How to Get a New York Long Form Birth Certificate

A New York long form birth certificate is a photocopy of the original record filed at your birth, and you order it from either the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (if you were born in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, or Staten Island) or the New York State Department of Health (for births anywhere else in the state). It is sometimes called a vault copy. Most people request one because a foreign government, an apostille application, or a genealogical or adoption matter needs details the short form doesn’t carry.

What the Long Form Actually Shows

The short form is a computer-generated abstract: your name, date of birth, sex, place of birth, and your parents’ names. It works for a driver’s license or school enrollment.

The long form reproduces the entire original record. You get the hospital or birth facility, the signature of the physician or midwife who attended the delivery, the parents’ ages and birthplaces, the mother’s residence at the time, the exact time of birth, and any marginal notes or corrections made by medical staff when the record was filed. An embossed seal certifies it as an official copy. For dual-citizenship applications and other international filings, that is usually the level of detail the receiving agency wants to see.

Who Can Request a Copy

New York limits access to birth records. Under Public Health Law Section 4174, certified copies go to the person named on the certificate (if 18 or older), a parent listed on the record, or a lawful representative of that person.¹ Authorized representatives of a local social services district can request a copy when the person is in the district’s care. State and federal agencies can also request certified copies directly.

If none of those describe you, you’ll need a court order from a New York State court showing a legitimate legal or medical need.¹

Requesting the record of someone who has died runs through a separate NYC application with stricter proof of relationship and a family-tree section, and it must be submitted by mail.² Genealogy requests for state-held records have their own 75-year rule.³

If You Were Born in New York City

Records for the five boroughs are held by the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Use their Premium Birth Certificate Application, which covers both the short and long form.⁴ Online orders go through VitalChek, the only authorized vendor. When you order, select the long form option. If your purpose is an apostille, select “Apostille/Authentication” as the reason for the request so the agency issues the extra document you’ll need later.

In-person service at the NYC Health Department is by appointment through their online booking system. Emergency walk-in appointments exist for imminent travel, health coverage, employment start dates, or military needs, but you have to call 311 or email vital records first and provide documentation of the emergency to be approved.⁴

If You Were Born Elsewhere in New York State

The State Department of Health handles every birth outside the five boroughs. The mail-in form is DOH-4380, downloadable from the department’s website.⁵ Send the completed form, payment, and copies of your ID to:

New York State Department of Health
Vital Records Certification Unit
P.O. Box 2602
Albany, NY 12220-2602⁶

You can also apply through the local registrar in the city or town where the birth occurred, which sometimes processes faster because the record is filed locally. Online ordering through VitalChek is available on the state’s website.

Documents and ID You’ll Need

Every application asks for the registrant’s full name at birth, exact date of birth, the city, town, or village where the birth occurred, and both parents’ full names, including the mother’s maiden name.

For identity, submit one of the following:

One primary photo ID: a valid driver’s license, state-issued non-driver photo ID, U.S. passport, or military photo ID.
If you don’t have a photo ID, two alternative documents: a utility or telephone bill and a letter from a government agency dated within the last six months, both showing your name and address.⁷

You do not need to notarize a standard application if you’re the person on the record or a parent listed on it. Notarization is required for attorney requests, nonprofit requests, and deceased-person applications.⁴ Mismatched addresses between your ID and application are one of the more common reasons for rejection, so check that before you send anything.

Fees and Processing Times

Costs depend on which office issues the record and how you order.

New York State Department of Health. Mail-in orders are $30 per copy, paid by check or money order made out to the New York State Department of Health.⁵ Online orders are $45 per copy plus a VitalChek processing fee.⁷ Priority handling is available for an extra $15 per copy.¹ If the department can’t locate a matching record, you’ll receive a “No Record Certification” and the fee will not be refunded.

NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The certificate is $15 per copy.⁴ Online orders are $15 per copy plus a $9.30 processing fee.⁸ NYC online processing takes roughly two weeks, with another two weeks for regular mail delivery. Express delivery costs extra. Confirmation receipts are only issued for online orders, so if you mail in your request, watch your payment method to confirm it’s being processed. Completed certificates are delivered only to the verified address on the application.

Getting an Apostille for International Use

If a foreign government has to accept your birth certificate, you’ll almost certainly need an apostille. The path is different for NYC-issued and state-issued records, and the NYC path includes an extra document most people don’t expect.

NYC Birth Certificates

The process runs in three steps.

First, when you order the long form from the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, select “Apostille/Authentication” as the reason for the request. The agency will issue a Letter of Exemplification alongside your certified long form, verifying that the record is a true copy and authenticating the City Registrar’s signature. You cannot order the Letter of Exemplification separately later.⁴

Second, submit the birth certificate and Letter of Exemplification to the Manhattan County Clerk for signature verification. The fee is $3. If you mail it, include a stamped, self-addressed envelope.⁹

Third, send the verified documents to the New York State Department of State with a $10 fee per document and specify the country where the record will be used. You can mail to P.O. Box 22001, Albany, NY 12201-2001, or go in person to 123 William Street, 19th Floor, Monday through Friday, 9 AM to 3:30 PM.⁹

State-Issued Birth Certificates

The state process is shorter. There is no Letter of Exemplification and no County Clerk step. Order the certified long form from the State Department of Health and send it directly to the Department of State with the $10 apostille fee and a self-addressed stamped envelope.

If the Record Has an Error

Fixing errors before you need the certificate for something time-sensitive is worth doing early. How you fix it depends on the type of error.

For factual errors (misspellings, wrong dates, incorrect details entered when the record was first filed), the correction ideally comes from the physician or attendant who signed the original. They complete Form DOH-297, Application for Correction of Certificate of Birth. If the original attendant is unavailable, the parents or the person on the record (if 18 or older) can file it themselves, but they have to submit documentary evidence of the correct information, in the form of a record created near the date of birth: a hospital record, church record, or school record.¹⁰

Mail the form to the Correction Unit, Vital Records Section, P.O. Box 2602, Albany, NY 12220-2602. Filing directly with the local registrar in the jurisdiction where the birth occurred is often faster.¹⁰

Form DOH-297 cannot be used for name changes. A certified court order is required for adoptions, determinations of parentage, legal name changes, or replacement of fictitious names.¹⁰ NYC residents get these orders through Civil Court; residents elsewhere go through the appropriate court in their area. The order must include your full name at birth, date of birth, place of birth, and certificate number. Only originals with official seals or letterhead are accepted; photocopies, altered documents, and notarized copies without originals will be rejected.¹¹

Separate forms handle adding a parent: Form DOH-2739 for a putative father consenting to be added when the mother was unmarried, and Form DOH-1927 when previously unmarried parents later marry, which requires a certified copy of the marriage record.¹⁰

1
New York State Senate. New York Public Health Code 4174 – Records; Transcripts and Certifications by Commissioner; Fees
2
NYC Health. Application to Request an NYC Birth Certificate of a Deceased Person
3
New York State Department of Health. Genealogy Records and Resources
4
NYC Health. Birth Certificates
5
New York State Department of Health. Mail-in Application for Copy of Birth Certificate
6
The State of New York. Get a Copy of a Birth Certificate
7
New York State Department of Health. Birth Certificates
8
NYC Health. Birth and Death Records Fees and Processing Times
9
NYC311. Apostille Document Authentication
10
New York State Department of Health. Application for Correction of Certificate of Birth
11
NYC Health. Birth Certificates: Corrections