A birth certificate is an important document which is required for various purposes. Usually the hospital where an individual is born issues a birth certificate. These may or may not be free birth certificates. In many cases, such certificates are accepted as proof of identity. However, with the recent security concerns many organizations have changed their policies and require birth certificates issued by a government agency as proof. In such instances, the free birth certificates obtained from hospitals or elsewhere may be rejected. Overseas travel is one such category. Hence, it is always best to be prepared with an alternate birth certificate.

There are numerous online offers advertising easy procurement of free birth certificates quite quickly. But you need to be aware that many of these are nothing but scams aimed at gaining access to your credit card records or other personal information. Many such sites are also mere gimmicks and though they have very attractive advertisements they turn out to be spam sites or contain information that is totally unrelated.  So use your discretion when choosing to browse any of these sites or ordering from them. Other types of free birth certificates are usually those that are issued by religious authorities.

Again, these certificates may not be accepted by all agencies as proof of identity. So it is up to you as an individual to ensure that the birth certificate you possess is sufficient to serve your purpose. A birth certificate must contain elements such as name of the individual, date of birth, time of birth, gender, and place of birth. Depending upon the issuing authority it may also contain the names of the parents and other such details. Certified copies of a birth certificate can also be obtained if required for certain purposes. There are designated government offices that issue these certified copies.