§ 121.005.Proof of Identity of Acknowledging Person

The identity rule, and the list of acceptable evidence is exhaustive.

An officer may not take the acknowledgment unless the officer knows or has satisfactory evidence that the acknowledging person is the person who executed the instrument and is described in it.

The word "only" governs what follows. An officer may accept as satisfactory evidence only three things.

First, the oath of a credible witness who is either personally known to the officer or provides a current government-issued identification card or document bearing their photograph and signature.

Second, a current federal or state identification card or document with the acknowledging person’s photograph and signature.

Third — and only for a deed or other instrument relating to a residential real estate transaction — a current passport issued by a foreign country.

The third is narrow, and the limitation is deliberate. A foreign passport identifies a person for a house purchase but is not accepted across the chapter generally.

Note the two requirements on every acceptable document: it must be current, and it must carry both a photograph and a signature. An expired licence does not qualify, and neither does a card without a signature.

Subsection (b) requires the certificate to record which route was used — that the officer personally knows the person, or that evidence of a witness or an identification document was used.

The exception is the short form certificate, which omits the notation. That is the practical trade the short forms make: brevity in exchange for a less detailed record.