# Do I need my birth certificate? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 3, 2013, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-my-birth-certificate/659985 "2013-06-03T00:16:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-my-birth-certificate/659985/21 "2013-06-04T08:53:18Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > They’re needed to renew a driver’s license in Georgia if you don’t have a valid passport. Or any other type of professional license. Georgia got the same thing as Florida, making renewals a hassle. What could be done online before, now needed to include some proof like the passport or birth certificate. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-my-birth-certificate/659985/22 "2013-06-04T13:01:57Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Also - apparently Puerto Rico had an issue that everyone wanted a birth certificate for everything - job applications, bank loans,etc.? There were so many copies floating around in different files and being misused,that at some point in the last decade the government simply declared any certificate issued before then as invalid; and new ones required in-person application or some serious legal certifications. > > I would suggest you get a copy while it’s still not urgent and it’s not stopping you from earning a living or taking a trip. When you gotta gotta have it now is not the best time to find out it may take a few weeks, especially if it’s means a trip half-way across the country to get it. > [@KarlGrenze](#): > > 1. Birth certificates are still used for everything there. > > 2. The certificates change every few years. My parents and I have several official copies of my birth certificate because every few years, they declare the ones from previous years invalid and demand people to present new birth certificates. > > 3. It has always required some sort of in-person application, but it doesn’t have to be the person. For example, my parents got me my most recent birth certificate. > > 4. It seems PR itself is the one with the problem, as I was able to use the copy I had (which was the one immediately before the most current one) to show it to the social security offices when there was some screw up in my tax documents a few years back. They accepted it (I was not in PR, but needed to show my birth certificate). A. Actually, we legislated in December 2009 to prohibit everyone and his brother wanting you to hand over the actual certified document for them to keep in their records. Now _you hold on to it and if they want a record they can keep a B/W photostat, which was already the usual and customary process everywhere else._ B. The problem that arose was that, for example, you would have schools or employment offices with hundreds or even thousands of obsolete but de-jure real and valid BC’s in a storage rooms in the dead files. These became a prime foraging ground for ID thieves, specially for illegal immigration purposes; burglars would break into schools and just sweep up all the past students’ files. Agencies and offices\*\*\* in other states\*\*\* began complaining of an influx of apparently legit Puerto Rico Birth Certificates from different time periods, which according to Federal Requirements they would be expected to accept. C. The old system apparently did not consistently “declare invalid” _de jure_ the old versions – what happened was that people in PR, even in government agencies, would just stop accepting the old ones unless you made a ruckus and brought in your Senator, because it became de-facto expected to just go get a current one for every transaction, since you would have to surrender it anyway. As part of the changes, we legislated explicitly that every certified copy stamped before 1 July 2010 would expire on 30 September 2010, and to notify all the other Secretaries of State across the Nation. D. Many Commonwealth agencies use the repeated issuing of Certificates, for a fee, as a revenue stream so it was tacitly encouraged to force the citizen to get as many certificates as possible and surrender them (e.g. here when you apply for a job, the usual thing is not to sign a note in the application saying “I have no criminal record, fire me if I lied”, it’s for \*you \*to get a Certificate Of Arrest Record from the P.D., which costs you a buck fifty, and hand that over to the employer.) ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-my-birth-certificate/659985/23 "2013-06-04T14:00:51Z")
In a small office in GA, they were content, after September 2010, of using my “invalid” birth certificate as proof. But they didn’t need to keep it, they just wanted me to personally show it. They returned it to me once they checked whatever they wanted to check. I did notice that the certificate of good conduct in PR I can get for free and online (probably because everything wants it), while in GA it was quite a hassle and costed a small fee. I needed the certificate to renew a license in PR. The agency demanded good conduct certificates from the place I was currently living (besides PR). And I’m glad they changed the law to just “black and white copies”. Yes, keeping lots of copies of invalid but original BCs was stupid. ---
**Author:** ![AllShookDown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d9b06d/32.png) [@AllShookDown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllShookDown)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2013, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-my-birth-certificate/659985/24 "2013-06-13T18:01:42Z")
I recently needed mine to make my renewed drivers license a “Real ID” which you’ll someday need to board commercial flights. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2013, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-my-birth-certificate/659985/25 "2013-06-13T18:19:39Z")
> [@AllShookDown](#): > > I recently needed mine to make my renewed drivers license a “Real ID” which you’ll someday need to board commercial flights. I don’t know how it works in the US, but here in GB we need a passport to fly anywhere, even internal flights. And woe betide you if you book the flight in the wrong name - like Bob instead of Robert. ---
