birth certificate for passport

[firstcruiseyeah]

Hello! I posted this on a thread but it went to the last of 15 pages so, I thought I would post it so people can see it. I hope this is okay :) Question? My husband and I went to get our passports. We leave December 4th and was told this is ample time to get them. We went to the post office with our applications, birth certificates with embossed stamp, check book and drivers license. We gave everything to the post office attendant. She looked at my birth certificate and said she will send it in but she thinks I will need to get another one because it did not have my parents name on it. I got it from the county I was born in and it had a raised stamp. Has anyone else gone through this same thing? If so, what did you do? This is what the county gave me and it has an official, raised stamp so...

Thanks for your help!

__________________

[Shmoo here]

Hello! I posted this on a thread but it went to the last of 15 pages so, I thought I would post it so people can see it. I hope this is okay :) Question? My husband and I went to get our passports. We leave December 4th and was told this is ample time to get them. We went to the post office with our applications, birth certificates with embossed stamp, check book and drivers license. We gave everything to the post office attendant. She looked at my birth certificate and said she will send it in but she thinks I will need to get another one because it did not have my parents name on it. I got it from the county I was born in and it had a raised stamp. Has anyone else gone through this same thing? If so, what did you do? This is what the county gave me and it has an official, raised stamp so...

Thanks for your help!

__________________

 

Some counties have a "short form" birth certificate (or "abstract"), as well as a "long form" one. The major difference being that, typically, the short form doesn't have all the information on it. Most notably the parent's names.

 

The short form birth certificate is not valid for passport issuance.

 

The short form is still an "official" birth certificate, just not for passport use.

 

If the clerk at the post office went ahead and sent in your application with that form, I'd suggest you go ahead and get the long form certificate, as it'll be kicked back. And contact the passport agency directly about it, as applications with "issues" can fall by the wayside until someone gets around to sending them back.

 

And I'd be really upset with that clerk, that's their job - to check the documents and tell you what's appropriate and what's not, before sending it off.

Edited September 10, 2016 by Shmoo here

[firstcruiseyeah]

Some counties have a "short form" birth certificate (or "abstract"), as well as a "long form" one. The major difference being that, typically, the short form doesn't have all the information on it. Most notably the parent's names.

 

The short form birth certificate is not valid for passport issuance.

 

The short form is still an "official" birth certificate, just not for passport use.

 

If the clerk at the post office went ahead and sent in your application with that form, I'd suggest you go ahead and get the long form certificate, as it'll be kicked back. And contact the passport agency directly about it, as applications with "issues" can fall by the wayside until someone gets around to sending them back.

 

And I'd be really upset with that clerk, that's their job - to check the documents and tell you what's appropriate and what's not, before sending it off.

 

She said they need the parents information but she would send it to see if they will accept it or not. She said she hasn't seen a raised stamp birth certificate that didn't have the parents information. I call the county and get a birth certificate with ALL of the information and then call the passport facility just as you said. Do you think we need to get them sent Fed Ex? We have about 85 days until we leave.

[Shmoo here]

She said they need the parents information but she would send it to see if they will accept it or not. She said she hasn't seen a raised stamp birth certificate that didn't have the parents information. I call the county and get a birth certificate with ALL of the information and then call the passport facility just as you said. Do you think we need to get them sent Fed Ex? We have about 85 days until we leave.

 

I'd go ahead and get the one with all the info, and then wait until I talked to the passport people about how to handle it. Whether they want you to just go ahead and send the new one, or if you'll have to wait until they deny, and then send, or if you can just submit a new application.

 

And that will determine whether you'd need to Expedite it or not. For the most part, even though the passport office is saying it takes 6-8 weeks to get your passport, it's generally running about 3 week right now. BUT, that doesn't mean it will work that way for you.

 

The whole "She said they need the parents information but she would send it to see if they will accept it or not." thing is just wrong That's her job, to know that a birth certificate without parent's names is not acceptable. As I said an abstract (or short form) birth certificate is still official, just not for all uses.

Edited September 10, 2016 by Shmoo here

[firstcruiseyeah]

Thank you for your help! I'm going to look up the county I was born in and see what the process is to get the correct birth certificate. The post office employee asked me to let her know if they did accept it or not. I guess I'm helping her figure things out!

