Alabama · Certified copy
Alabama Birth Certificate: Order a Certified Copy Online
We prepare your application and file it with the Alabama Center for Health Statistics, Alabama Department of Public Health. The office mails the certified copy to you.
- Secure payment
- Encrypted data
- Email support
- Private service — not a government agency
Alabama at a glance
- Issuing office
- Alabama Center for Health Statistics, Alabama Department of Public Health
- Who can order
- 13 relationships · see the list
- Standard processing
- 10–21 Business Days
- What you need
- Photo ID, names, date and place of birth, parents' names
- Expedited processing
- 5–7 Business Days
- Proof of relationship
- Required for some relationships
A certified copy is the document most agencies accept for a passport, a driver's license, school enrollment or benefits. Alabama issues it for births recorded in the state.
Alabama birth certificate: county health departments and eligible family
In Alabama a certified birth certificate goes to the person named, a mother or father, a legal guardian, a spouse, a son or daughter, a brother or sister, or a legal representative of one of them. Any county health department in the state can print a copy of any Alabama birth, and records stay restricted for 125 years.
Immediate family and legal representatives in Alabama
Code of Alabama section 22-9A-21 restricts birth records to the registrant, members of the immediate family, a guardian, and legal representatives, a group that includes an attorney, an attorney-in-fact, a physician, a funeral director and a designated agent. The state's own list spells out the family: mother, father, spouse, son or daughter, sister or brother. Someone outside that list may still qualify by showing the record is needed to determine or protect a personal or property right, but commercial firms and natural parents of an adopted child who lack custody do not. A grandparent qualifies when holding legal custody.
One primary ID, or two secondary documents
Alabama accepts one primary photo ID that is current or only recently expired, and its list is broader than most: besides a driver's license, a state ID or a passport, a school ID, a tribal ID or a voter ID card will do. Without one, two secondary documents work, such as a utility bill, a vehicle registration, a health insurance card or a shot record. If you have neither, the Center for Health Statistics asks you to call before applying. A person you designate to pick up the certificate shows their own ID.
Jefferson County, Mobile County and every other county health department
Alabama's records system lets any county health department issue a certified copy for a birth anywhere in the state, usually while you wait. A person born in Mobile can therefore get a copy in Birmingham at the Jefferson County Department of Health, and the reverse works too. The state holds births from 1908. Only the Center for Health Statistics in Montgomery handles amendments, adoptions, legitimations and delayed certificates.
Certified copy, keepsake certificate and apostilles
The certified copy is the one used for passports, driver's licenses and benefits. A keepsake certificate is made for display and has no legal use, though the same family members may order it. For documents headed abroad, Alabama can supply exemplified copies for an apostille. The HS14 application asks for the registrant's name, date of birth, sex, county and hospital, both parents' names before first marriage, your name, address and phone, and your relationship, with a reason if you are not immediate family; you certify your legal right to the record, and no notary is needed.
Adoption, legitimation and adding a father
After an adoption, a legitimation or a paternity determination, Alabama issues a new certificate and seals the original under section 22-9A-12. A person born in Alabama who is nineteen or older may request a noncertified copy of their original birth certificate, and only that person may ask. A father can be added through a probate court legitimation, through the parents' later marriage, by an acknowledgment of paternity, or in a circuit court parentage case. Changed records are marked "Amended". Children born abroad and adopted in Alabama can receive a Certificate of Foreign Birth.
Surrogacy, foreign births and the ViSION counters
Alabama issues a new certificate after a surrogate birth, and a child born abroad and adopted through an Alabama court can receive a Certificate of Foreign Birth. Records stay restricted for 125 years under section 22-9A-21, longer than in most states, before they become public. The same-day service at county health departments runs on ViSION, the statewide records system, which is why a counter in Huntsville or Tuscaloosa can print a birth from Dothan or Florence.
How it works when you order with BirthChek
On our Alabama form you choose your relationship from the state's family list, which adds grandparent with legal custody and legal guardian, and a guardian or custodian uploads the court order. You enter the county and hospital of birth and the parents' names before first marriage, upload your ID and sign. BirthChek files the order with the Alabama Center for Health Statistics and keeps your order page up to date.
Facts checked October 24, 2026 against the sources below.
Sources
- Birth certificates — Alabama Department of Public Health – Center for Health Statistics
- Application for a certified copy of a birth certificate (HS14) — Alabama Department of Public Health – Center for Health Statistics
- ID requirements — Alabama Department of Public Health – Center for Health Statistics
- Code of Alabama §22-9A-21: disclosure of records — Alabama Legislature
- Keepsake birth certificate — Alabama Department of Public Health – Center for Health Statistics
- Adoptee seeking original birth information — Alabama Department of Public Health – Center for Health Statistics
- Birth certificate corrections — Alabama Department of Public Health – Center for Health Statistics
- Where to write for vital records: Alabama — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Where to get a Alabama birth certificate: state and local offices
Certified copies for births recorded in Alabama are issued by the Alabama Center for Health Statistics, Alabama Department of Public Health.
We take orders for births anywhere in Alabama, including Jefferson County, Mobile and Birmingham.
Replacing a lost or damaged Alabama birth certificate
A replacement is simply a new certified copy of the same birth record. You answer the same questions as for a first copy and nothing on the record changes. Order one when your copy is lost or damaged, or when you need more than one copy for applications running at the same time.
Who can order a Alabama birth certificate
- You, the person named
- Brother · 18 or older
- Daughter · 18 or older
- Father
- Husband
- Attorney
- Mother
- Sister · 18 or older
- Son · 18 or older
- Wife
- Legal Guardian · proof needed
- Grandparent with legal custody · proof needed
- My relationship is not listed · proof needed
Relationships marked "proof needed" must send proof of the relationship with the application; we tell you what counts after you order.
Relationships marked "18 or older" must confirm their age in the application.
If your relationship is not listed, the office may refuse the application or ask for a court order.
Reasons to request a Alabama birth certificate
- Adoption (International)
- Adoption (US Only)
- Driver's License
- Dual Citizenship/Immigration
- Employment
- Genealogy/Family History
- Government Assistance/Benefits
- Housing
- Identification
- Income Tax
- Inheritance/Estate Settlement
- Insurance
- Legal Purposes
- Marriage (International)
- Marriage (US Only)
- Other
- Passport
- Personal Records/Use
- Retirement
- School
- Social Security Card/Benefits
- Sports
- Travel
What you need to order a Alabama birth certificate
- A photo ID: driver's license, state ID, passport or military ID
- Full name on the certificate and date of birth
- City or county of birth
- Both parents' names, including the mother's maiden name
- A debit or credit card
- Proof of your relationship, for the relationships marked above
Prefer to order directly? Find the office in the CDC directory
Ready to order your Alabama birth certificate?
About ten minutes. Have your photo ID nearby.