new requirements for passports

New Requirement for U.S. Birth Certificates

Updated April 28, 2011

New U.S. Birth Certificate Requirement

Beginning April 1, 2011, the U.S. Department of State will require the full names of the applicant’s parent(s) to be listed on all certified birth certificates to be considered as primary evidence of U.S. citizenship for all passport applicants, regardless of age. Certified birth certificates missing this information will not be acceptable as evidence of citizenship. This will not affect applications already in-process that have been submitted or accepted before the effective date.

For more information, see 22 CFR 51.42(a).

To obtain a new birth certificate, see the CDC.

In addition to this requirement, certified copies of birth certificates must also include the following information to be considered acceptable primary evidence of U.S. citizenship:

Full name of the applicant
Date of birth
Place of birth
Raised, embossed, impressed or multicolored seal of issuing authority
Registrar’s signature
The date the certificate was filed with the registrar’s office (must be within one year)

If you cannot obtain a birth certificate that meets these requirements, please see Secondary Evidence of U.S. Citizenship.

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Comment by TommyD on January 29, 2012 at 7:27pm: Once anyone signs a document that has a title similar to their given name, they are signing over their sovereignty...from wiki...

Capitis deminutio (lit. "decrease of head") is a term used in Roman trials referring to the extinguishing, either in whole or in part, of a person's former legal capacity.

There were three changes of state or condition attended with different consequences, maxima, media and minima. The greatest, capitis deminutio maxima, involved the loss of liberty, citizenship, and family (e.g. being made a slave or prisoner of war). The next change of state, capitis deminutio media, consisted of a loss of citizenship and family without any forfeiture of personal liberty. The least change of state, capitis deminutio minima, consisted of a person ceasing to belong to a particular family, without loss of liberty or citizenship.

Comment by mystery on January 29, 2012 at 7:11pm: That would leave my dad completely out then because he was born at home and not recorded as a live birth till the doctor came around. He finally got a birth certificate about 10 years ago. Maybe he was brought in under cover of night, LOL.

Comment by Marklar on January 29, 2012 at 6:41pm: I applied for a passport within months of 9/11 and they kept asking me for more and more simply because I had a Washington State ID rather than a driver's license at the time, despite the fact that both are issued by the DMV with the exact same proofs required for obtaining one. In the end I actually had to go so far as sending them my grade school transcripts in order to satisfy them.

By the time I actually got the passport 3 months later my employer no longer needed me to go to the UK as planned which was the whole reason for the entirely painful process. Next time I'll just stow away on a tramp steamer and claim to be Canadian if discovered.

Comment by TommyD on January 29, 2012 at 6:37pm: When a cargo ship births in a port and unloads cargo, a certificate of title is issued for the birth of the product under a new owner....I really hate admiralty law

Comment by mystery on January 29, 2012 at 6:32pm: My first thought is how do you control what is put on your BIRTH certificate? Emphasis on the word BIRTH.

Comment by TommyD on January 29, 2012 at 6:31pm: YEAH, you have to have the correct documentation to prove that you are owned before they will let you legally leave the country....lest a new certificate of title is issued in the next foreign port you are birthed in...