Puerto Rico · Certified copy
Puerto Rico Birth Certificate: Order a Certified Copy Online
We prepare your application and file it with the Demographic Registry, Puerto Rico Department of Health. The office mails the certified copy to you.
- Secure payment
- Encrypted data
- Email support
- Private service — not a government agency
Puerto Rico at a glance
- Issuing office
- Demographic Registry, Puerto Rico Department of Health
- Who can order
- 10 relationships · see the list
- Standard processing
- Set by the office
- What you need
- Photo ID, names, date and place of birth, parents' names
- Expedited processing
- Set by the office
- 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. Puerto Rico issues it for births recorded in the state.
Puerto Rico birth certificate: the 2010 replacement and who may ask
Puerto Rico birth certificates issued before July 1, 2010 are no longer valid, so anyone using an older copy needs a new one from the Demographic Registry. Copies go only to an interested party: the registrant from eighteen, parents, adult children and grandchildren, grandparents, guardians, heirs, and attorneys or notaries representing them.
Why certificates from before July 2010 no longer work
To curb identity theft, Puerto Rico's Law 191 of 2009 declared every certified birth certificate issued before July 1, 2010 void after September 30, 2010, and it barred schools, employers and other organizations from keeping certified copies; they may keep a photocopy. Federal agencies followed the change, and the Social Security Administration describes the newer copies as security-enhanced certificates. If the certificate in your drawer predates July 2010, order a new one before using it for a passport, a driver's license or benefits.
Interested parties under the Demographic Registry Act
Copies are issued only to an interested party. Amendments in 2025 and 2026 widened that definition, so it now covers the registrant from age eighteen, the mother and father, children and grandchildren, grandparents, a legal representative, custodian or guardian, heirs, attorneys or notaries who show they represent the registrant or the heirs, a minor who is a parent, and anyone named in a court order. The Health Department requires children and grandchildren to be adults. A registrant over twenty-one can authorize someone else with a dated letter for an in-person request.
Form RD-225 and accepted ID
The request form asks for the applicant's name with both surnames, home and mailing addresses, phone and email, the relationship and the purpose, then the registrant's name with both surnames, date of birth, municipality, hospital or address and sex, and each parent's name and birthplace. A grandchild also lists their own parents. Send a copy of both sides of a valid ID showing your name, photo, signature and dates: a passport, a Puerto Rico or other U.S. driver's license or ID, a military ID or a residence card. The registry limits each registrant to three copies in any twelve months.
San Juan and the island offices
The Demographic Registry's central office is in the Metro Center building in Hato Rey, San Juan, and only it handles adoptions, voluntary acknowledgments, corrections, late registrations and gender annotations. Around forty municipal and integrated service center offices across the island, from Bayamón and Carolina to Ponce and Vieques, take certificate requests, and the department offers online appointments. Central records begin in 1931, while older civil registry books stay with local registrars.
Proof, adoptions and corrections
Children, grandchildren and grandparents born outside Puerto Rico show their own birth certificates, heirs show a certified will or a declaration of heirs, and guardians show a certified court order; orders from outside Puerto Rico need validation by a local court. Adoption records are kept in a sealed envelope, though no court approval is needed when the adopter or the adoptee asks. Substantial changes and name changes need a court order, and a late registration filed more than a year after the birth requires independent records created well before the application.
How it works when you order with BirthChek
Our Puerto Rico form lists the interested parties the law now recognizes, including grandchild, grandparent and heir, and asks heirs, attorneys and guardians for their documents. You give both surnames, the municipality of birth and each parent's name, upload your ID and sign, and BirthChek files the request with the Demographic Registry, which issues the current security-paper certificate.
Facts checked October 24, 2026 against the sources below.
Sources
- Law 24 of 1931 (Demographic Registry Act), as amended — Puerto Rico Office of Management and Budget – Virtual Library
- Birth certificate request form (RD-225) — Puerto Rico Department of Health – Demographic Registry
- Requirements for requesting certificates — Puerto Rico Department of Health – Demographic Registry
- Demographic Registry — Puerto Rico Department of Health
- Puerto Rico birth certificates — U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
- Demographic Registry offices — Puerto Rico Department of Health – Demographic Registry
- Where to write for vital records: Puerto Rico — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Where to get a Puerto Rico birth certificate: state and local offices
Certified copies for births recorded in Puerto Rico are issued by the Demographic Registry, Puerto Rico Department of Health.
Who can order a Puerto Rico birth certificate
- You, the person named
- Father
- Mother
- Son / Daughter
- Grandchild
- Grandparent
- Heir · proof needed
- Attorney · proof needed
- Guardian · 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 Puerto Rico birth certificate
- Adoption
- Driver's License
- Employment
- Genealogy/Family History
- Government Assistance/Benefits
- Identification
- Income Tax
- Inheritance/Estate Settlement
- Insurance
- Legal Purposes
- Marriage
- Passport
- Personal Records/Use
- Retirement
- School
- Social Security Card/Benefits
- Sports
- Travel
What you need to order a Puerto Rico 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 Puerto Rico birth certificate?
About ten minutes. Have your photo ID nearby.