Passport Question

[pirate4me2]

Hey everyone, I have a question for those of you with passports. When you send off the application and required documents, do you get your birth certificate that you send them back? I either need to figure out how to get a certified copy of mine (I moved 1600 miles away from where I was born) or send in the one I have. Just curious. Thanks for your help!

[Shmoo here]

Hey everyone, I have a question for those of you with passports. When you send off the application and required documents, do you get your birth certificate that you send them back? I either need to figure out how to get a certified copy of mine (I moved 1600 miles away from where I was born) or send in the one I have. Just curious. Thanks for your help!

 

Yes, it gets returned to you. Under separate cover.

[pirate4me2]

Thank you!

[SadieN]

If you do need a new BC we've had good luck with vitacheck.com

[sparks1093]

They mail them in a separate mailing. We got ours about a week after we got the passports.

[Philob]

To the OP, while you're thinking about it order a 2nd or 3rd copy of your birth certificate. Doesn't hurt to have extra copies.

[jcruise67]

You can get as many legal notorized copy of your BC at your County Office of Vital Statistics. They are around $2-$5 a piece.

 

jcruise

Edited March 20, 2015 by jcruise67

[zqvol]

Hey everyone, I have a question for those of you with passports. When you send off the application and required documents, do you get your birth certificate that you send them back? I either need to figure out how to get a certified copy of mine (I moved 1600 miles away from where I was born) or send in the one I have. Just curious. Thanks for your help!

 

Yes, all supporting documents are returned to you.

 

BTW to obtain a certified BC, just contact the state where you were born. There are also agencies that will obtain it for you. Of course Google is your friend you can find out exactly how to obtain it by searching for your birth state.

 

You can get as many legal notorized copy of your BC at your County Office of Vital Statistics. They are around $2-$5 a piece.

 

jcruise

 

The above is true in some places but not others. Some are not held locally but in the state capital, every state is different, but you can easily find out how to obtain yours with an Internet search. Prices vary from $2 to approximately $25.

Edited March 21, 2015 by zqvol

[pirate4me2]

Anyone know how to get a copy with your correct name on it if you have been adopted?

[FlyerTalker]

Birth certificates are records of the birth. As such, they reflect the information that is accurate at that time. They do NOT get revised to reflect adoptions, legal name changes, marriages or the like.

 

You need to have the paper trail that matches your life from birth to present. That includes copies of the adoption papers which document your name change as a child (assuming there was a change).

 

That's why having a stack of marriage license certificate copies is often a good idea for women changing their names.

 

Simple rule of thumb - you can never have too much documentation or too many copies.

[Shmoo here]

Anyone know how to get a copy with your correct name on it if you have been adopted?

 

Just a guess on my part - you'd need to find the court order awarding the adoption.

[dioxide45]

To the OP, I would suggest making a regular photocopy of your birth certificate before sending it off. Chances are slim, but there have been some reports of original documents being lost.

 

If the OP moved some 1,600 miles away from where they were born, it is possible that they were not born in the US. Obtaining a certified copy of their BC may not be as easy as it would be for a native born American Citizen. It may not be as cheap either.

[NMLady]

Anyone know how to get a copy with your correct name on it if you have been adopted?

 

If you want your birth name on it, not necessarily possible since the file is closed after adoption. To get one with your adopted name you should be able to get it from the dept of vital statistics in the state capital city of the state where you were born.

[NMLady]

Birth certificates are records of the birth. As such, they reflect the information that is accurate at that time. They do NOT get revised to reflect adoptions, legal name changes, marriages or the like.

 

....

 

Not necessarily true. I was adopted as a teenager and now the only available birth certificate has my adopted name and lists my adoptive parents as the birth parents. I am not able to get a birth certificate with my actual birth parents on it because the file was closed at adoption.

 

I thought that was true for all adoptions to protect the privacy of the birth parents who gave up the child for adoption.

[AndreaDH91483]

You should get them back, unless they get lost in the mail. It only took my husband and I two weeks to get our passports, and another week later we got our birth certificates back.

[sparks1093]

Birth certificates are records of the birth. As such, they reflect the information that is accurate at that time. They do NOT get revised to reflect adoptions, legal name changes, marriages or the like.

 

You need to have the paper trail that matches your life from birth to present. That includes copies of the adoption papers which document your name change as a child (assuming there was a change).

 

That's why having a stack of marriage license certificate copies is often a good idea for women changing their names.

 

Simple rule of thumb - you can never have too much documentation or too many copies.

 

A lot depends on what you are using your birth certificate for but we did not have to send in our marriage certificate for DW to obtain her passport.

[pirate4me2]

Thank you everyone for the advice. I have the adoption papers, so I will send them as well as my birth certificate i have after I make copies of them. I will cross my fingers I get everything back, but it sounds like I should. I really appreciate all of your help!

[zqvol]

Anyone know how to get a copy with your correct name on it if you have been adopted?

 

Often with adoptions new birth certificates were issued. If that is your case when you request one from the state it should reflect the correct name. If it was not changed when you were adopted then you will not be able to get one. You would use the original birth certificate plus the adoption records as the bridge document to connect the names.

[zqvol]

To the OP, I would suggest making a regular photocopy of your birth certificate before sending it off. Chances are slim, but there have been some reports of original documents being lost.

 

If the OP moved some 1,600 miles away from where they were born, it is possible that they were not born in the US. Obtaining a certified copy of their BC may not be as easy as it would be for a native born American Citizen. It may not be as cheap either.

 

 

If they were not born in the US, but are here now then they will have eother a green card or a passport, so there is no need for a birth certificate. In such a case it is not used to get a passport or for travel.

[pirate4me2]

I was born in the US. :)

[dioxide45]

If they were not born in the US, but are here now then they will have eother a green card or a passport, so there is no need for a birth certificate. In such a case it is not used to get a passport or for travel.

 

Yeah, makes sense. I didn't think that through very well. I should have known better, since I wasn't born in the US. Though I am now a US Citizen.

[FlyerTalker]

Stand corrected regarding closed adoptions. Guess that I was more focused on ones with known parties, rather than when it is sealed and thus a revised BC.

 

Mea culpa.