Posts Tagged ‘birth records search’

Your Birth Certificate & How To Find It

Friday, April 30th, 2010

A birth certificate is an extremely important document, and everyone should keep a safe copy just in case.  It comes in handy as it’s one of the best ways to designate your citizenship and identity. You may need your birth certificate for a variety of reasons. Perhaps you need to apply for a passport, citizenship card, or driver’s license.  Perhaps you are looking for facts about your life that can only be found on your birth certificate, such as your parent’s names and their places of birth. Or maybe you just want to have a copy for safe-keeping.

One of the places to look up your birth certificate is the Vital Records office of the state you were born in. This office is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, a government agency. Generally, ordering a certified copy of your birth certificate requires mailing in photo ID along with a fee of around $20. Orders may take up to six weeks to process, so only go this route if you absolutely don’t need your certificate right away.

In some cases, you may need to apply for a passport on short notice. Sometimes impromptu trips out of the country are inevitable — but if you don’t have your birth certificate, you’re gonna have some problems. Waiting six weeks for Vital Records to get back to you may prove disastrous.

Fortunately, it’s possible to find your birth certificate online. You won’t pay nearly as big a fee (sometimes you can even order it for free), and the wait is much shorter, sometimes instantaneous because there are many websites where you can simply download the certificate right away and print it off in the comfort of your own home.

This can be a life-safer for some. For others, it simply cuts down on red tape. Finding and ordering your birth certificate online means you won’t have to jump through so many hoops.

Wisconsin Birth Records

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010
Wisconsin Birth Records

Wisconsin Birth Records

Were you or one of your friends or family members born in Wisconsin? At some point, you may have to look up Wisconsin birth records. If you’re wondering how to obtain a birth certificate in Wisconsin, the most common suggestion is to visit the Wisconsin Vital Records office. You will have to visit the office in person, or mail in or fax a request with a signature and enclosed fee. You cannot order Wisconsin birth records by telephone, email, or website.

If you’re picking up the birth records in person, you’ll have to bring along photo ID, such as a driver’s license or a passport. In some cases, you may have to bring other identification documents, such as a utility bill, credit card statement, or health insurance card. If you receive your birth records in the mail, you won’t have to provide these documents.

The fee for Wisconsin birth records is $20 for one copy, and $3 for each additional copy. If you wish for expedited service, you’ll have to pay an additional $20 and $3 for each copy beyond the first. You will not get a refund if their search doesn’t turn up any results.

If you need a copy of your Wisconsin birth records to apply for a driver’s license or passport, you’ll have to deal with Vital Records, because it is the only place you can obtain a certified copy. A certified copy has a raised seal and can only be released to you if you are searching for:

  • Your own birth records
  • Your spouse’s records
  • Your children’s records
  • Your sibling’s records

OR if you have written, signed permission from the person who the birth records belong to.

Uncertified copies are freely available for anyone. Although you cannot use these documents to apply for government IDs, you can still use the information for genealogy projects, finding people, searching facts about your friends & classmates, etc. There are a wide variety of uses for uncertified Wisconsin birth records.

In that case, it is often a better idea to use the internet for your birth records search rather than Vital Records. On the internet, you can look up birth records for free (or almost free– much less than $20) and results are often instantaneous, emailed to you in a matter of minutes, where you can then print them out or simply keep the documents stored on your computer. It’s also much easier to find the birth records you need. Vital records sometimes takes a long time to get back to you, with no guarantee that they will even find the documents you need.

If you’re looking for uncertified copies of Wisconsin birth records, by far the best idea is to use an online birth record database like BirthDetails.com.