Huduma Kenya has explained why parents may be required to apply for their children’s birth certificates in the county where they were born, even after relocating to another part of the country.
The clarification comes amid questions from parents who have moved counties and want to access birth certificates without returning to the county of birth.
One parent, for instance, asked why she could not apply for her child’s birth certificate in Nakuru after giving birth in Nairobi, despite having the child’s birth notification.
According to Huduma Kenya, birth records are filed and retrieved in the county where the birth occurred, which is why parents may be referred back to that county when seeking the document.
A photo collage of an Huduma Center (left) and a person ruffling through birth certificates (right).
File
“The birth records are domiciled, filed and retrieved at the county of birth where the birth occurred. That is the main reason you are sent back,” the agency stated.
This suggests that despite having the birth notification and every required document to apply for a birth certificate, you cannot apply for it anywhere but the county where the birth occurred.
This is because birth records will not be found anywhere else but in the particular county.
Therefore, parents who have relocated from the county where their children were born may be required to travel back to that county to apply for the birth certificate.
Applications for birth certificates are made at a Huduma Centre or Civil Registration Department office in the child’s county of birth.
According to the agency, applicants are required to present the birth notification, parents’ identification cards and the clinic card, and pay a fee of Ksh250.
The government is moving birth certificate applications online, in an effort to make it easier for parents to get the critical document for their children without visiting any office.
However, despite the online application, applicants are still required to visit registry offices physically for processing of the application.
A sample of Birth Certificate
Kenyans.co.ke
