New York long-form birth certificates (non-NYC)

[846newyorker]

I was surprised today when the consular officer told me my birth certificate was not the accepted New York long form. I ordered the birth certificate from the locality, Mount Vernon in Westchester County, in long form (in fact I've done so several times and each time received the same document). The birth certificate is printed on New York State Department of Health form/letterhead; it is certified by the county and apostilled by the state.

Does anyone know if some New York localities issue different documents than the central Department of Health in Albany? For example, if I go through VitalChek rather than the city of Mount Vernon itself, would I perhaps receive the longer document?

The consular official, while not able to show me an example of what he was looking for, told me that other New York birth certificates have many more details, such as birth weight, hospital, etc. I agree that it seems odd that mine does not have this, but I find it also quite peculiar that different certificates would be issued depending on where you order them.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Or can anyone point me to a sample image of the "correct" NY state document?

[JJ313]

The locals do issue a different document. Request a new copy from the municipality or directly from Albany. For examples go to foreigndocumentexpress.com (I am not recommending their service).

[846newyorker]

Thank you for your help. Indeed I just spoke with the state and confirmed this. A year ago and then again this morning I spoke with the locality; they gave me a very different story and claimed they provide the only long form available.

To me it's asinine that New York localities and the state issue different documents, then make matters far worse by not being clear about the documents they provide.

Throughout the whole process I've had to deal with the locality vs. state issue in trying to get some other documents changed here in New York. What an utterly absurd system. Pennsylvania has a completely centralized vital records system with only one issuing agency; while it took a bit longer to get documents from them, it was far simpler and more professional. New York ought to get its act together.

[JJ313]

NYS system is difficult, NYC is much easier to work with. Some of the other states can be problem too. I hear people complain about CT.

[droe]

First you have to understand the NY Consulate. What they state and what they mean can be and are at times two different things. While the web site says 'local' what they mean is only documents from the NYS Vital Statistics Office in Albany NY.

At my first appointment in June 2010 they tossed every local register document as the wrong one. We are talking birth, marriage and death. This was a total change in that local register documents were being accepted all along but something effected their mentality and forced a change prior to my June apointment.

So everything was ordered via Albany. The quality of the documents were at times very poor as they are photo copies of microfilm.

In gathering documents I found that you can obtain a copy of a marriage license in three different forms. Only the long, orginal form from Albany is the complete long form the Consulate will accept. There are no standards for documents in NYS. From one registrar office to another forms will vary. Plus from year to year the forms can be revised by Albany so no simple translation template is possible.

As to effecting changes to documents New York is once again not a very friendly place to get things fixed.

Your best bet is to obtain everything via Albany to please the Consulate.