South Carolina Vital Records offices issue birth certificates for births that occurred in the state since 1915, and the Department of Public Health's birth certificate page sets out who may have a certified copy: the person named on the certificate if they are at least eighteen, the parent or parents named on it, and a legal guardian or legal representative of one of those people. Where the registrant has died, immediate family members or their legal representatives may obtain a copy, provided they submit an original certified copy of the death record rather than a photocopy.
Parents of a newborn should note what the department says plainly: newborn birth certificates are not automatically posted to parents, the information gathered in hospital is solely for registering the birth, and the hospital will not order the child's certificate. The first copy has to be requested like any other, through one of five routes, and the fee depends on which one is used. Local offices that issue vital records appear on the South Carolina county pages.
- Twelve dollars standard, seventeen expedited: the postal search fee against the counter, online and telephone fee, each including one certified copy.
- Three dollars for extras: each additional copy of the same certificate ordered at the same time.
- Thirty to forty five minutes: the average processing time for a counter request, with same day service as the department's goal.
- Any office, any county: all vital records offices can issue birth certificates from any county in South Carolina.
Written by SearchSystems.net from South Carolina's own systems: the South Carolina Department of Public Health birth certificates page, the department's vital records fees page, the department's vital records pages, the department's birth record application form, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
The counter, and how to beat the queue
In person is the quickest route in South Carolina, with an average processing time of thirty to forty five minutes and same day service as a stated goal for most requests. It is not guaranteed for everything: paternity affidavits, adoption processing, corrections and amendments all take longer, and the department asks anyone needing those to arrive before four in the afternoon so there is time to process the request. The applicant brings a completed application form, the seventeen dollar non refundable expedited searching fee, which includes one certified copy, three dollars for each additional copy, and a valid government, school or employer issued photo identification.
The department also publishes advice on timing: requests peak on Mondays and Fridays and over the lunch hour every day, while non peak hours are from nine to eleven in the morning from Tuesday to Thursday, and bringing exact payment and completed forms shortens the wait. The state office on Bull Street in Columbia issues long form certificates and both initiates and completes corrections, while regional offices issue long form certificates and initiate corrections. Every office can issue a certificate for a birth in any county of the state.
Ordering online or by telephone
Two conditions apply to the remote routes. Only the person or persons named on the birth certificate may order through an online vendor, which rules out a parent ordering online for an adult child. And the department names the vendors it has approved, warning that it cannot guarantee that orders from other websites will be processed. Through either approved vendor the fee is the seventeen dollar non refundable expedited searching fee plus three dollars for each additional copy and the vendor's own processing fee of around nine dollars, with average processing of five to seven business days and faster signature required delivery available for more.
Telephone ordering runs at any hour through one of the vendors, at the same seventeen dollar search fee including one certified copy, three dollars for each additional copy, a twelve dollar eighty five charge for the vendor's services and any expedited shipping. Payment is by major credit or debit card, and the vendor performs online identity verification on every order, with a valid photo identification required to be uploaded where verification does not pass.
Ordering by post, and the automatic rejection
The postal route is the cheapest and the slowest: a twelve dollar non refundable standard searching fee, which includes one certified copy, with three dollars for each additional copy, and an average processing time of four weeks. The application, the fee and a valid government, school or employer issued photo identification go to the department's post office box in West Columbia, which is the only address that accepts postal requests.
One sentence on the department's page deserves attention: when applications arrive without proper identification they are rejected automatically and not processed. That makes the identification copy the single most important element of a South Carolina postal application.
Dropping an application off
Drop offs are accepted only at the state office in Richland County, and they let an applicant choose the speed: the twelve dollar non refundable search fee with four week processing, or the seventeen dollar expedited fee with processing in five business days or less. The same documents are needed, and payment must be exact cash, a money order or a cashier's cheque made payable to the department. The office gives a receipt on drop off, and the certificate can either be posted out or collected in Columbia. For anyone who lives near the state office but cannot wait at the counter, this is the practical middle route.
Corrections, amendments and parentage
The department publishes separate guidance on everything that changes a record rather than copies it: corrections, administrative amendments, adding a father, adoption, changing a name and changing sex, along with a page on same sex parentage. Those processes are initiated at regional offices but completed at the state office in Columbia, which is why the department distinguishes between offices that initiate corrections and the one that completes them.
Expected wait times for each service are published separately, and because corrections are excluded from the same day goal, anyone needing both a correction and a certificate should plan for two stages.
Which route to choose
The decision rests on who is asking and how soon the certificate is needed. If the applicant is the person named on the record and can wait a week, the online route is convenient and the identity verification often avoids posting identification at all. If the applicant is a parent, a guardian or a representative, the remote vendor route is closed and the choice is the counter, the post or a drop off. If the certificate is needed today, the counter at a state or regional office is the only reliable answer, and arriving mid morning midweek with exact payment and a completed form is the way to be in and out in half an hour.
Questions about South Carolina birth certificates
Related South Carolina records
South Carolina's other records guides on this site are the South Carolina public records law guide for the Freedom of Information Act, the South Carolina death records guide for the same section, the South Carolina court records guide for the public index, and the South Carolina county pages for every county office.