**Author:** ![AllShookDown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d9b06d/32.png) [@AllShookDown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllShookDown)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2013, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-my-birth-certificate/659985/26 "2013-06-17T16:59:44Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > I don’t know how it works in the US, but here in GB we need a passport to fly anywhere, even internal flights. And woe betide you if you book the flight in the wrong name - like Bob instead of Robert. In the US you don’t need a passport for domestic flights but I’m glad you reminded me about the name thing as I had to put my full middle name on my real ID license and usually book flights with my middle initial. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2013, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-my-birth-certificate/659985/27 "2013-06-17T23:04:07Z")
Hm, it can’t hurt to have it - I have a bank box that has my SS card, birth certificate, our mortgage paperwork, car titles, mrAru’s ss card and birth certificate, and some assorted other paperwork associated with my family trust. Well, and some heirloom jewelry and odds and ends that I don’t want knocking around the house like some roman coins in assorted metals, some US gold coins and the like. I can only go on the lam during bankers hours 😛 ---
**Author:** ![SpyOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@SpyOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpyOne)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-my-birth-certificate/659985/28 "2013-06-18T16:58:13Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I believe most if not all US states use the term “certificate of live birth” on these documents, which was just one of the things that made the Birther outcry so ludicrous. My copy from the state Out West where I was born certainly does. > > I think it’s a good idea to have a copy on hand. You may never need it, but if you do, there’s a something of a lag time before you can get it. 1. Mine, from Connecticut, says “Certificate of Birth”. 2. That’s what I came to say: when you need it, you NEED it, and getting one is a pain and time-consuming. It’s probably worth the $10 to get one now and hang onto it. ---
**Author:** ![SpyOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@SpyOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpyOne)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-my-birth-certificate/659985/29 "2013-06-18T17:04:51Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > If the Anchor Baby law is ever changed, I would lose my US citizenship, because I would never be able to prove that my parents were US citizens at the time if my birth. I assume you were born outside the US then? Because I believe one is a US citizen if they were born in the US, and also if they were born elsewhere but their parents were US citizens. So if you were born here, it doesn’t matter where your folks were from. ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-my-birth-certificate/659985/30 "2013-06-18T17:27:57Z")
It’s better to have it and never need it than to not have it when you really need it. My son needed his when he got his learners permit and they would not use the register from the hospital, it had to be the official document. When his father had his license revoked for getting a DUI he had to have his BC to get his license reinstated. He lived in MD but was born in Hawaii. If you were born in MD you could get your BC that day, but it took several hours of waiting. If you were born in a different state you had to have it mailed to you. The dumb clerk at the office thought that Hawaii was a foreign country and tried to tell us we had to go to DC to get it. Save yourself the aggravation of waiting for hours or days, having to pay extra to order it online, and dealing with dumb ass clerks. Get one now when you don’t need it right away. ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-my-birth-certificate/659985/31 "2013-06-18T17:47:27Z")
> [@SpyOne](#): > > Because I believe one is a US citizen if they were born in the US, and also if they were born elsewhere but their parents were US citizens. That’s true but it’s been a nightmare for my wife who was born in Canada when her father was stationed there. Finding all the required paperwork, or even find government workers who agree on what the required paperwork is, has been an ongoing battle for the past several years. I sometimes think it would just be easier to move to Canada. ---
**Author:** ![Minnie\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Minnie\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Minnie_Luna)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-my-birth-certificate/659985/32 "2013-06-18T18:01:38Z")
I don’t have a birth certificate, I have a baptismal certificate from the Diocese of Montreal which lists the dates of my birth and baptism. This is what I have been using as a “Birth Certificate” for the last 36.9 years. I guess I could apply for a real one this summer when I am up there… ---
**Author:** ![JB2K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/90db22/32.png) [@JB2K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JB2K)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-my-birth-certificate/659985/33 "2013-06-18T19:37:04Z")
In most cases, a valid passport can be used in lieu of a birth certificate, so OP is pretty much covered. For the rest of us, a birth certificate is one of those things you should always have locked-away in your bank box for one of those “just in case” moments… ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-my-birth-certificate/659985/34 "2013-06-18T22:06:36Z")
> [@Minnie\_Luna](#): > > I don’t have a birth certificate, I have a baptismal certificate from the Diocese of Montreal which lists the dates of my birth and baptism. This is what I have been using as a “Birth Certificate” for the last 36.9 years. I guess I could apply for a real one this summer when I am up there… IIRC Quebec didn’t even have civil registrations of births & marriages until the 1960s; up till then everything was done through a church or synagogue. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-my-birth-certificate/659985.md?page=1)