Lost Birth Certificate

[Glady 0]

I Cannot find My Birth Cerificate. My PArents have looked all over and cannot locate it. The problem is I was Born In Ghana But lives in Canada. Besides perhaps getting a copy made in Ghana is there anything else i can do. I'm preparion my DS-230? CAn My Mother Swear an affidavit or anything like that?

[sunset2005 0]

i believe you will have to contact the country you were born in. My dad was born in Australia and a very long time ago, he needed to get a copy of his birth certificate and he had to contact Australia to secure his birth certificate. I dont know if rules have changed since then like i said, it was a LONG time ago when my dad needed a certified copy of his birth certificate.

[Otto 83]

I doubt parents can swear out an affidavit...

it has to come from the issuing authority. In the US, for some that were born abroad (military, government service, etc) a child's birth can be recored in their home country (as well as birth country) - meaning the government (I believe it's Dept. of Vital Statistics) has a record of it.

In my case, I guess my parents didn't recored it in the US, so I had to go back to Germany to get it re-issued. It wasn't a terrible problem (didn't take too long or cost too much).

Canadian government may be similar...I don't know..(Am assuming you're Canadian..sorry if am incorrect..)

[Niels Bohr 72]

Hmmm....My former country doesn't have vital records. Some country keeps them, and some don't.

I was born in Thailand, and all I have is the record given to me by the doctor. The government didn't keep a record of it. Thank goodness I still had it before I filed for citizenship.

Anyway, what I suggest is getting an official document from your school or public authority in your area that you submitted your date of birth to. Call the consulate if that's sufficient.

Edited March 26, 2007 by consolemaster