El Salvador Birth Certificate from the United States: How to Request It

If you live in the United States and your birth has already been registered in El Salvador, you can request a certified copy of your Salvadoran birth record without traveling to the country. The Registro Nacional de las Personas Naturales (RNPN) offers a certification service for use abroad and asks for search information such as the person’s name, date of birth, place of birth and, when available, the names of the parents. The published fee for a certification issued for use abroad is US$35.[1]

Before starting the request, it is important to distinguish between two very different procedures: requesting a certification of an existing Salvadoran birth record is not the same as registering a birth that occurred in the United States. If no Salvadoran birth record was ever created, the birth must first be registered through the appropriate procedure.

How to request a Salvadoran birth certificate from the United States

The service to look for is the RNPN’s Certificación de partidas service. El Salvador’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also identifies Simple SV as one of the digital platforms through which a birth record certification can be requested for consular procedures.[2]

1. Go to Simple SV and locate the Certificación de partidas service.
2. Start the procedure using the identification or login method shown by the platform.
3. If the certification will be used in the United States, make sure you are requesting the option intended for use abroad.
4. Enter the information for the person whose birth record must be located.
5. Review the information carefully before submitting the request.
6. Pay the applicable fee using the payment options available on the platform.
7. Once the document is issued, verify that the information is correct and keep the certification in the format provided by the system.

The current Simple SV listing for this service shows a fee of US$35 for a birth record certification issued for use abroad.[3]

Information to have ready for the record search

The RNPN searches for the record using the information provided with the request. For certifications intended for use abroad, it lists the following information:

• Name of the person whose birth record is being requested.
• Date of birth.
• Place of birth.
• Names of the parents, if that information is available.

If you still have an older birth certificate, previous DUI, Salvadoran passport or another Salvadoran document showing your full birth name, it can be useful when entering the search information. Do not automatically replace the name in the Salvadoran record with the shorter version you currently use in the United States.

If your name or surnames are different in U.S. records

A person may use an abbreviated version of a name in the United States while the Salvadoran record contains two given names and two surnames. Differences can also result from marriage, later family-status changes or simply from the way a Salvadoran name was entered into U.S. documents.

For example, if your U.S. documents say “José A. López” but an older Salvadoran birth certificate shows “José Antonio López Hernández,” use the Salvadoran record information as your reference when trying to locate that record. A difference between documents should not automatically be treated as an error in the birth record; first determine how the original record is actually registered.

Cost and processing time for a certification issued abroad

There is a difference between the two official pages currently available. The RNPN service page publishes a waiting time of 2 hours after the form is submitted, while the current Simple SV transaction page shows 24 business hours. The two-hour figure therefore should not be treated as a guarantee that every document will be available within that period. If you are planning around a consular appointment or another deadline, use the processing time displayed by the platform when you submit your request.

The certification does not have one universal expiration date

The RNPN specifically states that a birth record certification issued for use abroad does not have its own fixed validity period; how recent the document must be depends on the institution where it will be submitted. The document uses a digitized signature and a QR code verification method to validate the certification.

This explains why a birth certificate may not be “expired” according to the RNPN but can still be considered too old for another procedure. For example, for certain DUI procedures abroad, El Salvador’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs requires a recent birth record certification that was issued no more than 12 months earlier.[4] Consular passport requirements for some cases involving minors also use a one-year limit.[5]

Before ordering the document far in advance, check the age requirement imposed by the procedure for which you actually need the birth certificate.

What to check when you receive the certification

Do not stop after confirming that your name appears on the document. Review the information that could affect the next procedure:

Marginaciones deserve particular attention when the birth record will be used to establish a change that should already appear in El Salvador’s Family Status Registry. For example, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs requires a properly amended birth record when a DUI modification depends on information that must first be reflected in the birth record.

What happens if the RNPN cannot find your birth record

A search that produces no record does not necessarily mean that you should submit the same certification request repeatedly. The RNPN has separate documents for situations in which a birth record cannot be located.

