Certified Birth Certificate

The following are NOT accepted birth certificates:

• Photocopies of any kind, including notarized copies

• Hospital birth certificates or birth records

• Army discharge papers

• Voter registration cards

• Social Security Cards or numbers

• Birth abstracts "short forms" from California or Texas (only long-form birth certificates are accepted)

Acceptable birth certificates must:

• Be issued by the city, county or state

• Include your given name and surname

• Have a registrar's raised, embossed, impressed or multicolored seal

• Have a registrar's signature and the date the certificate was filed with the registrar's office, which must be within 1 year of your birth

Where can I obtain a certified birth certificate?

• To view a list of telephone numbers to call to replace or obtain your birth certificate click here.

NOTES:

Applicants born in California or Texas MUST submit a Long-Form Birth Certificate; short forms or abstract birth certificates are UNACCEPTABLE

A Delayed Birth Certificate filed more than one year after your birth may be acceptable if it:

• Listed the documentation used to create it and

• Signed by the attending physician or midwife, or, lists an affidavit signed by the parents, or shows early public records.

We have new information on foreign-born children adopted by U.S. citizens.

What to do if there is no Birth Record or Certificate on file

1. Submit a "Letter of No Record"
   Issued by the State with your name, date of birth, which years were searched for a birth record and that there is no birth certificate on file for you. 

2. AND as many of the following as possible:
   - baptismal certificate
   - hospital birth certificate
   - census record
   - certificate of circumcision
   - early school record
   - family bible record
   - doctor's record of post-natal care
   NOTES:
   - These documents must be early public records showing the date and place of birth, preferably created within the first five years of your life
   - You may also submit an Affidavit of Birth, form DSP-10A, from an older blood relative, i.e., a parent, aunt, uncle, sibling, who has personal knowledge of your birth. It must be notarized or have the seal and signature of the acceptance agent.