What is the cheapest and quickest way to get a copy of my birth certificate?
My work ended up having a copy on hand, but thanks for all the good advice. New York uses VitalCheck as the primary provided of birth certificates and calling one of the many public service offices probably would have pushed me towards that direction. Getting copies while in the state of birth looks like the cheapest and easiest route because most courts accept walkins. To Joseph: I did come across a couple different laws for getting copies while abroad. It depends on the states law, but internet searching for your county/state + “county clerk” (or whatever appropriate office) will bring up the laws for your state. I think Vitalcheck also has a state by state list of laws too. It might be easier to use someone stateside as a middleman to expediate the process.
It will vary by state, but you can probably get a new birth certificate fairly quickly from the department of public records of the county you were born in. I got a new, officially stamped birth certificate with turnaround of less than a week. I think the cost was about $12. I’d start by looking at the website for the state you were born in, which should tell you the state’s policy and direct you to the county record-keepers.
I second bondcliff’s suggestion of vitalcheck. I used them recently because I needed a copy of my birth cert. to go to Canada (my passport expired). It cost $24 for the certificate and $19 for rush shipping. I got the certificate 2 days later (they guarantee you’ll get it within 5 days). It’s about $5 if you want it delivered via regular mail within 7 days.
The application is due Nov 31, but my original birth certificate and new passport won’t be here for at least five weeks. Have you been told that? If you’re going by the “it takes 6-8 weeks to process an application” you might be surprised. It took mine nine days — and I didn’t ask for, or pay for, any special service, and sent mine in the mail. Of course, if you need it tommorow, not two weeks from now, it gets harder. The absolute fastest way is in person at the county clerks office that has your birth record. This takes about an hour. Easy if you are there. Sucks if you’re across the country. 5MeoCMP’s got it right. Call your county clerk. In the end, they’re the guys who will either copy the cert, or approve a copy. Some states, like Missouri, you can visit any county clerk (or, for St. Louis, the Clerk of Records of the Independent City of St. Loius) to get a cert from any county, but that varies state-to-state.
