General Information

Important information about birth certificates from Puerto Rico (en Español)

The Office of Vital Records issues, corrects, and amends certified copies of birth and death certificates. We only have your birth certificate if you were born in one of the five boroughs of New York City: Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, or Staten Island. Where your family lived then or now is not important, just where you were born. Similarly, we only have death certificates for people who died in the five boroughs. Additional information on birth and death certificates available outside of New York City can be found here.

Newborn birth certificates are automatically mailed about three weeks after birth at no charge. Prior to this timeframe, we are unable to provide information on the status of your child's certificate. In addition, please note that our ability to provide you promptly with your baby's birth certificate depends on how quickly we receive information from the hospital. To request an expedited copy of your child's birth certificate, you can apply online.

For more information about birth and death certificates including up-to-date information on the turnaround time for certified copy orders, please call 212-788-4520 to listen to a recorded message from the Office of Vital Records. Use the following table to get frequently updated information on how long it will take to process your application.

When requesting a birth or death certificate in-person or by mail, you must use unexpired photo identification.

Requests for Older Documents

Birth certificates issued prior to 1910 and death certificates issued prior to 1949 are not available through the Office of Vital Records. For these documents, please contact the Municipal Archives by calling 311 (or 212-639-9675 outside New York City) or visiting the agency's website. You also can visit the Municipal Archives in Manhattan at 31 Chambers Street, Room 103.