When you need to apostille a West Virginia birth certificate, you will need to make sure to have a certified copy of the vital record beforehand. If you need to order one, your best bet is to go through the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources. Here's what their website says about obtaining one:
Birth Certificates
Who Can Purchase Certified Copies:
In terms of obtaining vital records, West Virginia is not an "open record" state.
The people who may obtain a birth certificate are:
The Person on the Certificate
The Parents and Grandparents of Person on the Certificate
The Wife or Husband of the Person on the Certificate
The Children and Grandchildren of the Person on the Certificate
The Brothers or Sisters
Anyone who has Legal interest in the Certificate
How Much Does it cost?
By Mail or In Person $12 per copy. The fee includes a non-refundable search fee. If our computerized search doesn't find the record, we will search the year specified, the year before and the year after. Additional searches may be paid for at a rate of $12 per three year period. We accept cash, check and money orders. We do not accept debit/credit cards at our walk up counter, or by mail at this time, but next to our office is an ATM machine and West Virginia United Federal Credit Union. By Phone, Internet or Fax (Credit Card/Debit Card Only)
We contract with a company named VitalChek to take expedited credit card orders. This Service requires additional fees charged by them. Order TypeFee Charged by VitalChekNon-Rush.$30.50 + shippingRush$35.50 + shippingNote: Shipping cost varies depending upon shipping method
How long does it take?
Certificates of Birth Resulting in Stillbirth are currently hand-abstracted from the source document, the Report of Fetal Death. As such, the process is more time consuming. Depending upon the year of the Report of Fetal Death, microfilm records may need to be accessed.
In Person or by Mail Due to the extra processing time involved, customers are urged to order through the mail. Although the Certificate of Birth Resulting in Stillbirth may be ordered in person, due to the extra time involved, the Certificate will still need to be mailed to the requesting parent. The Certificate will be mailed within one to five business days from the date the order is placed.
In Person Ordering in person is the fastest way to obtain a certificate. Please allow for at least fifteen minutes, even though most requests are completed much quicker. 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM is a busy time, so keep this in mind if you are coming in on your lunch break. By Mail Ordering by mail is the slowest method to obtain a certificate. Total time consists of processing time and transit time. Processing time is the time it takes our office to enter your order into our computer system, make and mail the certificate to you. Transit time is the time it takes the Post Office to deliver the mail. Processing time is usually about five business days, but can change depending upon staffing and order volume. Transit time can vary greatly. If mail within the State of West Virginia, the mail usually takes one to two days to arrive. We suggest that you allow the Post Office five to seven days for delivery. Total time is the time it takes from when you mail the request until you receive the certificate. Total time can be as short as five business days, to 19 business days or longer. By Phone, Internet or Fax (Credit Card/Debit Card Only) From two days to ten days, depending upon what options you choose when ordering the certificate
Recent Births Please note that it can take the hospital up to a month to get the birth certificate to us, and about a week for us to do all the steps that need to take place to place the certificate on file.
How Do I Place an Order?
In Person We offer same-day walk in service at our office. We are located on the corners of Capitol and Washington Streets, (the old 'Diamond Department Store' building) in downtown Charleston, across the street from FedEx-Kinkos®. Our Address is 350 Capitol Street. The public entrance to the building is on Capitol Street, and we are located on the right side of the lobby. Click here for Detailed Instructions on how to purchase a certified certificate from our walk-in office By Mail Click here for Instructions on how to purchase a certified certificate by mail By Phone, Fax and Internet We offer an expedited service is available through a company called VitalChek® at an additional charge. You must pay with a credit or debit card (they accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover cards). Contacting VitalChek
Phone: 877-448-3953
For orders and customer service
Fax: 866-870-8723For fax orders only
Internet: http://www.vitalchek.com
For Online Ordering and general information *Before calling, it may be helpful for you to print out a copy of our Birth Certificate Request form and be prepared to give all of the information, along with your credit card information, to the customer service representative.
Apostille for West Virginia Birth Certificate
When you are in the United States and you need to conduct this sort of business internationally, an apostille most likely will be required. There is no margin for error with the authentication or apostille process. If mistakes are made, both your time and money will be wasted and you'll have to start all over again. If you want to look into outsourcing this service to someone with experience, please email me at jared@apostillellc.com or call 848-467-7740 to request my services or learn more.
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