Puerto Ricans Blindsided by New Birth Certificate Law

By Alicia Cruz

The Black Urban Times

Millions of native Puerto Ricans living outside of La Isla were blindsided after learning that their birth certificates will become invalidated after July 1, 2010.

More than 4.1 million natives residing in the United States have until July 1 to file for new birth certificates after Puerto Rico, a U.S. commonwealth, enacted a new law meant to curve identity theft in December.

Raids executed last year exposed a criminal ring that had stolen thousands of birth certificates and other identifying documents from several different schools in Puerto Rico. This has posed a serious security risk for U.S. officials since the owners of the stolen documents could have entered the U.S. under the assumed identities and are now living undetected.

As much as 40 percent of the identity fraud in the U.S. involves birth certificates from Puerto Rico, according to State Department officials.

The black market value of a Puerto Rican birth certificate has risen between $5,000 and $10,000 over the past few years and the problem is increasing.

Due to the fact that the U.S. and Puerto Rican governments have failed to properly inform or educate Puerto Ricans about the new law, Puerto Ricans are learning about the law from one another and social networking sites.

Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., has been getting a steady stream of calls about the law at his office. Serrano, also a native of Puerto Rico, must replace his birth certificate as well.

"No one has thought about what effect this could have, if any, on those of us born in Puerto Rico who now reside in the 50 states," Serrano said.

There is no exemption for age. The law only waives the $5 fee for a new birth certificate for people over 60 and for veterans.


318,000, Puerto Ricans residing in New York were born on the island.

Click HERE to read PDF.

Please direct all general inquiries for the Puerto Rican Federal Affairs to 202-778-0710 or info@prfaa.com or click here to visit the site.

Contact Information for Representative Jose Serrano

WASHINGTON OFFICE 2227 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515-3216 (202) 225-4361 Fax: (202) 225-6001

BRONX OFFICE 903 Dawson Street Bronx, New York 10455 (718) 620-0084 Fax: (718) 620-0658

View the PDF document on the new law below