NEWS / New Yorkers frustrated with severe delays retrieving birth, death, and marriage certificates, as well as other vital records

Individuals ordering New York vital records are reporting severe delays retrieving certified copies of their vital records, including birth, death, and marriage certificates. According to CBS6 Albany, some of these delays last almost a year.

The news sources cites the example of Memory Burcalow, who filed a request for a certified copy of her birth certificate on March 26, 2026, and has yet to receive anything more than 10 months later.

“It has been almost a year,” Burcalow was quoted stating. “I put the request in on March 26th of 2025.”

Burcalow, along with thousands of other applicants, applied for a certified copy of her birth certificate in order to be able to obtain a Real ID-compliant driver’s license, which has been mandatory to board airplanes since May 2025. A certified copy of a birth certificate is one of the documents required to prove one’s identity per the Real ID Act.

In January 2026, Burcalow reportedly tried to reach out to VitalChek, the official online vendor and processor, of the New York State Bureau of Vital Records, to check on the status of her application.

“Unfortunately, the NY State Vital Records has not responded to the status request we recently submitted in regards to your order,” VitalChek wrote. “We will submit another status request to emphasize the urgency of this matter. As soon as we receive a response, we will contact you with further details.”

Individuals applying for genealogy have reportedly experienced even longer delays. CBS5 News Albany cites the example of Nancy Langlie, who paid $22 for genealogy records in April 2021 but has not received anything nearly 5 years later.

According to CBS5, the New York Department of Health had a backlog of over 11,000 unanswered genealogy requests back in March 2025. Due to difficulties processing vital records orders, the Department has reportedly “paused” genealogy orders and is not accepting payment for new orders.

New York State Health Commissioner James McDonald emphasized that digitizing more could result in requests being processed more efficiently.

“The Department is committed to improving vital records access,” the Department wrote in a Statement. “Thanks to Governor Hochul, the Executive Budget includes $7 million to launch an effort to digitize archival records for genealogical and other non-digital records requests and increase program staffing to address the significant backlog and better serve New Yorkers.”

If you need to retrieve certified copies of New York State vital records, A&M Logos International is here to help. Due to the state-level delays, we typically retrieve these records from local authorities in New York. We can also get these vital records apostilled or authenticated for use abroad. New York is a particularly tricky state, as it requires most documents to first be certified by the county before the state can apostille or authenticate them, but our expertise on the ins and outs of the process will ensure that everything happens seamlessly and as quickly as possible.

Contact us today via e-mail at info@apostille.us or by phone at (212) 233-7061. You can also place an order on our old or new website.