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Why won't the government accept my birth certificate?

NFS4

NFS4

No Lifer
Since I'm going out of the country in a few months, I wanted to get my Passport made (never been out of the country before). So I go to the Post Office with my pre-filled application (did it online) and my birth certificate. I get to the counter:

Me: I'd like to hand in my Passport applicatoin
Her: No problem, let me take that...ohhh, no. We can't accept this birth certificate
Me: Excuse me?????????????????????????
Her: No, the government won't accept this wallet-type birth certificate because it doesn't have a raised seal on it
Me: You've got to be kidding me. It's a valid birth certificate. This is MY birth certificate. What more could they possibly want?
Her: Well, we've sent these type off before and all they do is send them back b/c they don't have a raised seal on it.
Me: Well, that's just STUPID.
Her: Well, I can give you the number to the Maryland Department of Vital Records and they can send you a certified copy with a raised seal on it.
Me: Fine, well thank you.


So I call the Maryland Department of Vital Records and tell them all of my information and they say "That'll be $12 + a $7 processing fee" charged to your CC. WTF????!!!

Bastards nicklen' and diming people to death. No to mention the $67 cost of the PassPort + $30 processing fee.

:|
 
yeah they get picky about birth certificates. I remember when i was 16 trying to get a drivers license and my mom lost mine. *great mother*
 
The reason they require a raised seal is to at least make it more difficult to use a fake birth certificate. It's not stupid.
 
It's annoying. They tried to tell me I couldn't get a new passport with a BC copy (with raised seal). I think the PO clerks are generally clueless.

They ended up accepting it because I had an expired Passport from before I was 16 (you can't get those renewed once they've expired) that they sent along with everything else.
 
Yeah, they have to do that. A passport is accepted as ironclad ID for just about anything. If they weren't as strict, identity theft would be 100x worse than it already is.
 
Originally posted by: mugs
The reason they require a raised seal is to at least make it more difficult to use a fake birth certificate. It's not stupid.
Click to expand...

yip. now dont loose the one you just ordered, put it in a safe deposit box. that is where i have mine, wifes, kids, parents, grandparents.
 
Originally posted by: kranky
Yeah, they have to do that. A passport is accepted as ironclad ID for just about anything. If they weren't as strict, identity theft would be 100x worse than it already is.
Click to expand...

Bingo
 
NFS4, a similar thing happened to me. This was back in October and I was applying for a passport for the first time. I went there with my birth certificate abstract which has the county seal and stamp that was stamped officially in the correct color ink. The people at the post office said that they probabl wont accept it because it isnt the official long form BC. They sent it anyway but told me that I might be getting a letter saying they need the long birth cert. In the end, it didnt matter and I got my passport.

Where are ya going anyway?

Edited for "spelling" as someone noted below. 😛
 
Originally posted by: kranky
Yeah, they have to do that. A passport is accepted as ironclad ID for just about anything. If they weren't as strict, identity theft would be 100x worse than it already is.
Click to expand...

For them to be so uptight about security, it's pretty funny that they are processing a new birth certificate for me with nothing more than my CC and my mother's maiden name and my fathers name. No SS information asked for, no need to send in any other proof.
 
Originally posted by: InverseOfNeo
NFS4, a similar thing happened to me. This was back in October and I was applying for a password for the first time. I went there with my birth certificate abstract which has the county seal and stamp that was stamped officially in the correct color ink. The people at the post office said that they probabl wont accept it because it isnt the official long form BC. They sent it anyway but told me that I might be getting a letter saying they need the long birth cert. In the end, it didnt matter and I got my passport.

Where are ya going anyway?
Click to expand...

kraut land 😀
 
Originally posted by: InverseOfNeo
NFS4, a similar thing happened to me. This was back in October and I was applying for a password for the first time. I went there with my birth certificate abstract which has the county seal and stamp that was stamped officially in the correct color ink. The people at the post office said that they probabl wont accept it because it isnt the official long form BC. They sent it anyway but told me that I might be getting a letter saying they need the long birth cert. In the end, it didnt matter and I got my passport.

