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Ordering a birth-certificate online is much more convenient but not necessarily faster, Ole Miss students claim.
A recently conducted investigative report showed that ordering your birth-certificate online is a much “less troubling” way to get your birth-certificate.
There are many ways of getting your birth-certificate. Some of them include: online applications, telephone, fax, credit card or in person at the Mississippi State Department of Health office (MSDH) in Jackson at 571 Stadium Drive.
Two of the online websites through which one can order birth certificates are www.vitalchek.com or directly through the MSDH website, www.health.ms.gov.
Both websites have a user-friendly interface. In both instances the information displayed is concise and self-explanatory. Both directories provide a set of useful links to supplemental ways of applying for a birth-certificate besides the online applications.
You don’t need to be a computer expert in order to find those websites or order your birth-certificate through them. The easiest way to find them is either by entering the exact URL in the address bar of the explorer or “Google” the terms.
Everything is just a few clicks away. And the best part of the online orders is that in case one needs other personal documentation, it is all available on the same pages as the birth-certificates, for instance death certificates, divorce records and the option to make modifications to a preexisting birth or death-certificate.
Also, orders can be done through telephone, fax and mail. Which one is most convenient to you? Well that depends mostly on the availability on other factors such as a vehicle, telephone or the internet. But the great advantage nowadays is that these means are available almost everywhere.
Ordering by phone, however, might save one the trip to the department but it can turn out a bit of a backslap too. The official MSDH website claims that the usual hold time for a VitalChek operator is between 20 and 30 minutes. Even the website recommends online ordering instead of telephone orders.
Although the means of acquiring the birth-certificate may vary, the information required to submit is the same.
According to the MSDH operators one needs the following information: full name, date of birth, gender, city or county of birth, father’s full name, mother’s maiden name, relationship to person inquiring for the record, purpose for this document, signature, address and of course the payment. Payment varies based on the process you choose.
The certified copy cost 15 dollars and for each additional copy of the birth-certificate individuals have to pay an additional five dollars. The birth-certificate may be used for proof of age, for applications for traveling documents (i.e. passports) or any other legal purposes.
The most common payments are usually credit cards but one can pay also with cash, money order or with a check.
If a person needs the certificate very quickly, he or she can order with a credit card 24/7, Monday through Friday between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
The only advantage of obtaining the birth-certificate in person is that it can be issued moments after the payment is done and the order is placed, claim the official website of MSDH.
But this is not always the case, is it? Some of UM’s students said that they have applied in person but they got their certificates five to 10 days later.
Not all Mississippi citizens believe that ordering it online is more convenient than ordering in person.
This questions the convenience factor of obtaining this document. Considering other expenses such as gas and most importantly time efficiency, one might reconsider driving to the official offices. If waiting time is practically the same it is cheaper to order it by phone or fill an online application.
Even though Sharon White, a graduate journalism student at UM, admits that online orders can be more convenient, she uses the traditional way of obtaining such personal documentation – personal visit to the office.
“I rely on picking it up myself,” Sharon White said.
“I have my certificate since Sept. 14, 1965, so I cannot recall how much I paid for it,” she said. “My mother got it for me but I believe that we had to wait about a week or so in order to get it.”
Cordero Roberts, also a student at UM, admitted that he has a birth certificate obtained from Cleveland. He said that he had to wait about the same time as indicated by Sharon, “about a week.”
He added that “unless you live in a city where the office is in a close range,” it is better to do it online than to make the “one or two-hour drive and wait in the lobby for just as much time for a five-minute application.”
By Gjoko Dungevski
Sources:
http://www.health.ms.gov/msdhsite/_static/31,0,109.html
http://www.vitalchek.com/express-birth-certificates.aspx
(601) 576-7981 – (MSDH) Mississippi State Department of Health
Sharon White: swhite@olemiss.edu
Cordero Roberts: crobert@olemiss.edu
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