Maine · Certified copy
Maine Birth Certificate: Order a Certified Copy Online
We prepare your application and file it with the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The office mails the certified copy to you.
- Secure payment
- Encrypted data
- Email support
- Private service — not a government agency
Maine at a glance
- Issuing office
- Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention
- Who can order
- 11 relationships · see the list
- Standard processing
- 7–10 Business Days
- What you need
- Photo ID, names, date and place of birth, parents' names
- Expedited processing
- 1–3 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. Maine issues it for births recorded in the state.
Maine birth certificate: Augusta, Portland, Bangor and the 75-year rule
In Maine a certified birth certificate goes to the registrant and a wide circle of family, including spouses and registered domestic partners, grandparents, siblings, stepfamily, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and parents-in-law, as well as an attorney or agent. Anyone can get a non-certified copy after 75 years, and city clerks issue only births from their own town.
Who Maine law lets order
Title 22, section 2706 of the Maine statutes lists the registrant, a spouse or registered domestic partner, descendants, a parent or guardian, grandparents, brothers and sisters, stepparents and stepchildren, aunts and uncles and their spouses, nieces and nephews including the spouse's, parents-in-law, and a personal representative or a designated attorney or agent. Anyone else must show a direct and legitimate interest, and the news media and commercial firms are not eligible.
Proving the relationship
Maine expects proof for everyone except the registrant and a named parent, and it wants originals or notarized copies. A spouse sends the marriage certificate, a domestic partner the partnership certificate and a guardian the court papers. Other relatives prove the line of descent, ideally with certified vital records; otherwise two secondary documents, such as hospital, baptismal, school, military, court or census records, can establish it. An attorney or agent sends the state's release form or a contract.
Augusta, Portland, Lewiston and Bangor
The state office on Capitol Street in Augusta holds births from 1892 to the present and can issue any of them. City and town clerks keep the events that occurred in their community or involved their residents, and they issue only those: Portland requires that the birth took place in Portland, Lewiston serves people born there or whose mother lived there at the time, and Bangor serves people born in Bangor, with records back to the late 1700s. Records before 1892 sit with the municipality or the State Archives, and those before 1820 are in Massachusetts.
Photo ID, two documents, and non-certified copies
Applicants show a driver's license, passport or other government photo ID, or photocopies of two items such as a utility bill, a bank statement, a car registration, a tax return, a lease, a pay stub, a Social Security card, a Medicare or MaineCare card or a school or employee photo ID. Births become public seventy-five years after the event, when anyone can obtain a non-certified copy stamped as not for legal use; a certified copy still requires eligibility. Genealogists who belong to a genealogical society can obtain a state researcher card for non-certified copies of restricted records.
Adoptees, parentage and amendments
Maine-born adoptees eighteen or older, their attorneys and the descendants of a deceased adoptee can obtain a non-certified copy of the original birth certificate with a notarized application. The state issues a new certificate after an adoption, a legitimation or a change of gender marker. Parentage is acknowledged or denied on the state's VS27 forms. Only the state, not a town clerk, amends a record, using a VS-7 form signed before an oath officer or clerk, and amended certificates are marked.
How it works when you order with BirthChek
Maine wants proof from everyone except the registrant and a named parent, so our order page asks spouses and other relatives for the linking document before we file. You give the place of birth and both parents' full names, upload your ID and sign, and BirthChek files the request with the state Data, Research and Vital Statistics office in Augusta.
Facts checked October 24, 2026 against the sources below.
Sources
- Vital records — Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention – Data, Research and Vital Statistics
- Requesting documents — Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention – Data, Research and Vital Statistics
- Application for a vital record — Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention – Data, Research and Vital Statistics
- 22 MRSA §2706: certified copies and access — Maine Legislature
- Register as a genealogist — Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention – Data, Research and Vital Statistics
- 22 MRSA §2768: original birth certificates of adoptees — Maine Legislature
- Request a vital record — City of Portland
- Birth certificates — City of Bangor
Where to get a Maine birth certificate: state and local offices
Certified copies for births recorded in Maine are issued by the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
We take orders for births anywhere in Maine, including Portland and Bangor.
Who can order a Maine birth certificate
- You, the person named
- Brother · proof needed
- Daughter · proof needed
- Father
- Husband · proof needed
- Mother
- Other · proof needed
- Sister · proof needed
- Son · proof needed
- Wife · 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.
If your relationship is not listed, the office may refuse the application or ask for a court order.
Reasons to request a Maine 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)
- Passport
- Personal Records/Use
- Retirement
- School
- Social Security Card/Benefits
- Sports
- Travel
What you need to order a Maine 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 Maine birth certificate?
About ten minutes. Have your photo ID nearby.