Which Mexican divorce documents get translated for USCIS?

Whatever record you file to show that an earlier marriage ended, yours or your spouse’s, gets translated in full: the civil registry’s divorce certificate (acta de divorcio), the court’s judgment (sentencia) or the marriage certificate annotated with the divorce, with every seal, date and note. USCIS, the federal agency that receives your immigration applications, asks for a full English translation of any document in another language. That’s why we also translate whatever is on the back.

Which record to file, and whether your divorce works for your case, are questions for an immigration attorney or an accredited representative.

What does USCIS ask for if you were married before?

USCIS asks for proof that each of your earlier marriages ended, and on some forms your spouse’s too (see the instructions for Form I-130 and Form I-485). If you are petitioning for your spouse on Form I-130 (the family petition), the Form I-130 page lists “Evidence you or your spouse terminated any prior marriages (if applicable).” The USCIS Policy Manual adds: “The petitioner must provide documentation of the termination of each prior marriage.”

For a green card as the immediate relative of a U.S. citizen, filed on Form I-485, USCIS asks for “proof of the legal termination of any prior marriages, such as divorce decree or certificate or death certificate (if applicable)” (USCIS). For citizenship on Form N-400, it lists “any divorce decree, annulment decree, or death certificate showing that your prior marriages were terminated (if applicable)” (USCIS).

If that record is in Spanish, it goes in with a full English translation and the translator’s certification (8 CFR 103.2(b)(3)). Is your immigrant visa interview at the U.S. consulate in Ciudad Juárez? That consulate has its own translation rules, and our guide to hiring an immigration translator explains them.

What divorce records does Mexico issue?

Depending on how the divorce was granted and on the state, it may show up in one or more of these three records. The same translation rule applies to all of them.

• Divorce certificate (acta de divorcio). The civil registry (Registro Civil) records it. In an administrative divorce, the spouses appear before the civil registry officer (Michoacán, in Spanish). When a judge granted the divorce, the registry draws up the certificate from the judgment (Nayarit, in Spanish).
• Divorce judgment (sentencia), or divorce decree. The judge issues it, and the registry records it once it is final, or “ejecutoriada” in Mexican paperwork (Michoacán, in Spanish).
• Annotated marriage certificate. The registry notes the divorce in the margin of the marriage record (Nayarit, in Spanish). In its guide to Mexican documents for visa applicants, the State Department says marriage certificates with that annotation are obtainable in some states and “are also acceptable proof of marriage termination.”

Mexico’s Federal Civil Code (in Spanish) describes the same steps: the civil registry draws up the divorce certificate after an administrative divorce or from the final judgment, then notes the divorce on the marriage record (articles 114, 116, 272 and 291).

Which record to file in your case is a question for an attorney or accredited representative. Our guide to the annotated marriage certificate has more on how that certificate is translated.

Record	Who issues it	What we translate	Price
Divorce certificate	Civil registry	The whole certificate: data, seals, signatures, dates and notes, back included	$35 short form, $45 long form
Divorce judgment	The court that handled the divorce	Every page you will submit, in full, including any certification pages from the court	Quoted from a photo of each page
Marriage certificate with the divorce annotation	Civil registry, in some states	The whole certificate, annotation included	$40 short form, $50 long form

Table sources, read in October 2026: the civil registries of Michoacán and Nayarit and Mexico’s Federal Civil Code, all in Spanish, and the State Department. Prices: our certified translation price list. Not sure whether yours is a short or long form? Send us a photo and we’ll tell you.

Why does your divorce certificate show several dates?

Because a divorce goes through several steps, and the record can capture more than one of them: the date of the judgment or ruling, the day it became final, the date the certificate was recorded and the date your copy was issued. A judgment may also write a date out in words (“a los quince días del mes de marzo,” on the fifteenth day of March).

Each of those dates is part of the record, so each one gets translated. What a date means for your case is a question for an attorney.

We translate every date exactly as it appears, under the label the record gives it, and write it in English so the day and the month can’t trade places. Our certified translation page shows how we handle dates.

Does the whole judgment get translated, or just the ruling?

Every page you submit gets a full English translation, from the heading to the signatures, not just the “puntos resolutivos” (the closing section where the judge rules). If your certified copy includes the court’s certification page or the order declaring the judgment final, those pages get translated too. The USCIS rule, 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3), calls for a full translation that the translator certifies as complete and accurate.

The USCIS Policy Manual says “A summary of a document prepared by a translator is unacceptable,” and cites a 1994 rule that turned down requests to accept extracts or partial translations. In a 2018 decision, USCIS’s appeals office (the AAO) did not count a document that appeared to be “only an extract” as a complete translation (AAO decision, non-precedent).

Which pages to submit is up to you or your attorney. Our guide to hiring an immigration translator has more examples of why a translation gets rejected or ignored.

How do you get a copy of your divorce certificate from Phoenix?

Ask the civil registry of the Mexican state where the divorce was recorded. Mexico’s National Civil Registry Platform, miregistrocivil.gob.mx, lists all 32 federal entities (the 31 states and Mexico City), and you choose a state to see the procedures it offers there. Check whether the state where your divorce was recorded offers the copy you need online.

On the platform, you check the status of your request with your Llave MX, the account for Mexican government procedures and services online.

Record	Where to request it
Divorce certificate	The civil registry of the state where the divorce was recorded, or the national platform if that state offers it there
Annotated marriage certificate	A copy of the marriage certificate from the civil registry of the state where the marriage was recorded, or from the national platform if that state offers it there. The translation can include the divorce annotation only if it appears on your copy
Divorce judgment	The court that handled the divorce, as a certified copy

Table sources, read in October 2026: miregistrocivil.gob.mx, the civil registries of Nayarit and Michoacán and Mexico’s Federal Civil Code, all in Spanish, and the State Department.

Translating your divorce records with Puente Grande

From Phoenix or anywhere in the U.S., message us on WhatsApp at (602) 332-9460 for a quote. Send a photo of every page, plus the back of any page with seals or notes, and tell us where you’re filing it and by when.

A certified translation of your divorce certificate is $35 for the short form and $45 for the long form. A judgment is quoted from photos of all its pages. Certificates are ready in 48 business hours, or in 2 to 4 hours with express service for an additional charge.

Didi translates and you review: nothing is certified until you approve 100% of the content. Prefer email or a form? Contact us.

What this guide does not answer

This guide doesn’t tell you whether your Mexican divorce is valid for your U.S. case, which record to file, or what its dates mean for you. That is legal advice. For those questions, look for an immigration attorney or an accredited representative of an organization recognized by the Department of Justice.

EOIR, the Justice Department office that runs the immigration courts, publishes the roster of recognized organizations and accredited representatives, and USCIS explains how to find legal services.

Translating more records? See our guides to the Mexican birth certificate and to an RFE about a translation, the request for evidence USCIS sends when it needs more proof.