General Information
Order birth and death certificates online now.
The Office of Vital Records issues certified copies of birth and death certificates and also corrects and amends these records.
We only have your birth certificate if you were born in one of the five boroughs of New York City, either Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, or Staten Island. Where your family lived then or now is not important, just where you were born. Similary, we only have death certificates for people who died in the five boroughs.
Birth certificates prior to 1910 and death certificates prior to 1949 are not available through our Office. Contact the Municipal Archives at 311 or 212-NEW-YORK if outside of New York City. The address is 31 Chambers Street, Room 103, New York, NY 10007. You may also access the Municipal Archives Web site at www.nyc.gov/records.
Birth certificates for newborns are automatically mailed approximately four weeks after birth; we are unable to provide information on the status of your certificate before then. Also, remember that our ability to promptly provide you with your baby's certificate depends first on the hospital forwarding the information to us promptly.
You do not have to apply separately for a Social Security card for your newborn if you apply at the hospital at the time of your child's birth. The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene regularly provides Social Security with the information they require. You can expect your baby's Social Security card within three months. If you did not request a social security card at the hospital of birth and would like to request one, please call the Social Security Administration at 1-800-772-1213.
For general information about birth and death certificates, call (212) 788-4520. A recorded message will provide extensive information.
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Special Instructions
If you are applying for a certificate on behalf of someone else, you must provide us with an original, notarized letter signed by that person authorizing release of their certificate to you. You must also bring with you that person's photo ID as well as your own.
If you are an attorney seeking a birth record, you must provide us with the following: correspondence on your business letterhead indicating the purpose for which the certificate is required, your photo ID, and a letter from your client giving you notarized authorization to receive their or their child's record.
If you are at least 16 years old, but under 18 and are applying for your own birth certificate you must present a notarized letter from a parent named on the certificate authorizing release to you, a minor, and a copy of that parent’s valid photo identification.
If you are under 18 and are applying for your own birth certificate you must present a notarized letter from a parent named on the certificate authorizing release to you, a minor.
Valid Photo-Identification Defined: Identification (ID) with a photograph of the bearer that has the signature of the bearer. ID must be issued by an officially recognized organization or agency and includes the following types of ID: Driver's License, Employment ID, Government ID, Social Services ID, and a Passport. ID must show an expiration date that has not passed. ID without an expiration date must have been issued within the past 12 months.
