Birth Certificate Info

[kaphil]

Does anyone have a birth certificate without a raised seal they've used on a cruise? I ordered a copy of my daughter's a few years ago and it has a raised border and engraved document number but the seal isn't raised. My travel agent here in Ohio has never seen a California birth certificate before but she said she thought it had to have a raised seal to be used to get on the ship.

Anybody had any experience with this?

Thanks
Kathie

 

[buzz&woody'smom]

Both of my boys (2 & 5) were born in California and their birth certificates have a very noticeable raised seal.

In fact theirs were so "feelable" that I called the state of Missouri where mine was issued and verified my certificate was certified bc you could barely feel the seal. They told me it was and it was not a problem on the 4 cruises I have taken since.

But back to the California cert's. My eldest was born in Laguna Hills and they gave us a "non-certified birth certificate" and State of California type of document of birth and we had to order a certified but my youngest was born in San Diego at the Naval Hospital and his was certified. The only difference in their certificates is one is larger.

Hope that helps.

 

[Jeanny]

Hey Kathie~
some states do not have a raised seal on their birth certificates (Virginia for example) any longer ... the key word is it needs to be CERTIFIED, can't be a hospital issued birth certificate, but must be a state certified birth certificate.

 

[kaphil]

Well thanks for the help, I have my Mom in California checking it out but this is too important not to be 100% certain. I want to make sure if for some reason something goes wrong it's not my fault (and that I can blame it on a man) .

 

[mobetsy]

It's probably worth the peace of mind to have your mom check, but if you got it directly from the state or county and it says on it that it is a certified birth certificate (or similar words, rather than that it is not), it is good. Birth, marriage, and death certificates issued by state/county are all pretty clearly marked by the State of CA as to whether or not they are official.

 

[hydster]

None of our birth certificates have a raised seal on them and we have done fine. Of course now we have passports so it isnt a problem but before we got ours from the Vital Statistics for all of my family and they either give you a huge page or a little credit card size. We opted for the credit card size because they were easier to keep track of, fit in wallet, and they were laminated therefore NO raised seal at all. It just says Certified Copy. If you did get it from the Vital Statistics where you were born and it is a certified copy you SHOULD be fine!

Have fun!
Heidi

 

[twilkins]

My California-issued certified birth certificate does not have a raised seal. It has a purple stamp that says it is a certified copy if the purple stamp is present.