Birth certificate
From Wikinfo
In most forms of government, a birth certificate is an official legal document usually describing
- Name at Birth
- Date of Birth
- Sex (Gender)
- Place of Birth (City, Region, Country)
- Birth Registration Number
- Legal Parent(s)
The official birth certificate is stored at a government record office. The person also holds an official birth certificate.
In Canada and the United States of America, it is stored with the government of the receiver's state or province.
The birth certificate is used to authenticate your identity and nationality, and assist with obtaining government IDs, such as a passport or driver's license. With it, you are usually naturalized with the country of birth, but some nations are changing that law.
In England and Wales, birth certificates have been issued since 1837 by local registrars, who retain an official register locally and send a copy to a central store, formerly Somerset House in London, but now Smedley Hydro in Southport. Until March 2008, the responsible Government office was the General Register Office, but as of 1 April 2008 it is the Identity and Passport Service, an agency of the Home Office. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own General Register Offices.
References
- Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Birth_certificate" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birth_certificate, used under the GNU Free Documentation License
