registry code. Characters 5 to 10 are the date of birth (year, month, day), character 11 is the sex and characters 12 and 13 are the state of birth. Copy it exactly. If the date or state it encodes doesn't match the rest of the acta, point that out in a translator's note.
Dates
Mexican records write numeric dates day first, so 04/03/1992 is 4 March 1992. Write the month as a word in the translation so nobody reads it the American way. Translate both the date of birth and the date of registration: a birth registered years later (registro extemporáneo) is still valid, but an officer will want to see the gap.
Marginal annotations
The marginal annotations (anotaciones marginales) record what changed after the birth was registered, such as a father's later acknowledgment of the child, a correction or an adoption. They can change the facts a petition depends on, so translate each one in full. If the box reads Sin anotaciones, translate it as [No annotations] rather than leaving it out.
Seals, signatures and QR codes
Describe what you can't reproduce, in brackets: [Signature], [Seal of the Civil Registry of the State of Jalisco], [QR code]. An acta printed from gob.mx carries an electronic signature, an electronic identifier and a QR code instead of a wet seal. It is valid, but an officer who hasn't seen one may wonder, so a one-line translator's note naming the format helps.
With Verdacert
A Verdacert translation of a Mexican acta follows this layout, keeps both surnames exactly as printed, translates every marginal note and describes every seal. It comes with a certificate signed by a named reviewer who has no stake in your case, and a link anyone can use to verify it. If USCIS rejects it for a translation error, we re-translate or refund (conditions apply - see our Refund Policy).