How to Get a Birth Certificate
If you are a U.S. citizen who was born in the U.S., you must show SOS an original birth certificate in order to get a state ID or license (unless you can show a U.S. passport). This must be a certified copy of your birth certificate from the state of your birth.
If you do not have your birth certificate, it may take several months to get one, especially if you were born in another state. You may have to pay a fee to get a certified copy of your birth certificate. If you need help getting your birth certificate or paying the fee, click here.
How do I get a Michigan Birth Certificate?
If you were born in Michigan, you can get a certified copy of your birth certificate from the State of Michigan Vital Records Office. Your client can order a copy on-line with a credit card by clicking here. You can also call the Vital Records Office at 517-335-8666 for information about how to request a certified copy by mail. Use the form that is available here.
If you were born in Michigan, but you never had a birth certificate, the Vital Records Office will send you an application for a Delayed Birth Certificate. You will have to show other types of proof of who you are and when you were born to get a Delayed Birth Certificate.
How Do I get an Out-of-State Birth Certificate?
If you were born in another state and need your birth certificate, you must get it from that state. For information about getting a birth certificate in any of the fifty states, click here.
What if I cannot get my Birth Certificate?
If you were born outside a hospital and a birth certificate was never filed, then you will have to provide other papers to SOS to prove that you were born in the U.S. Try to get baptismal records or birth announcements from the newspaper when you were born. Talk to the SOS about what papers it will consider. SOS may ask you to get a Delayed Birth Certificate.
You must show SOS all the efforts that you have made to get your birth certificate. You should write down everything you have done on the Record of Efforts form. Click here for more information about how to get an ID if you cannot get your birth certificate. If you need help trying to get your birth certificate, click here.
