When 'Licenciado' on a Mexican Notarial Cotejo Means 'Attorney'

What We Received

A client submitted a single-page Mexican notarial 'Certificación de Pasaporte' from Notaría Pública No. 44 of Quintana Roo. The document is a cotejo — a notarial act certifying that the photocopy is a faithful reproduction of the original. The notary's name appears twice on the page: above his signature, and inside the round red notary seal. Both times it is prefixed with 'Licenciado' (abbreviated 'Lic.'). The cotejo accompanied the client's <a href="/translate/spanish-passport">Mexican notarial passport-copy translation</a> packet for a USCIS filing.

How We Handled It

We translated 'Licenciado Salvador Terrazas Montes' as 'Attorney Salvador Terrazas Montes' under the signature. We then mirrored the same rendering inside the round red notary seal. 'Lic. Salvador Terrazas Montes — Estados Unidos Mexicanos — Notario Público No. 44 — Chetumal, Quintana Roo, México' became 'Atty. Salvador Terrazas Montes — United Mexican States — Notary Public No. 44 — Chetumal, Quintana Roo, Mexico'. Both occurrences were treated consistently — a USCIS reader does not see one title on the signature and a different one inside the seal.

We kept the cotejo's scope explicit. The body certifies that the photocopy is 'a faithful reproduction of its original'; we translated this verbatim. A Translator's Note describes what a Mexican notarial cotejo actually authenticates. The note is short, factual, and tied to the article of the Quintana Roo Notary Law cited in the original (Article 82, Section I). The client's separately translated U.S. passport copy travels with the cotejo as part of the same <a href="/documents/passport">certified passport translation</a> packet.

We translated the Mexican notarial register in standard form. 'Hago constar' became 'I hereby certify'. 'Doy fe' became 'I so attest'. 'Foja útil' became 'one (1) sheet', not the calque 'one useful page'. The dashed line-fillers were preserved — they exist to prevent later additions. A Translator's Note explains the convention. The signature was marked '[Illegible signature]' rather than guessed at from context.

Expert Note

"The Spanish title 'Licenciado' (abbreviated 'Lic.') before the notary's name marks a Licenciatura en Derecho — the Mexican law degree required to hold a state notarial appointment — and is the standard form of address for an attorney in Mexico. It has been rendered as 'Attorney' / 'Atty.' to match U.S. usage, on both the signature line and inside the round notary seal. The document is a notarial cotejo (Article 82, Section I of the Quintana Roo Notary Law cited in the original): it certifies that the photocopy is a faithful reproduction of an original the notary had in view, and does not authenticate the passport's underlying content. The dashed line-fillers running to the end of short lines in the original are a Mexican notarial convention used to prevent later additions to the act; they have been preserved. Spelled-out numbers ('cinco mil trescientos sesenta y nueve' = 5,369; 'diecinueve de mayo del año dos mil veintiséis' = May 19, 2026) have been kept spelled-out as in the original, with their numeric equivalents noted in this Translator's Note for the reader's convenience. The handwritten signature above the printed name was not legible and has been marked '[Illegible signature]'."

Mateo GarcíaLatin American Spanish Legal Translator

The Outcome

The certified translation was delivered to the client as a DOCX and a PDF. The Translator's Certification page covers competence, completeness, and the title-rendering note. The title reads as 'Attorney' under the signature and 'Atty.' inside the seal — a USCIS officer reading either part of the page gets the same signal.

We have used the same approach on every Mexican notarial cotejo since 2024 — passports, birth, marriage, school records — without an RFE on the title-rendering question.