A valid/current government, school or employer issued photo identification document of the applicant is required before a search of the records will be conducted. Requests that do not contain proper identification will be returned unprocessed.

Acceptable Documents Are:

• Any United States' Department of Motor Vehicles office-issued picture identification i.e. driver's license, Identification card, learner's permit (unexpired)
• Current school or employer picture identification card
• Military card (unexpired - active duty or retired member)
• United States passport (unexpired)
• Foreign passport (unexpired)
• Re-entry permit (l-327 - unexpired)
• Refuge travel document (form l-571 - unexpired)
• United States citizen identification card (form l-197)
• Temporary resident card (form l-688 - unexpired)
• Permanent resident card (form l-551 - unexpired)
• Weapon or gun permit issued by federal, state or municipal government (unexpired)

Identity Theft and Vital Records

Vital records, such as certificates of birth and death, are legal government-issued documents. While most requests for vital records are honest attempts to acquire one's own personal documentation, some are not; some are attempts to co-opt someone else's name.

Appropriating someone else's information and obtaining these legal documents fraudulently is a crime and can lead to a multitude of illegal activities. Using the documents to falsely identify oneself can lead to the issuance of a driver's license and a social security number, opening avenues to:

• Credit card fraud
• Bank fraud
• Mail theft
• Tax fraud
• Social security/insurance fraud and
• Illegally obtaining a passport.

We want to protect you and your family from this type of crime by authenticating claims of identity. That is why we require a photocopy of a valid government, school, or employer issued photo identification before we can issue these records.

Warning: False Application is Punishable by Law

SECTION 44-63-161, 1976 S.C. Code of Laws, as amended.

It is unlawful for "...a person to willfully obtain, possess, use, sell, furnish to another, or attempt to obtain, possess, use, sell, or furnish to another, for the purpose of deception, a certificate, record, or report required to be filed by this chapter or a regulation, or a certified copy of these, including a certificate, record, or report or certified copy that been counterfeited, altered, amended or mutilated or a document purporting to be the certificate, record, or report."

For more information, contact Constituent Services.