Birth Certificates (US)
 

Was wondering if anyone here could shed some light on this... my girlfriend's US birth certificate has a filing date 14 years after her birth date, is this normal?

What exactly is the reason for the big difference, if this is normal... and does anyone have any idea what might be the problem if this isn't the usual way for US birth certificates?

Hope this is in the right forum, the majority of the other posts here have entertained me :)

Thanks in advance!

Re: Birth Certificates (US)
 

Maybe she lied about her age, you think you are dating a 28 year old but really you are shagging a 14 year old school girl - you pervert.

Re: Birth Certificates (US)
 

oops, busted...

but seriously now, we would like to know if there's anything to be concerned about here...

Re: Birth Certificates (US)
 

I believe that some birth certificates were originally issued by the hospital where the baby was born in the US. Although that sufficed for some purposes, others (such as obtaining a passport, etc.) needed a more official birth certificate. This was also the case for my husband when he tried to travel to Mexico, he was almost turned back at the airport because he had a hospital birth certificate!

Re: Birth Certificates (US)
 

ah, thank you :)

Re: Birth Certificates (US)
 

It's a bit more complicated than that. While it's true that many parents think that a hospital-issued birth cert will suffice, and their kids don't realise that it won't until they need one for travel or government services, nearly every hospital will register a birth with the proper governmental agency. Sometimes the new parents will be automatically sent an "official" copy once the births are registered, sometimes not -- they have to request and pay for one, as one does from the GRO at Southport in the UK.

If the certificate was merely *issued* 14 years ago, that merely means that the registrar generated it that long ago and sent it on. But if it was truly *registered* only 14 years ago, that meant that someone filed an affidavit with the proper authorities, with witnesses, stating a person's name, place and date of birth, and parents' names. This was very common say 50 years ago, for people who were born before anyone required birth certs. When those folks got old enough to apply for Social Security, they lacked any form of birth cert and had to register then. My own grandfather had this happen -- he was nearly 50 years old before his birth was registered! Since birth certs in the US are all done at the city, county or state level, the requirements that all births be registered varies wildly from locality to locality, and it can be quite hard to even *find* a birth cert sometimes. Texas managed to *lose* my aunt's death cert even though she was buried (which requires a death cert) -- either the county never generated one, and the funeral home violated the law, or the county lost it, because they don't have it, and it was never sent (as required) to the state!

Can you say "bureaucracy"?! :eek:

I much prefer the BMD system used for English and Welsh births, marriages, and deaths. Makes finding rellies much easier, one stop shopping online or at Southport.

Hope this helps,

Amy

Re: Birth Certificates (US)
 

Have you asked your girlfriend the question above? What about asking her parents? Maybe the girlfriend or parents can shed some light on this matter.




NC Penguin

Re: Birth Certificates (US)
 

Oh yea, it was her who wanted to know :)

Can't really ask her parents, long story about relationship there...

Re: Birth Certificates (US)
 

If the original birth certificate was lost, the parents may have gone to the local county office where records are kept to get a duplicate, certified copy, which would have the official seal...