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1.
How do I get copies of my birth,
marriage or divorce certificate? |
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2.
How do I correct my Birth
Certificate? |
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3.
How do I get a Birth Certificate
for my foreign born child I
adopted in NH? |
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4.
Where can I research my family
history? |
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5.
What is the cost of a copy of a
vital record? |
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6.
How do I get a certified copy as
soon as possible? |
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7.
What is the normal turn around
time between the request and
receipt of a certificate? |
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Questions & Answers:
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1. How
do I get copies of my birth, marriage or divorce certificate?
Effective January 1, 2005 all individuals requesting
a certified copy of a record (Pursuant to
RSA 5-C:102, VI)
must present positive identification, including, but
not limited to, a driver’s license, passport or
other government issued picture Identification.
New Hampshire vital records are considered to be private and New
Hampshire Statute restricts access to them to only those
individuals who can demonstrate a "direct and
tangible interest" in the record. Certain older
records are exempt from these access restrictions.
Birth records prior to 1911 and death, marriage and
divorce records prior to 1961 are available with
unrestricted access. Individuals wishing to
research these genealogical records may do so by
visiting our Genealogical Research Center.
Alternatively, a completed application,
identification and fee may be mailed to the Division
of Vital Records Administration and staff will
perform research for you.
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2. How do I correct my Birth Certificate?
Sometimes
a person finds that the information on the official
record is not complete or that some item of
information on the certificate does not agree with
what he or she believes to be the facts. When
this is the case, it is possible to have missing information
added, or to have errors on the certificate corrected.
Any person may apply for completion or correction of any
certificate in which he or she is directly
interested. Ordinarily, this will be the person
whose certificate needs to be completed or
corrected, one of the parents or the legal
representative of the individual. If a registrant
is 18 years of age or older, he or she must approve
the requested change when the application is
submitted by anyone other than themselves.
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3. How
do I get a Birth Certificate for my foreign born child I adopted in NH?
NH Statute
requires that the Registrar of Vital Records will,
upon request, issue a birth certificate when a
foreign born person has been adopted in a NH Court.
Contact DVRA staff for a Form VS 37 FB. By filling
out and returning this form, you will supply DVRA with
the information needed to prepare a new birth
certificate. The form needs to be signed by the
adoptive parent(s) and the signature(s) must be
notarized. The fee for preparing the birth
certificate will be $25.00 which includes issuing a
certified copy of the record.
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4. Where
can I research my family history?
New Hampshire statutes allow
general public access to birth records prior to 1911;
deaths, marriages and divorces prior to 1961 for genealogical
research. These records can be found in our Research Room
located in the Records & Archives Building at
71 South Fruit Street in Concord. The Research Room is
open to the public from 8:30am to 3:30pm,
Monday through Friday. Volunteer genealogists
are available to assist you in researching records.
If you are an immediate legal family member you are
considered to have a “direct and tangible interest”
and are eligible to request and receive certified
copies of vital records that remain restricted due
to their age.
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5. What
is the cost of a copy of a vital record?
The cost of a search for
a vital record is $15.00. If DVRA staff
find a record after the search, a certified copy
will be issued free of charge. Additional
certified copies of the same record are available at
a cost of $10.00 each.
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6. How
do I get a certified copy as soon as possible?
Using a major
credit card, there are several third-party vendors
that can provide expedited vital record service.
They are:
VitalChek and EB2Gov.
In addition to our $15.00 search fee, your credit
card will be charged additional processing and
shipping fees; these fees are charged by the vendor for the services they are providing,
they are not charged by our office. You may visit their sites by
clicking one of the following links:
VitalChek or
EB2Gov.
These credit card
processors have no affiliation with the State of New
Hampshire and we cannot mediate any dispute that may
arise between you. Until your order is
complete with the credit card processor and they
have forwarded it to our staff, we have no record of
it and cannot assist you. To further expedite
your order, you may call
VitalChek direct at 877-878-8007. Since
EB2Gov
works directly with local clerks, please contact the
city or town where the record you seek originated.
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7. What
is the normal turn around time between the request and receipt of a
certificate?
If you visit our office
in person, we can usually issue the certificate while you
wait. If you mail in a request, please allow 20 business
days from receipt for your request to be processed although we
endeavor to complete the requests as soon as
possible.
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