Virginia · Certified copy
Virginia Birth Certificate: Order a Certified Copy Online
We prepare your application and file it with the Office of Vital Records, Virginia Department of Health. The office mails the certified copy to you.
- Secure payment
- Encrypted data
- Email support
- Private service — not a government agency
Virginia at a glance
- Issuing office
- Office of Vital Records, Virginia Department of Health
- Who can order
- 14 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
- 2–5 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. Virginia issues it for births recorded in the state.
Virginia birth certificate: short form, long form and who can order
Virginia releases birth records to people with a direct and tangible interest: the registrant, immediate family, a guardian or a legal representative. Immediate family means a mother, father, current spouse, adult child, adult brother or sister, or a grandparent who shows a need. Records become public one hundred years after the birth.
Immediate family and legal representatives in Virginia
Virginia's regulations define the legal representative broadly: the registrant's attorney, a person holding a power of attorney, an attending physician, or a government agency acting for the family. Immediate family covers the mother, father, current spouse, children, brothers and sisters, and grandparents; the state's application lists children and siblings as adults, and the statute asks grandparents to show evidence of need. Aunts, uncles, cousins and in-laws do not qualify, nor do commercial firms or the biological parents of a child who was adopted.
Short form or long form: which Virginia birth certificate to order
Virginia prints two versions. The short form is an abstract the state describes as accepted by all local, state and federal agencies, passport offices included, though it may leave out parentage information. The long form is an image of the original certificate and is the one usually needed for dual citizenship. The state no longer issues wallet-size birth cards, and apostilles for documents used abroad come from the Secretary of the Commonwealth rather than the vital records office.
Richmond, local health departments and DMV customer service centers
Copies are available from more places in Virginia than in most states. The state's Office of Vital Records issues them, city and county registrars and local health departments can too, and every DMV customer service center sells certified copies of Virginia births from 1912 onward through an in-person application, so someone born in Richmond or anywhere else in the state can often get one close to home. Only the state office can process amendments. For older history, Virginia had no birth registration law from 1896 to mid-1912, and the Library of Virginia keeps births from 1853 to 1896.
What the Virginia application asks for and the ID rules
The application asks for the requester's name, address, telephone, email and relationship, the reason for the request and the type of certificate, then the name at birth and any changed name, the date and city or county of birth, the hospital, sex and both parents' names. Guardians and legal representatives attach their court or custody papers. The requester signs a statement that a false application is a felony; unsigned forms are not processed. Identification is one primary ID or two secondary ones, such as an ID expired up to five years, a utility bill, a voter card or a DD214. A person without ID can ask an immediate family member or a power-of-attorney holder to apply instead.
Adoptions, paternity and the hundred-year rule
Adoption records in Virginia are sealed and open only by order of a circuit court, although from July 2026 adult adoptees may ask the State Registrar for their sealed original birth certificate. Paternity can be established by a notarized acknowledgment, a court order, or DNA results from an accredited laboratory. Once a birth record is one hundred years old it becomes public, and the original moves to the Library of Virginia.
How it works when you order with BirthChek
BirthChek separates maternal and paternal grandparents in the Virginia form and lists guardians and legal representatives alongside close family. You fill in the birth details, upload your ID and sign. Guardians and legal representatives add their court or custody papers on the order page after payment, and we check them before filing with the Office of Vital Records. Every step after that is posted to your order page.
Facts checked October 24, 2026 against the sources below.
Sources
- Code of Virginia section 32.1-271: disclosure of records — Virginia Law
- 12VAC5-550-470: who may obtain copies — Virginia Administrative Code
- Frequently asked questions — Virginia Department of Health – Office of Vital Records
- ID requirements — Virginia Department of Health – Office of Vital Records
- Application for a certification of a vital record (VS6B) — Virginia Department of Health – Office of Vital Records
- Genealogy — Virginia Department of Health – Office of Vital Records
- Vital records at DMV — Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles
- Where to write for vital records: Virginia — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Where to get a Virginia birth certificate: state and local offices
Certified copies for births recorded in Virginia are issued by the Office of Vital Records, Virginia Department of Health.
We take orders for births anywhere in Virginia, including Richmond.
Replacing a lost or damaged Virginia 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 Virginia birth certificate
- You, the person named
- Brother
- Daughter
- Father
- Husband
- Legal Guardian · proof needed
- Legal Representative · proof needed
- Maternal Grandparent
- Mother
- Paternal Grandparent
- Sister
- Son
- Wife
- 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 Virginia 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 Virginia 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 Virginia birth certificate?
About ten minutes. Have your photo ID nearby.