The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), in partnership with the Virginia Department of Health’s (VDH) Division of Vital Records, recently sold the 500,000th Virginia birth certificate at DMV.
In addition, DMV has issued more than 16,000 marriage, 2,200 divorce and 12,000 death certificates. Gov. Terry McAuliffe first announced the groundbreaking partnership of DMV and VDH in April 2014. Now, a little more than three and a half years later, the partnership is still going strong.
“We are extremely proud to be able to offer this service to Virginians,” DMV Commissioner Richard D. Holcomb said. “This partnership is a Virginia success story, now told by a half-million customers who have visited DMV front counters across the commonwealth to obtain their vital records.”
State Health Commissioner Dr. Marissa Levine said “Our primary goal with the VDH/DMV collaboration continues to be offering convenient access without compromising security. The VDH Division of Vital Records receives more than 50,000 calls, visits and pieces of mail each month from individuals seeking personal documents: birth, marriage, divorce and death certificates. Offering other options for obtaining certificates, such as the DMV partnership, has been wonderful in terms of providing records quickly and securely.”
All 75 DMV customer service centers and four mobile DMV offices provide Virginia birth, marriage, divorce, and death certificates.
The process for obtaining vital records at DMV is the same as doing so directly through the VDH Division of Vital Records. Customers complete an application, submit the required documentation, and pay a fee to the agency. The fee for a vital record at DMV is $14. Successful applicants leave DMV with certificates in hand. Those limited transactions that DMV is unable to process are forwarded to the VDH Division of Vital Records for review and further action.
“We are changing the role of DMV in Virginia.” Holcomb said. “You can do so much in one trip: vital records, hunting and fishing licenses, E-ZPass, TSA PreCheck, and the list is growing. We want you to take fewer trips to see us and have more time to live your life.”
The DMV/VDH partnership was authorized by legislation passed by the General Assembly in 2013.
