Notary Public

I'm Zulma Gonzalez, a notary public commissioned by the State of Texas. I notarize signatures (acknowledgments) and administer oaths and affirmations, in English or Spanish. In Texas, a notary public is not an attorney and does not have the legal powers that notaries have in Mexico and other Latin American countries.

What to bring

• A current ID with your photo and signature, issued by the U.S. government or a U.S. state (for example, a driver's license, a state ID card or a U.S. passport), for each person who will sign. Consular IDs (matrícula consular) and IDs from other countries are not accepted; a foreign passport is accepted only for residential real estate documents. If you don't have an ID like that, ask me before your appointment: in some cases the law lets a witness who knows you and brings their own ID identify you.
• The complete document, with no blank spaces. Don't sign it before your appointment: if it is a sworn statement (affidavit), you have to sign it in front of me after taking the oath.
• If your document has no notary wording (notarial certificate), you have to choose one from the Texas Secretary of State's sample forms or ask whoever gave you the document.
• Every person who signs has to come in person.

What I don't do

I am not an attorney. I do not give legal advice, I do not tell you which document you need or draft it, and I do not choose which kind of notarial certificate (acknowledgment or jurat) your document needs. I do not prepare documents for, or represent anyone in, court cases or administrative proceedings, including immigration matters. Tax preparation and Form W-7 help are a separate service and are not part of my notary public service.

I also do not make certified copies of birth, marriage or death certificates or of other documents kept in a public registry: you get those from the office that issued them. For Form W-7, the IRS does not accept notarized copies of your passport or other IDs (except for dependents and spouses of U.S. military personnel), so I do not notarize ID copies for ITIN applications. And because I cannot notarize my own signature, I do not notarize translations I make.

Notarization confirms the identity of the person who signs or swears before me; it does not confirm that what the document says is true, legal or valid.