Demand is up for birth certificates

A series of ID requirements for Americans traveling to Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda has increased the demand across the country for certified copies of birth certificates, but there is good news for frustrated travelers: Getting a birth certificate is still easier than getting a passport.

Despite an increase of as much as 35% in the demand for certified birth certificates, county government officials across the country say the document can be purchased for $30 or less, with a wait of less than 30 minutes.

One catch: If you’re a baby boomer who was born in L.A. County or if you request a certified copy by mail, you may find the wait is longer than you’d like.

The surge in requests for the documents was prompted by the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which took effect in January. This requires Americans to have a passport when traveling by air to Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda. To apply for a passport, the State Department asks travelers to submit a birth certificate or a certified copy.

The increased demand for passports, however, has created a logjam, and the waiting time to get a passport renewed or issued grew from six weeks a year ago to 12 weeks and sometimes longer now.

In an effort to ease the crunch, the federal government announced earlier this month that it would allow U.S. travelers flying to Mexico, Canada, Bermuda and the Caribbean this summer with only a government-issued photo ID and a receipt showing they had applied for a passport.

But some frustrated travelers learned recently that the Mexican government demands at least a birth certificate or a certified copy of it to cross the border into Mexico. (That requirement is in the law books, but tourism officials noted that it is not always enforced at the border.) It is unclear whether travelers can get into Canada, Bermuda and the Caribbean with just a certified birth certificate. Still, the requirement at the Mexican border has caused headaches for travelers who sent their birth certificate to the State Department to obtain a passport.

The latest domino effect of the passport snarl is a rush to get a certified birth certificate.

State and local officials across the country reported an increase in requests for birth certificates when the initiative took effect.

In California, the demand has increased about 10%, according to the California Department of Health Services. In Washington, D.C., walk-in requests increased 35%, forcing the District of Columbia’s vital records department to stay open 30 minutes longer several days a week.

“We had people calling us from the airport going to Mexico, desperate and upset and angry,” said Tim Dever, director of vital records for the county clerk’s office in Illinois’ Cook County.

Still, Dever said nearly everyone who had come into a county office to request a certified copy left with one the same day. “The past couple months have been very busy,” he said. “But we’ve had a good turnaround. Most people get same-day service.”

In L.A., Chicago, Miami, San Francisco and Dallas, government officials say the wait for most people who stand in line has been less than 30 minutes.

In most counties, the data needed to reproduce a birth certificate are kept on computer files and can be retrieved in a matter of minutes. The process, however, slows down for older records still kept in paper files.

In L.A. County, birth records beginning with 1964 are on computer. Getting the paper files for births before 1964 (attention: baby boomers) could take several days, said Sharon Gonterman, assistant registrar recorder for Los Angeles County. In San Francisco, birth records from 1906 to the present are on computer.

The process can be delayed even further for people who do not live in the county where they were born and must submit a request in writing or online. A written request can take up to 12 weeks, depending on the jurisdiction.

People who were adopted or had a legal name change years ago may face even longer delays because such birth records are usually kept in the state office of vital statistics. To obtain a certified copy of a birth certificate in California, a person must sign an affidavit, swearing under penalty of perjury, that he or she is either the person named in the birth certificate or a close relative or guardian. The sworn statement must be notarized. This can be done on the spot at a government office.

When a person requests a certified copy by mail, he or she must get a notary public to notarize the request form.

Birth certificates are managed by different agencies in different counties. In San Francisco, for example, the office of vital records manages birth records. In Orange County, the clerk recorder manages the records.

To find the county office that manages birth certificates in California near you, go to: www.dhs.ca.gov/hisp/chs/OVR/LocalRegistrar.