To get a Virginia birth certificate, order a certified copy from the Virginia Department of Health’s Office of Vital Records. You can apply online, by mail, or in person at a walk-in location. Each certified copy costs $12, you’ll need a photocopy of your ID, and the office only issues certificates for births that took place in Virginia.
Who Can Order One
Virginia limits certified birth certificates to people with a “direct and tangible interest” in the record. That means the person named on the certificate, immediate family, a legal guardian, or an authorized legal representative such as an attorney or someone with power of attorney.
Immediate family generally covers parents listed on the certificate, a current spouse, adult children, adult siblings, and grandparents. Aunts, uncles, and cousins don’t qualify. If you’re ordering for someone else, plan to send documentation of your relationship or legal authority. The biological parents of an adopted child are specifically excluded from the post-adoption birth record.
What to Have Ready Before You Apply
The application asks for details about the person named on the certificate. Pull these together first:
- Full name at birth, plus the current legal name if it changed through adoption, court order, or any reason other than marriage
- Date of birth
- City or county of birth in Virginia
- Hospital of birth, if applicable
- Full names of both parents, including the mother’s or first parent’s maiden name
You can download the form from the VDH website, pick one up at a local vital records office, or fill it out inside the VDH online ordering system.
Identification
Every request needs a photocopy of your ID, no matter how you apply. Virginia uses two tiers.
One primary document is enough. Primary IDs include an unexpired state driver’s license or photo ID card (or one expired less than a year), a current U.S. passport or passport card, an active-duty or retired military ID, a current school or employment photo ID with an ID number, or a learner’s permit.
Without a primary ID, submit photocopies of two secondary documents. Secondary options include a driver’s license expired up to five years, a state photo ID expired up to five years, a U.S. passport expired up to five years, or a military dependent ID card with photo. The accepted-document list can change without notice, so check the VDH ID requirements page before you send anything.
The Three Ways to Order
Online
The VDH runs its own online ordering system. You complete the application, upload a photo of your ID, and pay by credit or debit card. Standard processing runs about two weeks, and you can track your request with a tracking ID. VDH also offers an express delivery option with next-day processing.
VitalChek, an authorized third-party vendor, processes Virginia orders too with expedited turnaround. VitalChek adds its own service fee on top of the $12, plus shipping. The VDH express option is often cheaper.
By Mail
Send your completed application, a legible photocopy of your ID, and payment to:
VDH, Office of Vital Records
P.O. Box 1000
Richmond, VA 23218-1000
Make checks or money orders payable to “State Health Department.” Mail applications take about four weeks from the day the office receives them, and they’re worked in the order received, so status updates before that window are unlikely. Certified or trackable shipping is worth the small extra cost so you know when your envelope arrived.
In Person
Walk-in service with same-day processing is available at the Office of Vital Records customer service lobby, 8701 Park Central Drive, Suite 100, Richmond, VA 23227, Monday through Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Copies are also available at local health department offices and certain DMV customer service centers. The VDH website has a locator tool for walk-in sites and hours. Bring your completed application, a photocopy of your ID, and payment. Walk-in locations accept credit cards, debit cards, mobile pay, cash, checks, and money orders.
Fees
Each certified copy is $12, set by the Code of Virginia. That covers the search and one certificate; each additional copy is also $12. Payment options depend on how you apply: mail-in requests take check, money order, payment card, mobile pay, or cash; online orders take credit or debit; walk-ins accept all of the above.
The $12 is nonrefundable even if no record is found. If the office can’t locate your birth record, you’ll get a “No Record” letter instead of a certificate, and the fee doesn’t come back.
If the Office Can’t Find Your Record
If your birth was never registered with the state, or a search comes back with a “No Record” letter, you may need to file a delayed birth registration. That involves gathering documentation to prove the facts of your birth, such as hospital records, baptismal certificates, or early school records. Delayed registrations don’t follow the standard processing windows because the evidence review takes longer, and the resulting certificate is marked “delayed.”
Fixing an Error on an Existing Certificate
Mistakes like a misspelled name or wrong date are corrected through the Office of Vital Records. Minor omissions and mistakes may be fixable within the first year after birth without the certificate being marked as amended. After that first year, most corrections leave the certificate stamped “amended” with a note about the date and supporting evidence.
The amendment fee is $10. If you also want a certified copy of the corrected certificate, the total is $22. Name changes require a certified copy of a court order directing the change. Paternity additions require a sworn acknowledgment signed by both parents.
Some amendments are handled administratively by the State Registrar; others need a court order. When you submit an amendment request, the office reviews it and tells you which path applies. If the documentation doesn’t meet the minimum requirements or the registrar questions its validity, the amendment is denied and you’re advised to seek a court order instead.
If You Weren’t Born in Virginia
Birth certificates come from the state where the birth happened, not where you live now. Born in another U.S. state? Contact that state’s vital records office. Virginia’s Office of Vital Records cannot issue copies of out-of-state records.
If you were born outside the United States to at least one U.S. citizen parent, your birth document is a Consular Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA), issued by the U.S. embassy or consulate where the birth was reported. To replace a CRBA, send a notarized Form DS-5542, a photocopy of your photo ID, and $50 per record (check or money order payable to “U.S. Department of State”) to the Passport Vital Records Section, 44132 Mercure Cir., PO Box 1213, Sterling, VA 20166-1213. Replacements take four to eight weeks, and records issued before November 1990 can take 14 to 16 weeks because of a manual search at the National Archives. No expedited service is offered for CRBAs.
Using a Virginia Birth Certificate in Another Country
For a Virginia birth certificate to be recognized abroad, it usually needs an apostille or authentication certificate. Which one depends on whether the destination country belongs to the 1961 Hague Convention.
For Hague Convention countries, the apostille comes from the Secretary of the Commonwealth, not the U.S. Department of State, because birth certificates are state-issued. The fee is $10 per document. You can submit by mail to the Secretary of the Commonwealth, Authentication Division, 1111 East Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia 23219, or by appointment on Fridays at the same office. Appointments must be booked online in advance; walk-ins without one are turned away. Mail requests need a cover letter generated through the Secretary’s website, payment by check or money order, and a self-addressed stamped return envelope.
For countries outside the Hague Convention, you need an authentication certificate, which goes through a separate process at the U.S. Department of State for $20 per document.