jbminger wrote: ↑Sun Feb 19, 2023 5:22 pm
Have you actually submitted your “certified copy” in a passport application and they told you it wouldn’t be accepted, or
Did you contact them, via email or something to ask if they would accept your “certified copy”?
If it’s the latter, I think what you’re calling a “certified copy” may actually be an original. If your birth cert document came from the registrars office of death and birth, then, while it’s not the original birth cert, it’s still an original document and not a certified copy.
It is my understanding that a certified copy is a photocopy of a document that a solicitor or a notary or similar would sub to say they have seen the original document and the copy is indeed a true copy of the original.
If you get a new birth cert from the registrars office, it’s not a copy.
What you're saying isn't quite correct but I understand what you're getting at. Any kind of birth, death, marriage certificate etc. is only ever a certified copy of an entry in a central register. They all include wording to that effect, e.g. "Certified to be a true copy of an entry in a register in the custody of the Registrar General". However, for official purposes they can be considered original documents since they are issued from an authorised authority and printed on watermarked paper with seals, serial numbers and other security features. So, when the passport office asks for an original, this kind of certificate suffices.
On the other hand and as you describe, a photocopy of a driving licence, passport, birth certificate etc. which is then certified by someone on an approved list (e.g. bank manager, solicitor) is only ever a certified copy of the original and will not be sufficient if the original is requested.
I think in this case the OP is talking about a birth certificate issued by a Registrar, i.e. an original and not a subsequent photocopy.
