Birth Certificate Translation in New York
New York keeps two separate birth registries. Births in the five boroughs are recorded by the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene; births anywhere else in the state by the New York State Department of Health. You cannot order one from the other, and the two follow different routes when they have to be authenticated for use abroad.
In the other direction, New York receives more foreign birth certificates for immigration filings than almost any state, through field offices in Manhattan, Queens, Long Island, Albany, Buffalo and Syracuse.
Filing details for New York
- State vital records office
- NYS Department of Health, Vital Records (Menands); events in New York City: NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
- Apostille authority
- New York Department of State, Division of Licensing Services
We serve New York remotely from our office in Edgewater, New Jersey.
An NYC birth certificate for use abroad
The usual reason New Yorkers need their own birth certificate authenticated is a citizenship-by-descent application - Italian, Irish and Polish above all. For a New York City certificate the order is fixed: request the certificate from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene together with a Letter of Exemplification; have the New York County Clerk in Manhattan authenticate it; then send it to the Department of State for the apostille.
Forgetting the exemplification letter is the standard mistake, and it cannot be added afterwards - a fresh copy has to be ordered with it. Once apostilled, certificate and apostille are translated together.
Foreign birth certificates in New York filings
Dominican, Chinese, Bangladeshi, Jamaican, Ecuadorian and Russian-speaking records dominate. Jamaican certificates are in English and need no translation. Chinese applicants usually hold a notarial birth certificate rather than a registry extract. Bangladeshi certificates are often bilingual in Bengali and English and often registered well after the birth; every Bengali line, stamp included, still has to be translated.
Plazo de entrega
24 hours standard; 6-8 hours (+50%) or 1-3 hours (+100%) expedited
Price
$49 first page, then $0.12/word. Details
Idiomas
100+ languages. See all
Preguntas frecuentes
Which office issues my New York birth certificate?
The NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene for births in the five boroughs; the New York State Department of Health for births elsewhere.
What is a Letter of Exemplification?
A certificate from the NYC Department of Health that authenticates the official who signed your birth certificate. An NYC certificate needs it before it can be apostilled.
Does USCIS need the translation notarized?
No. A complete translation with a signed certificate of accuracy is what 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3) requires.
The full Birth Certificate Translation guide →
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