Note: effective February 3, 2010 - La Nueva Casa de Amigos Health Center will open on Wednesday instead of Friday.
NEW SERVICE*
Certificates at a Center near you one day per week, 8:30 a.m. - 10:45 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. to 4 p.m., click for maps (scroll down on some pages)
Monday through Thursday – Northeast Multi-Service Center - Hours of operation for this site only: 8:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. - 4 p.m.
*-Note: At these
sites, only certified birth records are issued
at this time.
Vital Statistics office information for the 8000 North Stadium Drive location
Office
hours 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through
Friday (Identification Required) Due to legal concerns:
telephone, fax-in and verification requests
are not accepted.
Same day walk-in lobby service
for:
Birth Certificates (generally
available 14 business days after birth occurs)
Death Certificates (generally
available 21 business days after death occurs)
Birth
Facts (Abstract
certificates from State records for all births
outside Houston in Texas)
Thursdays Only Extended Hours:
Lobby
hours: 7:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Funeral
home services 7:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Acknowledgement
of Paternity (AOP) Update
Update: Due to an overwhelming demand and in our quest to provide quality customer service Acknowledgement of Paternity will be by Appointment Only. Beginning Feb. 10, 2009 appointments will be scheduled Tuesday-Friday, 8 a.m.- 4 p.m. To schedule an appointment please call the Acknowledgement of Paternity appointment desk at (713) 794-9068.
Letter on company stationery stating the purpose of the request
Completed vital statistics application for certified document
Third Party Applicants
Required Documentation
Documentation linking you or your agency to tangible reason for requesting certified document
(partial listing):
a. Legal documents such as contracts, court rulings
b. Bank statements, deeds, titles showing joint ownership
c. Letter from party with a copy of their valid picture identification requesting that you
receive the certified document for them
d. Business letter on company stationery with a copy of documentation linking individual
to your agency, i.e. a, b, c above
Valid personal identification w/picture
Letter on company stationery stating the purpose of the request
Completed vital statistics application for certified document
Full size certified birth
registration documents (birth certificates)
are issued to walk-in customers on the
day requested.
Birth wallets (wallet
size certificates) and birth facts (certificates
for persons born in Texas but not Houston)
may be purchased by the customer and mailed
from the main office the next business
day.
Birth certificates, birth
wallets and birth facts are $23.00 each
and can be paid for by using money order
or check only at the new sites.
Questions may be directed
to the Vital Statistics main number 713-794-9050.
Same
day walk-in service is provided or you may
request the following by mail:
Apply
for Certified Copies by Regular Mail
Regular mail is processed within 5 business
days of receipt by our office. Regular mail
is mailed to the customer via U.S. Postal Services.
Provide the following for mail-in request processing
Apply
for Certified Copies by Overnight Mail (Additional
Fees Apply)
Overnight mail is processed on the business
day of receipt by our office. Overnight mail
is mailed to the customer via overnight courier.
Fees in addition to certificate cost are $15.00
expedited processing and $30.00 overnight courier.
If customer provides a prepaid return overnight
envelope the $15.00 expedited processing fee
will be charged and the $30.00 overnight courier
fee waived.
Provide the following for overnight mail-in
request processing
Mail the three documents (completed application,
copy of qualified
applicant's identification
and
payment) to:
Bureau
of Vital Statistics,
8000 N. Stadium Drive, 1st Floor,
Houston, Texas 77054
Restrictions
Birth
records are confidential for 75 years and death
records for 25 years; therefore, issuance is
restricted to qualified
applicants. Please attach a photocopy of
ID to application. Failure to provide the purpose
in obtaining the record and relationship to
the applicant in the request, when the applicant
is not the person named on the record, will
result in the application being rejected or
delayed in processing.
Due to guidelines from the
State of Texas and to deter identity theft,
only certain documents are accepted as valid
forms of identification for the purpose of
obtaining vital statistics records.
Acknowledgement
of Paternity (AOP) Update
As of February 10, 2009 the Bureau of Vital Statistics
is processing Acknowledgment of Paternity (AOP)
and New Birth Certificate Based on Parentage
by appointment only from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday - Friday. Both parents must be
present and provide valid identification for
notarization. The AOP process establishes legal
paternity for a child born to unmarried parents.
The AOP is a legal document under Texas Law
and has the same effect as a court order establishing
paternity. The AOP is a critical process in
ensuring the child is eligible for benefits
such as Social Security, Veteran assets, child
support and health care. The fee to file a
new birth certificate based on paternity is
$25.00. The additional fee for a certified
copy of the updated birth record is $22.00.
Fees are paid directly to the State Vital Statistics
Office at Austin, Texas. Further information
can be obtained directly from the State office
at www.dshs.state.tx.us/vs/reqproc/amendparentage.shtm.
Paternity
and/or Amendment of a Birth and/or Death
Certificate Paternity: By naming
a father on the Texas Birth Certificate or
on an Acknowledgment of Paternity Form, a
presumption of paternity is established for
a child born in this state. This should not
be confused with establishing a legal father
for the purpose of child support or visitation.
For information on how to establish a legal
father, contact Geraldine Hebert at 713-558-9669.
You may also contact the Texas Office of the
Attorney General, or see the Attorney General
site on Establishing Paternity http://www.oag.state.tx.us/AG_Publications/txts/paternity.shtml.
Forms may be completed and mailed directly
to the State of Texas Bureau of Vital Statistics
at the address below.
