How to Obtain a Legal Birth Certificate in India

The birth certificate is one of the most important documents that is required for many legal procedures like obtaining visa documents, legal proceedings, obtaining citizenship of any country etc. in any country. In spite of this, many of my Indian friends do not have their legally valid birth certificate with them. Even I myself had to face lots of problems during the immigration visa proceedings for me and my family due to non availability of proper birth certificate. I am going to cover simple legal procedure to obtain birth certificate in India. I am sure this article will be very helpful to many of my AC readers and friends, born in India.

The first and the foremost aspect is to make registration of the birth of any child at the government office as soon as possible after the birth. If the child is born at home, one of the parents need to visit the office of the registration of births and register the birth with the exact name f the child, sex, address, exact names of the parents, the birth place and the exact time of the birth. Once this registration is made, your most of the problems are resolved. Then, you need to apply to get the copy of birth certificate of your child at the Municipal Corporation's office, where the birth registration was made. The said office shall issue the necessary birth certificate in the language you have requested. Try to obtain such birth certificate in English only as the birth certificate in regional language will not be acceptable during the legal proceedings with the foreign countries. And you will need to produce the notarized translation of the birth certificate from the court, which will involve lots of efforts and the monetary expenses. Make sure to check the exact spelling of the names of your child and the parents. If any mistake is found, even as small as one letter, please get it corrected immediately. The names on your passport and the birth certificate must match exactly to avoid legal complications during various legal proceedings.

If the child is born at the hospital, the procedure is slightly simple. The hospital management would give you the form to be filled for the registration of birth of your child. This form, duly filled in, is then forwarded to the government office of the birth registration by the hospital authorities only. The parents of the child will have to collect the birth certificate after one week of birth from the said office. As soon as you get the original birth certificate, get around ten xerox copies of the same and get all these copies certified by the approved government officers. This will give you necessary protection in case the original birth certificate is lost or misplaced.

If your birth is not registered at the government office by your parents, you will have to obtain certificate from such office stating that the birth record for you is not registered in their office. In that case, two affidavits will be required to be made by your relatives who are elder to you in the prescribed format stating that your birth has taken place on such and such date in such and such city. These two documents shall form your birth certificate document, which is acceptable by many countries like USA. I had to comply with this procedure during my immigration visa processing as my birth was not recorded by my parents in India at that time. One tip to all the parents in India is that they should name their child as soon as possible after the birth and positively before the registration of birth at the government office. The birth certificate only indicating the sex of the child would not have any meaning. If you are born in a very small village or town, it may not be possible to get the birth certificate in English. In this case, you will need to get the certificate translated in to English through the government of India approved translators and subsequently, get this translation certified by district Magistrate or the Notary.

In any case an individual must have his proper legally valid birth certificate with him. This would certainly save lots of troubles and hassles at a later date during processing of most critical legal proceedings. I am sure many of my Indian friends may not have such certificate with them. I would sincerely request them to obtain it at the earliest. If any of my readers have any doubts or questions on this, they all are free to contact me.