[mlo]

"I have two copies of my (long form) birth certificate, both requested about ten years apart. Both are photographic images of the original form transferred to official paper, signed, and stamped with a raised seal. They are the entire original form, not extracted data."

Please note that I didn't say how it worked in every place. But what I described is how it works in a lot of places. Including Hawaii, and my county in California.

[El Gato]

Please note that I didn't say how it worked in every place. But what I described is how it works in a lot of places. Including Hawaii, and my county in California.

California is one of the states, Texas is another, whose "short form"/abstract Birth Certificate is not sufficient, by itself, to prove citizenship for purposes of getting a passport. Thus there must be a way, which might take longer and/or cost more, to get a copy of the long form version.

Similarly, Hawaii itself will not take a Certification of Live Birth for purposes of eligibility for their Hawaiian lands program, but they will take the long form "Certificate of Live Birth".