Bureau of Vital Statistics,
P.O. Box 12040, Austin, Texas 78711-2040
Qualified
Applicants A qualified applicant is defined as
the registrant, or immediate family member
either by blood or marriage, his or her guardian,
or his or her legal representative. Local,
state and federal law enforcement or governmental
agencies and other persons may be designated
as properly qualified applicants by demonstrating
a direct and tangible interest in the record
when information in the record is necessary
to implement a statutory provision or to protect
a personal legal property right. A properly
qualified applicant may also be any person
who has submitted an application for a request
to release personal information and has been
approved as outlined in the Health and Safety
Code, Section 181.11, relating to Requests
for Personal Data.
Birth/Death
Certificate Outside of Harris County but in
Texas: The City of Houston issues
Birth Fact or Birth Abstract certificates for
births in Texas, but outside the City of
Houston city limits. These documents are issued
via remote access directly from Austin, Texas.
The Birth Fact or Birth Abstract certificates
are legal documents and can be used for the
same legal purposes as certificates generated
from Houston files for institutional or hospital
births. Death certificates for deaths occurring
outside the Houston district are available
in the district of which the death occurred
or from the State of Texas Vital Statistics
Office at P.O. Box 12040, Austin, Texas 78711-29040.
Birth
or Death Certificate for a State Other than
Texas
For out-of-state birth or death certificates,
see the National
Center for Health Statistics' site on Where
to Write for Vital Records.
Apostille:
Authenticating Birth or Death Certificates
If you are transferred by your employer to a
foreign country, wanting to marry in a foreign
country, or if you are adopting a child born
in a foreign country, you may need to present
your birth certificate to an official with the
foreign country. If you are taking a deceased
family member to a foreign country, or settling
an estate of a deceased family member in a foreign
country, the government officials with the foreign
country will most likely require the death certificate
of the decedent. Depending on the country and
the circumstance, the documents may not be accepted
by the foreign government officials unless they
have been authenticated by the Secretary
of State's Office. The 1961 Hague Convention
established a pre-printed form for the purpose
of authenticating documents for the countries
that have joined the convention. This form is
called an Apostille. If a document is authenticated
with an Apostille, it will be recognized and
will not need further certification as long as
the foreign country requesting the document has
joined the Hague Convention. Since October 15,
1981, the United States has been part of the
Convention. Call 512-463-5705 for additional
information. The mailing address is Texas Secretary
of State, Statutory Document Section, P.O. Box
12887, 1019 Brazos, 2nd Floor, Austin, TX 78701.
Heirloom
Birth Certificates Native Texans have
a proud history. Celebrate that heritage with
a personalized Birth Certificate. Whether
you are a first or fifth generation Texan,
you share a unique and proud heritage of independence
and individualism. To celebrate this heritage,
the Texas Legislature authorized the creation
of an "heirloom"
birth certificate. This legal birth certificate
celebrates that unique heritage of being a
Native Texan. Heirloom certificates are issued
by the
Texas Department of Health Services.
Fees (Note:
these fees shall be assessed to search for any record
regardless of whether a certified copy is issued or not.)
Fees
are subject to change without notice.
Each
SEARCH and/or CERTIFIED COPY of a Certificate
of Birth
$23.00
Each
SEARCH and/or CERTIFIED COPY of a Certificate
of Birth (wallet size)
$23.00
Each
SEARCH and/or CERTIFIED COPY of a Certificate
of Birth for births outside of Harris
County
$23.00
Each
Additional CERTIFIED COPY OF the same
birth record ordered at the same time
$23.00
Each
SEARCH and/or CERTIFIED COPY of a Certificate
of Death
$21.00
Each
Additional CERTIFIED COPY OF the same
death record ordered at the same time
$4.00
Special
Handling/Expedited Processing
$15.00
In addition to certificate cost
Same
Day/Overnight Courier
$30.00
Overnight courier fee. In addition to
certificate cost and special handling/expedited
processing fee.
Fees are non-refundable and non-transferable if a record is not found. Make check or money orders payable to the City of Houston.
We only accept pre-printed checks with your name, address and valid Driver's License only. "NO EXCEPTIONS"
If your name does not appear on the credit cards (Debit Card, Discover, Visa, MasterCard), we cannot accept payment. "NO EXCEPTIONS"
Fees in Addition to Certificate Fee for Special
Handling and Overnight Processing
Special
Handling/Expedited Processing In
addition to certificate fee, $15.00 Special
Handling fee
(applications are processed day of receipt
and mailed to requester in US Post Office
Priority Mail envelope)
Same Day/Overnight
Courier: In addition to
certificate fee and $15 special handling
fee a $30 Overnight
Courier fee is assessed. (applications are
processed day of receipt and mailed out via
overnight courier)
If you provide a prepaid
self addressed overnight courier envelope,
the certificate cost and the $15.00
special handling fee will apply, the $30
courier fee will be waived.
Genealogists
Death records older than 25 years and birth
records older than 75 years are, with some
exceptions, available to genealogists. Each
document search must be paid for and sufficient
information must be provided on the application
for the document search. Some of the 19th century
death records are available for public browsing
at the Clayton
Library, 5300 Caroline, Houston,
Texas. The
Texas State Library has research
material available specifically for genealogy
research.
Notice:
Current fees are effective March 13, 2006, in accordance with legislation approved during
the 79th Texas Legislative session. The new
legislation, coupled with Vital Statistics
modernization and automation initiatives,
led to changes in fees charged for vital
record services. These changes are mandated
by Texas Administrative Code Title 25 Chapter
181.22.
