You were born in California, Texas or Illinois. But your Mexican birth certificate says you were born in Guadalajara, Michoacán or perhaps at your grandmother’s house in a small town.
This happened more often than you might think.
Years ago, some Mexican parents registered their U.S.-born children in Mexico as though they had actually been born there. Often, they simply wanted their children to have Mexican documents and didn’t understand the process for registering a child who had been born in the United States.
Years later, those children can discover that they have two birth certificates telling two different stories.
- U.S. birth certificate: Born in Los Angeles, California
- Mexican birth certificate: Born in Guadalajara, Jalisco
That difference can create problems when applying for passports, working with a consulate or completing other government processes.
This Isn’t Always a Simple Correction
If your Mexican birth certificate incorrectly says you were born in Mexico, changing the birthplace may not be as simple as correcting a typo.
Mexico’s Supreme Court has addressed this situation. When a Mexican birth record incorrectly states that someone was born in Mexico when the person was actually born abroad, the Court has found that the incorrect record may need to be cancelled rather than simply corrected.
Mexican consular guidance also addresses this situation and provides for the incorrect Mexican record to be cancelled before the person’s foreign birth is properly registered.
The important thing is not to create another birth record before understanding the one you already have.
How Do You Know If This Happened to You?
Start with the documents.
Pull out your U.S. birth certificate and obtain a current copy of your Mexican acta de nacimiento.
Compare the name, date of birth, parents’ information and, most importantly, the place of birth.
If your U.S. birth certificate says you were born in the United States but your Mexican acta says you were born in Mexico, that’s something worth addressing before applying for additional Mexican documents.
This Usually Isn’t a DIY Project
The first question isn’t simply:
How do I register my birth in Mexico?
It’s:
What was already registered in Mexico, and what needs to happen to that record first?
Resolving an older registration can involve locating the existing Mexican record, comparing it with the U.S. birth certificate, determining what needs to happen to the incorrect record and then completing the proper registration.
The exact process will depend on your records and where the Mexican birth was originally registered.
Think This May Have Happened to You?
If you have a U.S. birth certificate and a Mexican birth certificate showing two different places of birth, don’t start by filing another registration. Start with the records you already have.
Become Mexican can review your U.S. and Mexican birth records, help identify what was registered in Mexico and explain the next steps for getting your records in order.
Two countries. One birth story. Your records should match it.
