Order your Illinois (IL) Birth Certificate Online

Illinois birth records and other vital records are kept by the Illinois Department of Public Health. There are vital records offices in several counties, including an office in Cook County, DuPage County, Lake County, Will County, and Kane County. The city of Chicago also has a vital records office.

In the event that your birth certificate was lost, destroyed, damaged or stolen you can easily complete an online application to get an authorized copy. When using our online service, you can avoid going to a vital records office or agency in person. The birth certificate application is straightforward and simple to fill out.

Before applying for your birth certificate, please know that there are two types of copies available and they cannot both be used for the same purposes.

• A certified or authorized copy of a birth certificate - it will have the registrar’s raised, embossed, impressed or multicolored seal, as well as the registrar’s signature, and the date the certificate was filed with the registrar’s office. This authorized copy can be used for several purposes.
• An informational copy of a birth certificate - informational copies have the following words imprinted across the face of the copy: “Informational, not a valid document to establish identity”.

If, for example, you are planning to get married or wish to enroll in university or a sports program, you will need to provide an authorized copy of your birth certificate. This type of copy is also necessary to obtain a social security number, apply for a U.S. passport, and getting a driver’s license. The informational copy is mostly used for health or research purposes. An informational copy cannot be used to prove your identity.

To obtain an authorized or informational copy of your birth certificate certificate, you must complete the online application with these details:

• Last name (as it would appear on the certificate)
• First name
• Sex
• Exact date of birth
• Name of hospital or address where you were born
• Why do you need the certificate
• Your mother’s name or parent’s name prior to first marriage
• Your father’s name or parent’s name prior to first marriage

After you have completed the application, you simply need to print it out and mail it to an Illinois vital records office.

Illinois Birth Certificate Short Form and Long Form

Birth Certificate Long

The birth certificate long, is an authorized copy of the original record, with the embossed Seal of Illinois. this certificate will be accepted by all state and federal agencies to proof birth and U.S. citizenship. The birth certificate long can be used to apply for a passport, get a social security number, travel, obtain a driver’s license, register for school or sports programs and more. Illinois has birth certificates available from 1916 onwards.

Birth Certificate Short

This is a certified abstract which will show a child’s name, birth, date, sex, county of birth, and may also list the parent’s names. A birth certificate short, can be used as proof of identity, however, it cannot be used to obtain a passport if the parent’s name are not included. Birth certificates are included from 1916 to the present.

Who can request a birth certificate

An authorized copy of a birth certificate must be requested by certain people only. If you need an authorized copy of your certificate, you need to be one of the following eligible people:

• The certificate holder, a parent or legal guardian of the certificate holder.
• A child, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, spouse, or domestic partner of the certificate holder.
• A member of a law enforcement agency or a representative of another governmental agency, as provided by law, who is conducting official business.
• A party entitled to receive the record as a result of a court order, or an attorney or a licensed adoption agency seeking the birth record.
• An attorney representing the certificate holder or the certificate holder’s estate, or any person or agency empowered by statute or appointed by a court to act on behalf of the certificate holder or the certificate holder's estate.

If you need to obtain your driver’s license, apply for a passport, get married, register for school, you will need an authorized copy of your birth certificate.

Remember that what differentiates this type of birth certificate copy is the official state registrar’s raised, embossed, impressed or multicolored Seal of Illinois, the registrar’s signature, and the date the certificate was filed with the registrar’s office.

Illinois Birth Certificate cost

To obtain a copy of an Illinois birth certificate, applicants must cover the cost of each copy requested. In Illinois, the fee of the birth certificate copy is of $15, each additional copy will cost $2.