[NMLady]

Hello! I posted this on a thread but it went to the last of 15 pages so, I thought I would post it so people can see it. I hope this is okay :) Question? My husband and I went to get our passports. We leave December 4th and was told this is ample time to get them. We went to the post office with our applications, birth certificates with embossed stamp, check book and drivers license. We gave everything to the post office attendant. She looked at my birth certificate and said she will send it in but she thinks I will need to get another one because it did not have my parents name on it. I got it from the county I was born in and it had a raised stamp. Has anyone else gone through this same thing? If so, what did you do? This is what the county gave me and it has an official, raised stamp so...

Thanks for your help!

__________________

 

The passport office used to accept the short form certificate. But for the past several years they insist on the long form which includes the parents' names. The postal employee should have known that if she's the expediter for passports.

Hopefully you can get the official long form from your county of birth.

Edited September 11, 2016 by NMLady

[klfrodo]

I would recommend getting official copies anyway also.

My reasoning is so you can still go on the cruise, when the passport agency doesn't get your forms back to you in time,,, you still have documents to travel with.

 

I agree with Schmoo, the post office clerk dropped the ball. It's their job to "KNOW", not guess.

[firstcruiseyeah]

I have 85 days still before we leave. I would hope that would be enough even with the incorrect birth certificate? I just ordered a new an hour ago so I should have it in my hands in about 3-5 days. I'm also going to call the passport facility on Monday and find out what I should do to process it correctly since the post office sent it out incorrectly.

[Shmoo here]

I have 85 days still before we leave. I would hope that would be enough even with the incorrect birth certificate? I just ordered a new an hour ago so I should have it in my hands in about 3-5 days. I'm also going to call the passport facility on Monday and find out what I should do to process it correctly since the post office sent it out incorrectly.

 

It's a good idea to have the correct birth certificate. What cruise are you taking?

[firstcruiseyeah]

I will have the correct birth certificate in about 3-5 days. We will be on the Navigator, Royal Caribbean. We stop in Mexico and the Bahamas.

[Shmoo here]

I will have the correct birth certificate in about 3-5 days. We will be on the Navigator, Royal Caribbean. We stop in Mexico and the Bahamas.

 

Hoping it won't come to this, but if it's a closed loop cruise, and departs from/returns to the same US port, and there won't be time to get the passport, you can cruise with just the birth certificate and driver's license. I don't usually recommend that, but it can be done.

[cruisemamaz81]

Had similar happen 2 weeks ago as my hubbys was original from 43 years ago no stamps of any kind were told may get request for an updated one. All of our passports showed up yesterday!

 

 

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[sparks1093]

Hoping it won't come to this, but if it's a closed loop cruise, and departs from/returns to the same US port, and there won't be time to get the passport, you can cruise with just the birth certificate and driver's license. I don't usually recommend that, but it can be done.

 

Better to show up with that then with nothing. (And I still don't know what having parents' names on the birth certificates accomplishes, it doesn't make one more of a US citizen.)

[firstcruiseyeah]

Had similar happen 2 weeks ago as my hubbys was original from 43 years ago no stamps of any kind were told may get request for an updated one. All of our passports showed up yesterday!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

I'm hoping this will be what happens for us! My husband does not want to travel without a passport. We don't travel much, and when we do it is in the states so, he just doesn't feel comfortable without them. I really don't think I do either.

[firstcruiseyeah]

Better to show up with that then with nothing. (And I still don't know what having parents' names on the birth certificates accomplishes, it doesn't make one more of a US citizen.)

 

I agree! I'm not sure what they need that information for anyway. The birth certificate I gave them had an embossed stamp so, it is a legal document with the information about me. They also have my social security number to prove it is me, and a drivers license to prove it is me. Why do they need my parents names on it??? Maybe, just to make things difficult :mad:

Fingers crossed it will be okay.:) Too excited about the cruise and I'm trying to think only about that!

[6rugrats]

I agree! I'm not sure what they need that information for anyway. The birth certificate I gave them had an embossed stamp so, it is a legal document with the information about me. They also have my social security number to prove it is me, and a drivers license to prove it is me. Why do they need my parents names on it??? Maybe, just to make things difficult :mad:

Fingers crossed it will be okay.:) Too excited about the cruise and I'm trying to think only about that!

