In Alabama and other places in the United States, a birth certificate is required for lots of legal procedures, such as: school enrollment, Social Security, Medicaid, driver’s license, marriage, and others.
It is a vital document that proves the registration of your birth and identity. Consequently, losing it or lacking of it can become a real issue if you want to get government assistance or benefits from the state.
If you live in Alabama and you want to obtain your birth certificate, in this article, you will find valuable information about the process and requirements.
Requirements to request your birth certificate
Personal information
To get your birth certificate in Alabama, you will have to provide all the possible information about yourself:
- Your full name.
- Date of birth.
- Sex.
- County or city of birth.
- Hospital or place where you were born.
- Your parents’ full name before marriage.
- Address where the certificate would be mailed.
- Your personal phone number.
In case you want to obtain a restricted birth certificate, you will have to show an identification; and, if you are requesting someone else’s, you will have to provide information about your relationship with that person.
Identification
These are some of the documents that you can show as an identification:
- Alabama driver’s license or a driver’s license from another state.
- Certificate of Citizenship.
- US or Foreign Passport.
- US Military ID.
- Citizenship ID card.
- Alien Resident card.
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How to request it?
There are several options to request a birth certificate in Alabama:
By Mail
If you choose to require it by mail, you will have to complete an application form; click here to download it.
Once you fill it, send it along with the identification requirements mentioned above, and the correspondent fee to this address:
Alabama Vital Records
P.O. Box 5625
Montgomery, Alabama 36103-5625
In person
To request the birth certificate in person, you will have to go to any county health department of the State of Alabama; you can wait in the office and you will receive the document in a few minutes.
For your convenience, here is a map where you can find all locations according to your county.
Online
On the other hand, if you want to request a birth certificate online, follow these steps:
- Go to: www.vitalchek.com/vital-records/alabama/alabama-vital-records.
- Select the type of certificate that you are requesting (in this case, ‘birth certificate’).
- Then you will have to select whose certificate you are ordering, yours or someone else’s.
- After that, write your full name, select the state where you were born, select the city or county, write your date of birth, and the reason why you are asking for the birth certificate.
- The last step is to pay, however, since you are requesting it online, you will have to pay additional fees, including the VitalCheck fee using a credit card.
Payment
To obtain a birth certificate you will have to pay a fee of $15,00. If you want to obtain more than one copy at the same time you will have to pay $6,00 more for each copy.
These amounts only apply when you are requiring the document by mail or in person.
Restrictions when asking for someone else’s birth certificate
In the state of Alabama, you can request for someone else’s birth certificate, however, these types of documents are confidential records with restricted access for 125 years from date of birth.
They can only be required by:
- Persons named on the certificate.
- A legal guardian, father or mother.
- Wife or husband of a person named in the certificate.
- Daughter or son of person named on the certificate.
- Legal representative of an authorized person.