What does "(S)" mean on a Quebec birth certificate, and how should it be translated for USCIS?
TL;DRA Quebec long-form Copie d'acte de naissance used the DEC convention '(S)' after two typed names — the father and the signing registrar — to mark the original act as signed without reproducing the signature, and 'p. i.' after the registrar's title for par intérim (acting). We preserved each '(S)' verbatim, rendered 'p. i.' as 'acting,' and kept the document-type label as 'Copy of an act of birth.' The certified translation was delivered for the client's USCIS filing.
Case Specifications
- Document
- Birth certificate (long-form Copy of Act of Birth)
- Foreign Name
- Copie d'acte de naissance
- Country
- Canada (Quebec)
- Languages
- French → English
- Submitted To
- U.S. immigration filings (USCIS)
What We Received
A client submitted a Quebec long-form Copie d'acte de naissance issued by the Directeur de l'état civil du Québec on August 19, 2005, certifying an act of birth originally registered on August 11, 1957 in Lac-Mégantic. The translation was needed for a U.S. immigration filing — a [certified French birth certificate translation](/translate/french-birth-certificate) prepared to USCIS standards.
The typed certified copy carried two Quebec-specific administrative markers: '(S)' appeared after the father's typed name ('Joseph Lapointe (S)') in the signatures-of-declarants block, and again after the signing registrar's name ('Lily Vallée (S)') in the Directeur-de-l'état-civil block at the foot of the page. Below the registrar's name, the title line read 'La directrice de l'état civil p. i.' — the 'p. i.' abbreviation following the title.
The document itself was a Copie d'acte de naissance — the long-form certified copy of the registered act, structurally distinct from the short-form Certificat de naissance extract that the Directeur de l'état civil also issues. Only the long-form carries the full identification grid for the child, the declarants, and the witness-attestation block.
Why This Required Special Handling
Each of the three conventions on the page has a translator's-craft decision attached to it, and on a Quebec long-form Copie d'acte de naissance all three appear together. The '(S)' marker is opaque to a reader who has not seen a Quebec DEC certified copy before — left untranslated it reads like a typo or an initial; treated as part of the name it introduces something that looks like a middle initial; dropped entirely it removes a fact that the original document states, namely that this person signed the registered act.
The 'p. i.' abbreviation is a French administrative shorthand for par intérim — 'acting.' Mis-rendering or stripping it loses the registrar's interim-authority status, which is a material attribute of the signing authority on the certified copy and one that an adjudicator [verifying USCIS translation requirements](https://www.uscis.gov/tools/meet-translation-requirements) may check against the issuing office's records.
The document-type label itself matters. The Directeur de l'état civil du Québec issues two distinct documents — the long-form Copie d'acte de naissance and the short-form Certificat de naissance extract — and the Directeur's own English-language materials render the long-form as 'Copy of an act of birth.' Collapsing it to a generic 'Birth certificate' in the [English translation per USCIS formatting standards](/guides/uscis-translation-requirements) erases the long-form vs short-form distinction and obscures which DEC document the applicant actually submitted.
How We Handled It
Each '(S)' was preserved verbatim after the typed name where it appeared: 'Joseph Lapointe (S)' in the signatures-of-declarants block, 'Lily Vallée (S)' in the Directeur-de-l'état-civil block. We did not move the marker, strip it, or treat it as a middle initial. A [Translator's Note](/guides/translators-note-when-required) recorded that '(S)' is the Quebec DEC convention for marking that the original act was signed (signé) by that person, with the actual handwritten signature not reproduced on the certified copy.
The registrar's title line — 'La directrice de l'état civil p. i.' — was rendered as 'The Director of Civil Status, acting,' with the par intérim abbreviation explained in the same Translator's Note. The handwritten signature block reproduced beneath the title was rendered as '/s/ Lily Vallée,' followed by the printed name on the next line, matching the layout of the original.
The document-type label at the top of the page — 'Copie d'acte de naissance' — was kept as 'Copy of an act of birth,' the Directeur de l'état civil's own English label for the long-form act copy. 'Certifiée conforme' near the bottom of the page was rendered with the standard English 'Certified true copy.' The marginal warning at the foot of the page — 'Cette copie d'acte n'est pas valide si elle est modifiée ou plastifiée' — was translated in full, since stamps, warnings, and authentication language on a Quebec DEC certified copy [translate in full for USCIS submissions](/accepted-by/uscis) in the same way as stamps and seals on any other source.
"(1) On Quebec certified copies issued by the Directeur de l'état civil du Québec, the marker "(S)" appearing after a typed name — here, "Joseph Lapointe (S)" in the signatures-of-declarants block and "Lily Vallée (S)" in the Directeur-de-l'état-civil block — indicates that the original registered act was signed (signé) by that person; the actual handwritten signature is not reproduced on the certified copy. (2) The abbreviation "p. i." appearing after the title "directrice de l'état civil" stands for par intérim and is rendered in English as "acting." (3) The document itself is a Copie d'acte de naissance — the long-form certified copy of the registered act, structurally distinct from the short-form Certificat de naissance extract that the Directeur de l'état civil also issues. This translation uses the Directeur de l'état civil's own English label, "Copy of an act of birth," rather than substituting "Birth certificate.""
The Outcome
The certified translation was delivered with each '(S)' preserved verbatim after the typed name where it appeared, 'p. i.' rendered as 'acting' in the registrar's title, and the document-type label kept as 'Copy of an act of birth.' All three Quebec DEC conventions were explained in a single Translator's Note, and the translation was provided to the client for a U.S. immigration filing.
We apply the same approach on every Quebec long-form Copie d'acte de naissance and on every Directeur de l'état civil du Québec certified copy that carries the '(S)' signed marker or the 'p. i.' interim-authority abbreviation — and we keep the document-type label aligned with the DEC's own English wording rather than collapsing it.
What This Means for You
A Quebec long-form Copie d'acte de naissance should be translated with the "(S)" signed marker preserved on each name where it appears, the "p. i." (par intérim) interim-authority marker rendered as "acting," and the document-type label kept as "Copy of an act of birth" rather than collapsed to "Birth certificate." All three conventions carry material meaning for a USCIS reviewer and should be explained in a single Translator's Note so the translation reads cleanly without rewriting what the Directeur de l'état civil du Québec actually put on the page.
Have a similar situation?
We translate Quebec long-form Copie d'acte de naissance records — and the full range of Directeur de l'état civil du Québec civil-registry documents (birth, marriage, death, and corresponding short-form certificats) — for USCIS filings and U.S. state vital-records offices regularly.
Related Cases & Resources
Sources & References
- Meet Translation Requirements·USCIS·Verified 2026-05-12
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