Name change delay.

[agent_dani]

Unfortunately, this will be delayed a bit. I just noticed that the copy of my birth certificate that I have isn't acceptable for the purpose because it does not list my parents' names. Such is life.

Comments

[karmen.livejournal.com]

Yeah I had to get a new one with my parents names on it for my immigration stuffs as well. More bureaucratic stuff to deal with :(

[agent_dani]

Exactly. And, as I've noted in some replies below, even more bureaucratic since they don't give me a way to directly specify that I need it to include that information. It's a guessing game as to which reason for the request will cause it to be printed (I used "legal" and am pretty sure "passport" doesn't.)

[red-ruby.livejournal.com]

Hmm, maybe ask for a "long form birth certificate"? That's what we call 'em. This isn't legal advice!!

[agent_dani]

If I end up doing the mailed request form I'll try that...I actually found exactly that suggested elsewhere. The online forms do not give me any place to do so, but do offer faster turn-around and fewer identification hoops - mailing request requires I provide photocopies of IDs, and has 8-10 weeks of processing lead time.

[lietya.livejournal.com]

How in the heck...? I didn't think that was something that COULD be omitted!

[phonemonkey.livejournal.com]

No, that sounds about right. As cmcmck says, short-form birth certificates are often very short - mine's tiny. In the US, I'm guessing the exact format differs state-by-state - see also the Birthers who know that Obama can't be a US citizen because his skin tone birth certificate doesn't look right to them, but who have never actually seen a Hawaiian birth certificate in the flesh.

[lietya.livejournal.com]

Very true. I misunderstood because I forgot about those short forms.

Good point about Obama too, unfortunately. That and they WANT any excuse.

I had to post this from my phone as my work connection thinks this LJ is porn again - apologies.

[agent_dani]

And, worse, as I replied to cmcmck below, Pennsylvania claims not to have separate long and short forms, rather the reason stated for the request controls what information is printed. I'm hoping "legal" gives it; if not, I'll try "marriage" as, after I submitted my order, I learned that worked for windrdr.

I'm told there is a way to ensure it is if I use the mail request, but I'm trying this since it is significantly faster - I should have it within two weeks rather than having to wait eight to ten weeks after they receive the form for them to even process the request.

[agent_dani]

It is the short form. Fun fact: in Pennsylvania, the short form and long form are printed on exactly the same stock. windrdr had to obtain one when we got married at the end of the 1990s. It's printed on the same format stock as mine, obtained in early 1991, just the lower half has her parents' names rather than being blank as that space is on mine.

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

It it's anything like the BC system here, it sounds as if you have what they call a 'short form' BC rather than a full BC. It's reasonably easily rectified, at least, if annoying.

[agent_dani]

That's what it is. Curiously, when windrdr obtained a copy of hers eight years after this copy of mine was obtained, she got one printed on the same format of stock but with her parents' names printed on the lower half (mine is simply blank there.)

It's a little less easily rectified as the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania claims to not have a "long form" as such; what information is printed depends on the reason for the request, but they won't tell what reason to pick to get which information included. Mine obtained in 1991 was for a passport and doesn't. I went with "legal" for this request.

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

The long form and the short form are at least different in style here- I possess a copy of each. The short form assumes the same name as one's parents which mine certainly wasn't up to when I married, while the long form only gives the 'given' names and assumes the rest.

A further complication is that 'old style' (of the sort mine would originally have been) and 'new style' are both available so one has to choose what sort one would like if one was born before a certain date- I went for old style when they finally allowed us to do that sort of thing in 2004-5 after the passage of the GRA for no better reason than it states 'girl' rather than 'female' and I sorta liked that :o)

I'd relied upon a forgery up to then- naughty, criminal Chiara :oZ

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Btw 'Commonwealth of Pennsylvania' amuses me as apart from being a Civil War historian (ours, not yours) I'm also a Quaker :o)

[agent_dani]

There are a few US states (5-7, perhaps?) that officially use that. Virginia is another.

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

It's a result of our Civil Wars. Remember that Britain was, if only for a few short years, a republic and a Commonwealth then we were insane enough to restore the monarchy :o/