Virginia sells its vital records in two places, and the difference matters mostly for speed. The Department of Health's Office of Vital Records issues certificates by post, in person at its Richmond office and through drop off, charging fifteen dollars for each requested copy. The Department of Motor Vehicles sells certified copies of Virginia birth, death, marriage and divorce records at every one of its customer service centers, charging a seventeen dollar records search fee and ordinarily handing the document over at the counter.
Who may buy one is the same at both counters. Vital records are available to immediate family members only, meaning mother, father, spouse, child, brother, sister and grandparents, each with valid identification, and birth records can also be issued to a legal guardian with proof of custody. The department states the exclusions as plainly as the inclusions: aunts, uncles, cousins, in laws and any other person cannot obtain a person's vital record. Anyone requesting a record must provide a legible copy of their identification. Local offices that issue vital records appear on the Virginia county pages.
- Fifteen or seventeen dollars: fifteen a copy from the health department, seventeen as a search fee at a motor vehicle counter.
- Same day at the DMV: eligible customers ordinarily leave the counter with the certificate in hand.
- Immediate family only: parents, spouse, child, siblings and grandparents, plus a legal guardian with proof of custody.
- A hundred years to public: birth records become public information a century after the event, death, marriage and divorce records after twenty five years.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Virginia's own systems: the Virginia Department of Health Office of Vital Records, the Department of Motor Vehicles vital records page, the motor vehicle department's vital record certificates page, the health department's questions and answers, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
Buying a certificate at the motor vehicle counter
The motor vehicle route is the quickest in Virginia and is open at every customer service center in the state. The applicant completes the Virginia Birth Certificate Application, form DL 81, for a birth certificate, or the Virginia Vital Record Application, form DL 82, for marriage, divorce and death certificates, presents acceptable identification, and pays a seventeen dollar records search fee. Two points about that fee matter.
It is a search fee, so it applies whether or not the department is able to locate the record. And it buys speed: eligible customers leave the counter with the requested document in hand. Where a vital record cannot be found, or cannot be printed at the counter, the application is forwarded immediately to the Department of Health's Division of Vital Records for further research, and if the record is available the certificate is posted to the address on the application.
Ordering from the health department
The Office of Vital Records charges fifteen dollars for each requested copy, payable by cheque, money order, payment card, mobile payment or cash, with cheques and money orders completed, signed and made payable to the State Health Department. Every request needs the requester's signature and a legible photocopy of their identification. Applications may be posted to the office's Richmond address, brought to its walk in counter, which is open from seven in the morning until four in the afternoon on weekdays, or dropped off, with anything dropped off after two in the afternoon treated as received the next business day.
The drop off option is not available for amendments, name changes or corrections, which have to go through the department's amendment process. The customer care centre answers the telephone from eight in the morning until half past four on weekdays.
Who counts as immediate family
Virginia's list is short and closed. Mother, father, spouse, child, brother, sister and grandparents may obtain a vital record with valid identification. A legal guardian may obtain a birth record on proof of custody. Everyone else is excluded by name: aunts, uncles, cousins, in laws and any other person cannot obtain a person's vital record. That rule applies at the motor vehicle counter as much as at the health department, so a nephew sent to collect an aunt's certificate will be turned away whichever office he visits.
The identification requirement is equally firm, with a legible copy required from every requester and the department publishing what it will accept.
When a record becomes public
Virginia opens its vital records on a timetable. Birth records become public information a hundred years after the date of the event. Death, marriage and divorce records become public twenty five years after the event. Once a record is public the immediate family restriction no longer applies to it, which is why genealogical requests for older material are handled differently from identity requests for recent ones. The department also points researchers to a publicly available database carrying Virginia birth and death records from 1912 to the present, divorce records since 1918 and marriage records since 1936, which answers many family history questions without any application at all.
Amendments, and the records that need them
Corrections and changes are handled by the health department rather than the motor vehicle counter, and the department publishes separate guidance on how to request an amendment to a certificate, on gender transition amendments, and on stillbirth certificates. Because amendments cannot be dropped off, they travel by post or through the office itself, and each amendment that produces a new certificate means buying that certificate at the ordinary fee.
The department also publishes practical help that saves applications being returned, including instructions on how to complete a money order or cheque correctly and a new parent resource guide for families registering a first birth.
Choosing between the two counters
For most people the choice is settled by time and money. A motor vehicle customer service center costs two dollars more but produces the certificate immediately, which suits a passport appointment, a licence renewal or a school deadline. The health department costs fifteen dollars and takes as long as the post, but it is the office that holds the full record, handles amendments and name changes, and can research a record the counter could not find or print.
Anyone whose birth was registered long ago, whose name has changed, or whose record may contain an error should start with the health department rather than the counter, since the counter can only print what the system already holds cleanly.
Questions about Virginia birth certificates
Related Virginia records
Virginia's other records guides on this site are the Virginia public records law guide for the Freedom of Information Act, the Virginia death records guide for the same office, the Virginia court records guide for the circuit court clerks, and the Virginia county pages for every county office.