All Puerto Rican Birth Certificates Invalid After July 1

Widespread identity theft: the reason why millions of Puerto Rican birth certificates will become invalid on July 1, 2010.

Though the law to make current Puerto Rican birth certificates invalid was passed last December, the move was not highly publicized and only began to gain attention this past March.

Why Will Puerto Rican Birth Certificates Become Invalid?

Puerto Rico is a US commonwealth, so Puerto Ricans are US citizens at birth. Since Puerto Rican birth certificates were notoriously easy to obtain and alter, they were sold for up to $10,000 on the black market and were used as tickets to the US by drug traffickers, criminals and people looking to avoid the US immigration process.

After July 1, the Puerto Rican government will issue new birth certificates to citizens who apply for them. The new documents will have improved security features and will be a lot more difficult to alter or reproduce, and hopefully the levels of identity theft and immigration fraud will go down considerably.

How Many Will Be Affected by Invalid Puerto Rican Birth Certificates?

The population of Puerto Rico is close to 4 million people. However, there are many people with Puerto Rican birth certificates who now live abroad — mainly in the United States — and are concerned about having valid birth certificates for travel or identification purposes. Birth certificates are also necessary for obtaining documents like driver’s licenses, passports and marriage licenses — even the Form I-9 employment eligibility process will be affected by invalid Puerto Rican birth certificates.

It is estimated that 1.4 million people born in Puerto Rico now live in the US. Though nearly all have US citizenship, there are many important situations when a valid birth certificate is required, and there is concern as to whether all Puerto Rican-born residents know about the change.

Of the 1.4 million Puerto Ricans living in the United States, approximately 47 percent live in Florida and another 29 percent live in New York, so government officials in those states are making a concerted effort to increase awareness of the situation.

Since the Puerto Rican birth certificates become invalid on July 1 and no one can apply for a replacement until that date, many are worried that the high demand for replacement birth certificates will mean that people will have to go several weeks — or even months — without a valid replacement.

How to Replace Invalid Puerto Rican Birth Certificates

Puerto Rican residents still residing in Puerto Rico can replace their invalid birth certificates by applying through municipal government offices.

Puerto Ricans in the United States can replace invalid birth certificates by sending in the following to Registro Demográfico, P.O. Box 11854, San Juan, PR 00910:

• A completed replacement application form, which can be downloaded for free on the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration website.
• A photocopy of a government-issued photo ID.
• A self-addressed stamped envelope.
• A $5 money order made out to the Secretary of Treasury of Puerto Rico.

But be careful! Don’t send information anywhere other than the above address, and don’t send it in before July 1, 2010 — applications received before July 1 could result in the delivery of an old, invalid copy of your Puerto Rican birth certificate!