 

No, your application will not be completed, and the clerk shouldn't have accepted it. As of 04/01/2011, you must send a certified BC listing the full name of the applicant's parents; without this information, the BC is not considered acceptable evidence of citizenship.

 

You may simply get a letter asking you to send in the BC with your parent's name.

[pugsley1992]

My husband got his US citizenship a few months ago. His Nigerian BC does NOT have his parents name but it does have a official stamp on it. His passport was issued and we got it back in three weeks.

[Shmoo here]

My husband got his US citizenship a few months ago. His Nigerian BC does NOT have his parents name but it does have a official stamp on it. His passport was issued and we got it back in three weeks.

 

The requirement for parent's names on the birth certificate is for US citizens born in the US (with a US birth certificate).

 

A naturalized citizen's requirements are different.

[amydresh]

I was told when we went in and applied for passports at the post office that my birth certificate may not go through because it didn't say "register of deeds" on it. It had everything else on it including the raised stamp. We sent it in anyway and got our passports in the mail 12 days later.

[bladeguy1308]

Just to give you an idea of processing time, I dropped all of my documents off at the post office on labor day friday sep 2 at 3:30 and received my passport on monday sep 12. All of the documents were the ones that were required though.

 

 

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[chengkp75]

The requirement for parent's names on the birth certificate is for US citizens born in the US (with a US birth certificate).

 

A naturalized citizen's requirements are different.

 

I'd go ahead and get the one with all the info, and then wait until I talked to the passport people about how to handle it. Whether they want you to just go ahead and send the new one, or if you'll have to wait until they deny, and then send, or if you can just submit a new application.

 

And that will determine whether you'd need to Expedite it or not. For the most part, even though the passport office is saying it takes 6-8 weeks to get your passport, it's generally running about 3 week right now. BUT, that doesn't mean it will work that way for you.

 

The whole "She said they need the parents information but she would send it to see if they will accept it or not." thing is just wrong That's her job, to know that a birth certificate without parent's names is not acceptable. As I said an abstract (or short form) birth certificate is still official, just not for all uses.

 

This seems to be contradictory. OP says the BC is from the "birth country", meaning she is either naturalized, or a US citizen born abroad, both of which you say in your last post have different requirements for whether the parents' names are present. So, which is it? Also, if the OP is a US citizen born of US parents abroad, she would have, and needs to have a consular report of birth abroad, which would list the parents.

[sparks1093]

This seems to be contradictory. OP says the BC is from the "birth country", meaning she is either naturalized, or a US citizen born abroad, both of which you say in your last post have different requirements for whether the parents' names are present. So, which is it? Also, if the OP is a US citizen born of US parents abroad, she would have, and needs to have a consular report of birth abroad, which would list the parents.

 

I made the same mistake when I first read OP's post but it says county. Had it been a birth cert from another country I would hope that it wouldn't have been accepted (of course one can say the same about a birth cert without parents' names which is a current requirement).

[chengkp75]

I made the same mistake when I first read OP's post but it says county. Had it been a birth cert from another country I would hope that it wouldn't have been accepted (of course one can say the same about a birth cert without parents' names which is a current requirement).

 

Woops, my bad for reading prior to first coffee of the day. Apologies to Shmoo.

[Shmoo here]

Woops, my bad for reading prior to first coffee of the day. Apologies to Shmoo.

 

No problem, I, also, read it as "country" the first time. Had to re-read to make sure I had my facts straight. :)

[firstcruiseyeah]

Hello! I posted this on a thread but it went to the last of 15 pages so, I thought I would post it so people can see it. I hope this is okay :) Question? My husband and I went to get our passports. We leave December 4th and was told this is ample time to get them. We went to the post office with our applications, birth certificates with embossed stamp, check book and drivers license. We gave everything to the post office attendant. She looked at my birth certificate and said she will send it in but she thinks I will need to get another one because it did not have my parents name on it. I got it from the county I was born in and it had a raised stamp. Has anyone else gone through this same thing? If so, what did you do? This is what the county gave me and it has an official, raised stamp so...

Thanks for your help!

__________________

 

UPDATE!!! My husband and I just received our passports today, using my birth certificate that didn't have my parents name on it but did have an embossed stamp. So, I guess they will take that type of birth certificate. Thank goodness we didn't have to mess with re-sending anything :)