Over the weekend Puerto Rico Governor Luis Fortuño signed into law an extension of validity for current Puerto Rico birth certificates. Puerto Rico birth certificates will now continue being valid until September 30, 2010. New birth certificates will begin being issued on July 1, 2010 as originally planned, and will have indefinite validity.
Therefore, individuals showing a Puerto Rico birth certificate at the Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) may continue to do so until September 30, 2010.
The Puerto Rico government had previously passed a law invalidating all birth certificates issued before July 1, 2010. The law is intended to combat fraud and protect the identity and credit of all people born in Puerto Rico.
DMV recommends that anyone who needs to get a new birth certificate from Puerto Rico should plan ahead and allow plenty of time to get the new birth certificate. At this time, the Puerto Rico Health Department does not know how long it will take to process a request for a new birth certificate.
According to the Puerto Rico government, if you are age 18 or older and were born in Puerto Rico, you may apply for a new copy of your birth certificate online at www.pr.gov.
For more information on the law and instructions on how to apply, see www.prfaa.com/birthcertificates/. For information in Spanish, visit www.prfaa.com/certificadosdenacimiento/
Please visit the website at www.dmv.ri.gov for hours of operations and other useful information.