It is basically THE primary identity document accepted around the world. It will get you a US passport and if you ever marry that sexy foreigner you’ll need it for immigration purposes and for proving citizenship of children born abroad and bringing your spouse to the USA and…the list goes on.
You need a BC.
I’ve had a valid US passport as far back as I can remember, and I can’t recall ever needing a birth certificate. I renew my passport regularly (it’s never been expired for more than a few months.)
Not necessarily. A birth certificate is required to establish identity from scratch but a U.S. Passport trumps all other forms of id. You only need that for any use that I can think of including employment or government benefits. It is right there on the official forms when they give you options to prove your identity. A Passport is the only form of id that can be used alone as positive proof of identification for most people. I think a military id also may do the same thing for those that have one.
All the other forms of id, including a birth certificate require a secondary form of id to substantiate them. That why it is important for people like the OP to keep their passport valid at all times. They are good for ten years and there is a five year grace period to renew one without starting from scratch if it does expire.
I don’t think a foreign birth certificate of a naturalized citizen will do any of those things.
For the first passport, you, or your parent, provided your birth certificate or your report of birth abroad to get said passport. After that, even an expired passport is considered proof of citizenship for future subsequent passport applications.
I needed a birth certificate only twice in my entire life: When I got my first US passport and when I converted my retirement fund into an annuity and they wanted–for obvious reasons–proof of age. I am not sure my passport wouldn’t have worked.
On the second occasion, the commonwealth (of Pennsylvania), upon discovering that my birth name was not the name I use, offered to provide the certificate in the new name if I could demonstrate I had used it for at least ten years. I sent them photocopies of a few expired passports, of my college diploma, PhD diploma, and they sent the passport under my “new” name. In point of fact, the birth certificate aside there were no records of me under the original name, from kindergarten on. In fact, I really became aware of it only when I applied for a passport.
Kansas at least requires you to have a birth certificate to get a new license or ID, and has been doing so for years now. (Among other proof of identity/residency. You have to present 3 things proving who you are.) And the other states should be doing so too, in order to follow the new laws.
You rarely need it. But the times you do need it and you don’t have it you’re screwed so why wouldn’t you keep it. BTW: I have two copies of my son’s certificate so that when he moves out he has one and I’ll keep the other as an emergency backup*.
*Originally his mom had a copy and I had a copy but after a lot of weirdness in life, that scenerio is moot.
I needed mine to get a new Social Security card because I lost mine and they needed it for Jeopardy! - turns out your passport doesn’t work for that. Could have brought in a W2 but I was going to need it for a marriage license too. My fiance didn’t have his but we got it replaced with 30 bucks and an internet connection. Which he needed for a passport. (And the same marriage license, only he also needs his divorce decree. Which he ALSO needs to get replaced.)
Just from memory:
Needed my USA BC to get a passport.
Needed it along with my passport to get a marriage certificate abroad.
Needed my BC in all stages of applying for permanent residency abroad.
You need it when going to the USA embassy to register a child born abroad to a US citizen parent(why they ask for both it and your US passport is beyond me).
You’ll need it for filing for your spouse to have permanent residency in the USA.
You also need a BC when applying for Social Security no matter what else you have(my mom had to find a way to get hers from Germany despite the fact she had been in the USA for close to half a century).
You can argue it is pointless to ask for it but you probably won’t get very far with officials.
Obviously things have changed. No one asked for my BC when I registered my two children born abroad (45 and 39 years ago), when I applied for permanent residency in Canada (44 years ago), when I got Quebec Pension (similar to US social security) or US social security (although it was the Quebec Pension board that applied in accordance with some treaty). As I said earlier I have used it exactly twice: when getting my first passport and when proving my age to our pension administrator.
Note that the text linked says “may”. Depending on the circumstances they will ask for different documents.
purplehorseshoe, you say you were born abroad but not the circumstances. Are you a US citizen by birth? Depending on where you were born, the correct document may not even be called a “birth certificate” but be one of those “reports of birth abroad”. For example, a dual US-Spain citizen born in Spain would be able to obtain a fé de vida (a certificate saying that as far as they know this person was born and hasn’t died) from the Spanish government, but when dealing with the US government it would make much more sense to present the report of birth abroad than the fé de vida.
Things are changing in the US. What use to be acceptable BC proof no longer is.
For drivers licenses in several states you need a state issued BC. Plus, if you have changed your name (marriage/divorce/etc.) you need the suitable proof for every single change. It’s a mess and doesn’t really enhance anything.
Mrs. FtG just had to do this. To get a new BC, she mailed a little form with a copy of her scan of her old license. That’s right folks, to get a new license, the state won’t accept her old one. But she can get the “proof” needed to get her new one using her old one (and a printout of a scan, that can’t be faked at all I bet). Now that’s one smart system. Gonna stop tons of illegal immigrants and terrorists all right.
It’s called “security theater”.
No, I had to have my naturalization certificate to get my passport renewed when it expired and I lost the old one.
Birth certificates are easy and cheap to replace (unlike the aforementioned naturalization certificate, which is around $250). I’d go ahead and do it.
$250? Guard that sucker with your life now. The fee is now $350. For those uf us, such as I, who were born abroad of American citizens, the the fee for a replacement for our certificates is now $50.
E-mail your mother and tell her to meet you at such-and-such a Starbucks or something to hand over the papers. Then send a confederate instead.
To be clear, you need a notarized COPY of your BC. The original will always stay filed in the county/municipality where you were born.
Wouldn’t the correct term be official copy or certified copy?
No. My parents were citizens of the country of my birth when I was born, and we continued to live there for a couple of years. After moving to the U.S. my parents were naturalized and thus conferred citizenship to me as well. (I renounced the previous one.)
Izzat clearer? 
** Note to self: get that damn passport renewed.
Good gods. (It’s in the safety deposit box. )