# Travel >> Travel Preparation >> Passports

How to Obtain an Alabama Birth Certificate

When you register a child for school or apply for a passport, a birth certificate is normally a required form of identification. The Alabama Department of Public Health maintains birth records for all births that occur in that state. To order a birth certificate, you must be the person listed on the certificate--known as the registrant--or the registrant's parent, legal guardian, spouse, child or sibling. Birth certificates more than 125 years old are public record and available to anyone.

Vital records application
Application fee

Instructions

- 1
  Download a vital records application from the Alabama Department of Public Health website.
- 2
  Complete the vital records application by providing your name, address, telephone number, relationship to the registrant and the reason for the request in the applicant section of the application. Provide the registrant's name, date of birth, county of birth and parents' names in the birth section.
- 3
  Submit the vital records application and application fee--$15 as of November 2010--by mail to the Alabama Department of Public Health at:
  
  Alabama Department of Public Health
  
  Alabama Vital Records
  
  P.O. Box 5625
  
  Montgomery, AL 36103-5625
  
  You can also bring the application to any county health department within the state for same-day service.