How to Get a Riverside County Birth Certificate: Forms, Fees, and Filing

A certified copy of a Riverside County birth certificate costs $34 and is issued by one of two county offices depending on how recent the birth is. The Riverside University Health System Office of Vital Records handles births from the current and prior calendar year, and the Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder handles births more than 90 days old.¹ You can order in person, by mail, or online, and if you need the certificate for a passport or REAL ID, you have to request the right type of copy.

Which Office to Contact

Start with when the birth happened. Births in the current year or the prior year are handled by the Office of Vital Records, run by Riverside University Health System–Public Health, at 4065 County Circle Drive, Suite 102, Riverside, CA 92503.² Older births go through the Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder.

There is a 90-day gap between those two offices. The Clerk-Recorder only has records for births that occurred more than 90 days ago, because it takes time for Public Health to transfer the record over.¹ New parents should go to the Office of Vital Records.

The Clerk-Recorder has five offices: two in Riverside (Gateway and Downtown), plus Palm Desert, Hemet, and Temecula.³ It also accepts mail requests and online orders through the VitalChek portal.

Authorized Copy or Informational Copy

California issues two versions of a certified birth certificate, and the difference matters. An authorized certified copy is the one you need for a passport, driver’s license, REAL ID, or any other proof of identity. An informational certified copy carries a legend across its face reading “INFORMATIONAL, NOT A VALID DOCUMENT TO ESTABLISH IDENTITY” and cannot be used for those purposes.⁴

Under California Health and Safety Code Section 103526, only certain people can request an authorized copy:

The person named on the certificate, or a parent or legal guardian of that person
A child, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, spouse, or domestic partner of the person named
A law enforcement officer or government representative conducting official business
A party with a court order entitling them to the record
An attorney representing the person named or that person’s estate, or anyone appointed by a court or empowered by statute to act on behalf of the person or their estate⁵

Anyone outside those categories can still request an informational copy, which is common for genealogy and personal records.⁶

What You Need to Apply

The application asks for enough information to locate the record:

Child’s full name as recorded at birth
Date of birth
City of birth within Riverside County
Parent’s name, including the last name before marriage or domestic partnership⁷

If you are requesting an authorized copy, you also sign a Sworn Statement declaring under penalty of perjury that you qualify as an authorized person. For mail-in requests, the statement must be signed in front of a notary, who attaches a Certificate of Acknowledgment.⁸ California notaries can charge up to $15 per signature.⁹ If you apply in person at the Office of Vital Records, a staff member can witness the signature instead and you skip the notary fee.¹⁰

How to Submit Your Request

In Person

For older records, visit any of the five Clerk-Recorder offices in Riverside, Palm Desert, Hemet, or Temecula. Credit cards, checks, money orders, and cash are all accepted.¹¹ For recent births, the Office of Vital Records at 4065 County Circle Drive processes walk-in requests.¹²

By Mail

Mail-in requests to the Clerk-Recorder must include the completed application, the notarized Sworn Statement if you are requesting an authorized copy, and a check or money order for $34 per copy.¹³ The Office of Vital Records also accepts mail-in applications for recent births, using a separate form and the same notarized Sworn Statement.¹⁰

Online

The Clerk-Recorder uses VitalChek as its authorized online vendor. Recent births can be ordered through the Riverside University Health System portal at evitals.rivcovitalrecords.org.⁶ Online orders carry extra vendor processing fees on top of the $34 county fee, and expedited shipping is available for an added cost.

Fees and Processing Times

Each certified copy costs $34 as of January 1, 2026, whether you request the authorized or informational version.¹³ The same $34 applies at the Office of Vital Records for in-person orders.¹²

Mail requests through the Clerk-Recorder generally take one to two weeks, longer during busy periods.¹¹ A certificate for a newly born child may take four to six weeks from the date of birth to become available, because the hospital has to file the record with the county first.¹³

Using the Certificate for a Passport or REAL ID

Not every certified copy qualifies as federal identity evidence. For a U.S. passport, the State Department requires that your birth certificate show your full name, date and place of birth, your parents’ full names, the filing date (which must be within one year of birth), the registrar’s signature, and an official seal or stamp.¹⁴ Only a physical certified copy with the original seal is accepted. That is an authorized copy, not an informational one.

If your birth was registered more than a year after it happened, or if the state has no record on file, you will need a Letter of No Record from the state along with early public records from the first five years of your life, such as hospital records, baptismal certificates, or early school records.¹⁴

For a REAL ID-compliant driver’s license, required for domestic air travel and federal facility access since May 2025, a U.S. birth certificate is an accepted proof of identity. The California DMV may ask for additional documentation, so check its requirements before your appointment.¹⁵

Fixing a Mistake or Changing a Name

Corrections and name changes do not go through the Riverside County office. They are handled by the California Department of Public Health in Sacramento, and the form depends on what you are changing.

Typos, misspellings, and fields left blank at the time of birth can be fixed with an Affidavit to Amend a Birth Record (form VS 24). If you file within one year of the date of birth, there is no amendment fee, though certified copies of the corrected record cost $31 each. After one year, the amendment fee is $26, which includes one certified copy, and additional copies are $31 each.¹⁶ The affidavit cannot be used to completely replace a name, translate a name into another language, or add or remove a name. Those changes require a court order.

With a court order changing a name, you file form VS 23 along with a certified copy of the order showing an original court stamp and seal, not a photocopy. The amendment fee is $26 and includes one certified copy; additional copies are $31 each. Once CDPH registers the amendment, it becomes a permanent addition to the original certificate, creating a multi-page document, and all pages must stay together for the certificate to remain valid.¹⁷

Mail amendment applications and payment to CDPH Vital Records, MS 5105, P.O. Box 997410, Sacramento, CA 95899-7410. Checks and money orders should be payable to “CDPH Vital Records.”

Adoptees seeking a pre-adoption birth certificate have a separate path. Under Health and Safety Code Section 102705, you must petition the court and show “good and compelling cause” before the record can be unsealed.¹⁸

1
County of Riverside, CA. Public and Official Records
2
Riverside University Health System. Riverside County Office of Vital Records
3
Riverside County Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder. Locations
4
California Department of Public Health. How to Obtain a Certified Copy of a Birth Record
5
California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code 103526 – Certified Copy and Verification of Records
6
Riverside University Health System – Public Health. Birth Certificate
7
Riverside County Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder. Application for Certified Copy or Search of a Birth Record
8
California Department of Public Health. Sworn Statement
9
California Secretary of State. California Notary Public Handbook
10
Riverside University Health System. Riverside County Department of Public Health Office of Vital Records
11
Riverside County Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder. Obtaining Record Copies
12
Riverside University Health System. Records in Person
13
Riverside County Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder. Birth, Death, and Marriage Certificates
14
U.S. Department of State. Citizenship Evidence
15
USAGov. How to Get a REAL ID and Use It for Travel
16
California Department of Public Health. Vital Records Fees
17
California Department of Public Health. Application to Amend a Birth Record After a Court Order Name Change
18
California Department of Social Services. Obtain Birth Certificate