Certificación de no registro de partida

The Certificación de no registro de partida certifies that, using the information supplied for the search, the RNPN did not locate the requested birth record in the systems it administers. The search can use information such as the person’s name, date of the event, place where the birth occurred or the municipality where the registration may have taken place. Supporting documents containing additional identifying information may also be provided.

The RNPN publishes a fee of US$3 for this service, a waiting time of two hours after the form is submitted and a three-month validity period for the no-record certification.[6]

If you only know the person’s name

The RNPN treats this as a separate situation. If the person’s name is the only information available, it directs applicants to request a Constancia de inexistencia. This document certifies that no records were found in RNPN-administered systems using the name provided. The published fee is also US$3.[7]

If you were born in the United States and never had a Salvadoran birth record

If you were born in the United States and the birth was never registered with Salvadoran authorities, requesting a birth record certification will not create the registration. El Salvador’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a separate procedure for registering births of Salvadorans that occurred abroad. From outside El Salvador, the process may be handled through the diplomatic or consular mission corresponding to the place where the birth occurred or the mission nearest to the applicant’s residence.[8]

For a birth registration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs lists among the required documents the original certified foreign birth certificate, original identification documents for both parents and original certified copies of both parents’ birth records.

The consular fee schedule published by the Ministry lists registration within the legal time period as exempt from payment; when the event is registered more than six months later, it lists a US$5 penalty. This is a Family Status Registry procedure and should not be confused with ordering another copy of an existing Salvadoran birth record.

Before using the birth certificate in the United States

What you need after receiving the certification depends on the U.S. organization requesting it. A foreign-use certification, an apostille and a translation are not the same thing. Do not automatically add procedures that the receiving institution has not requested.

When an apostille may be required

El Salvador’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs includes Family Status Registry birth records among the public documents that can be apostilled and states that an apostille issued in El Salvador is free of charge.[9]

This does not mean that every Salvadoran birth certificate requested from the United States needs an apostille. Before starting that process, ask the office, court, university, employer, agency or other institution receiving the document whether an apostille is required and which form of the certification it accepts.

Translation requirements depend on the U.S. procedure

A Salvadoran birth certificate is issued in Spanish. If you will use it with an institution in the United States, check that organization’s specific translation requirements. In U.S. Department of State immigrant visa processing, for example, there are specific rules covering documents that are not in English and the certified translations that must accompany them.[10]

Do not pay for a translation, apostille or additional certification only because someone says it is “normally required.” The requirement that matters is the one imposed by the specific procedure where you will submit your Salvadoran birth record.

Official Sources

1. [1] RNPN — Certificación de partida en el exterior — Describes the search information required, the US$35 fee, document validity, QR verification, published processing time and what happens when a birth record cannot be certified.
2. [2] Ministry of Foreign Affairs — Documento Único de Identidad — Confirms that birth record certifications can be requested through Simple SV or Market SV and shows how birth records are used in consular procedures.
3. [3] Simple SV — Certificación de partidas — Current RNPN transaction page showing a US$35 fee for certification abroad and a processing period of 24 business hours.
4. [4] Ministry of Foreign Affairs — DUI requirements abroad — Lists situations in which a recent birth record certification issued within the previous 12 months is required.
5. [5] Ministry of Foreign Affairs — Passports for Salvadorans abroad — Lists passport situations in which an original birth record issued within the previous year is required.
6. [6] RNPN — Certificación de no registro de partida — Explains when a no-record certification is issued, what information is used for the search, its three-month validity and the published US$3 fee.
7. [7] RNPN — Constancia de inexistencia — Defines the document used when no records are found using the name provided and publishes a US$3 fee.
8. [8] Ministry of Foreign Affairs — Family Status Registry — Explains how births occurring outside El Salvador are registered, the required documents and applicable consular fees.
9. [9] Ministry of Foreign Affairs — Authentications and Apostilles — Includes Family Status Registry birth records among public documents eligible for apostille and states that Salvadoran apostilles are free of charge.
10. [10] U.S. Department of State — Civil Documents — Explains translation requirements that apply to civil documents in the U.S. immigrant visa process.