Where are ya going anyway?
Click to expand...

dang those are some strict requirements to get one
 
well, when you showed up with NFS4 as your name....that raised some flags, naturally they told you to get a certified one 😉 that ace reporter tee shirt didn't help either 😛

seriously though, my bro and I went to europe a couple of month ago and they thought he was a terrorist with the same name :Q
 
Government fees piss me off as well. We get taxed then tons of fees on top of that. Its like when your license expires, its no longer considered a valid form of idenitification...BS. It's illegal for alcohol distributors to accept an expired ID even if its totally valid otherwise. Lame.

When I first got my license they told me I needed a certificate of live birth. Not a birth certificate. :roll:
 
Meh, I'm willing to deal with tight-ass security measures, as long as my identity doesn't get stolen. Lame how easy it was to get a new birth certificate though. Where in germany are you going?
 
Originally posted by: BroeBo
Government fees piss me off as well. We get taxed then tons of fees on top of that. Its like when your license expires, its no longer considered a valid form of idenitification...BS. It's illegal for alcohol distributors to accept an expired ID even if its totally valid otherwise. Lame.

When I first got my license they told me I needed a certificate of live birth. Not a birth certificate. :roll:
Click to expand...

Imagine if they took expired IDs, every kid with an older brother would be using an expired ID to buy alcohol. And kids would be using IDs from before states started using "high-tech" IDs that are more difficult to fake... NJ and Michigan both used easily-duplicated IDs until a couple of years ago.
 
you need a certified copy with a raised seal on it, that is a real BC

i never heard of a "wallet" BC, sounds like a fakery to me
 
VeggieFrog does not drive... she does not have a driver's license.

She needed to renew her passport and went to the state office. She brought her current passport, which did not expire for a few more months, and her college ID. I waited in the car while she went into the office. She came back out nearly in tears 1/2 hour later.

After waiting for ages while the government employees took their sweet time with one person in front of her... When it was VeggieFrogs turn, they would not accept her application because she did not have a driver's license. They wanted a picture ID. So, she told them to use her current passport as her pic ID, since it was not yet expired. They said no.. a current passport is not an acceptable form of ID when applying for a passport. And a college ID is not an official ID.

I was sooo mad. I went in and got a supervisor... she said the only thing i could do was come back another time with proper ID or pay extra to sign a form of affidavit pledging that she was who she said she was. Thing is... the state office does not have the right to accept or deny the application... all they do is take the application and the $$$ and send it to Philadelphia and it is up to them whether to accept or deny. I guess she did not know that i knew this... and after a nice standoff, she accpeted the application, with the passport and college id, and sent it off.

VeggieFrog got her new passport, and her old one returned within a few weeks.

Sheesh what a carry on.
 
Originally posted by: mugs
Originally posted by: BroeBo
Government fees piss me off as well. We get taxed then tons of fees on top of that. Its like when your license expires, its no longer considered a valid form of idenitification...BS. It's illegal for alcohol distributors to accept an expired ID even if its totally valid otherwise. Lame.

When I first got my license they told me I needed a certificate of live birth. Not a birth certificate. :roll:
Click to expand...

Imagine if they took expired IDs, every kid with an older brother would be using an expired ID to buy alcohol. And kids would be using IDs from before states started using "high-tech" IDs that are more difficult to fake... NJ and Michigan both used easily-duplicated IDs until a couple of years ago.
Click to expand...

I was so pissed when they changed that...
 
Originally posted by: mugs
Originally posted by: BroeBo
Government fees piss me off as well. We get taxed then tons of fees on top of that. Its like when your license expires, its no longer considered a valid form of idenitification...BS. It's illegal for alcohol distributors to accept an expired ID even if its totally valid otherwise. Lame.

When I first got my license they told me I needed a certificate of live birth. Not a birth certificate. :roll:
Click to expand...

Imagine if they took expired IDs, every kid with an older brother would be using an expired ID to buy alcohol. And kids would be using IDs from before states started using "high-tech" IDs that are more difficult to fake... NJ and Michigan both used easily-duplicated IDs until a couple of years ago.
Click to expand...

If my brother wanted mine, I could give it to him, say I lost mine and get a new one.

I know I have to live with the system. It still annoys me that you have to pay large fees/wait in huge fvcking lines to get a few numbers changed on your license just to buy yourself a beer.
 
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