<p>Then you agree. That an original and/or certified birth certificate which means that an offical seal is attached to same is necessary for a passport application. Please clarify your response.</p>
<p>Either your fingers failed to press the appropriate buttons or you have no response.</p>
<p>First off, as long as the minutiae of the birth certificate requirements are going to be explored with this sort of tenacity, I feel compelled to ask: Who has their original birth certificate? Wouldn’t you have to steal it from the Hall of Records to have the original?</p>
<p>As for this whole debate about whether a seal is affixed or not, the State Department simply seeks a “certified birth certificate.” On its web site, the State Department explains what it means by “certified” in these terms: “A certified birth certificate has a registrar’s raised, embossed, impressed or multicolored seal, registrar’s signature, and the date the certificate was filed with the registrar’s office, which must be within 1 year of your birth. Please note that some short (abstract) versions of birth certificates may not be acceptable for passport purposes.”</p>
<p>Interestingly, in real life, I’ve found that a seal is not always part of the certification ritual. I have family members born in all different places. The certification of the COPIES of their birth certificates comes in different forms. One New Jersey county simply has a rubber stamp slapped on the photocopy that says “CERTIFIED” and has the Clerk of Court’s signature. It passes muster for passport purposes. </p>
<p>Washington, DC – by the way – has the coolest birth certificates. They are heavy duty, glossy white cardpaper with light blue ink and a red number. There’s a seal of the city (I think) that’s part of the incidental design on the certificate, but I don’t think that there’s a seal indicating authenticity. DC birth certificates are also expensive to reorder. I could be wrong about no seal being on the DC certificates. But in my mind’s eye the authenticity of the document is established without a seal per se, through the control numbers and color printing. If you’re going to forge a birth certificate, you’d be an idiot to choose the District of Columbia as the birthplace when you could choose from so many other jurisdictions with forms that are far more easier to reproduce.</p>
<p>The bottom line for the OP is that s/he needs a certified birth certificate. PERIOD.</p>
<p>Now, if you want to elaborate on that and say a seal is required, that’s definitely in keeping with the State Department’s explanation of “certification,” but it’s not wrong or misleading to stop at “certified.” And if you want to say it’s a certified copy, you’re welcome to use superfluous verbiage – as I’m not aware of there being a certified original.</p>
<p>The practical advice to the OP is the simple advice: Order (or retrieve) a certified birth certificate in advance of applying for your passport. </p>
<p>I know that it’s loads of fun to debate nonsense, but think about it: When you request the birth certificate, you only need to tell the registrar of records that you want a certified birth certificate, not a certified copy with a seal and not a certified copy or an original. America’s registrars of records, courthouse clerks and public archivists (hopefully) understand what certified means and the document that they provide – particularly if you advise them of your intentions – will be acceptable to the State Department no matter what the upshot of this fun little debate might be.</p>
<p>Finally, as for the “faux birth certificates” comment: I have a couple of those…I think. These are the stylized, very fancy and ceremonial documents issued by the hospital (in one case) and the mayor’s office (in another case) that commemorate the birth. I know that the mayor’s certificate has a seal. If you were to walk into any U.S. Passport offices with one of those – and I suppose THESE might be originals – you’d get bounced out right quick. For some reason, my wife has kept these in our safe deposit box. </p>
<p>The only difference between these documents and the wee little bracelets she also saved from the kids’ births is that the bracelets lack an “aura of officialness” – which is why I’m baffled that the make-believe birth certificates rate a safe deposit box home and those bracelets suffer the eternal indignity of being glued into a baby book. To tell you the truth, the baby books get looked at far less frequently than our safe deposit box. But I’m no fool. I’ve been married long enough to know that these sorts of mommy decisions are best left unquestioned.</p>
<p>Wise man. You should give marriage classes.</p>
<p>brooklynmom–doesn’t the invisible message show up on your computer? :D</p>