Passport/Certified copy of birth cert.
 

Ok so I want to go to Canada to get away from some shit, I have a brief window of opportunity to hop on a cruise ship to vancouver but in order to do this I need a passport OR Certified copy of my birth cert.

I'm not too entirely sure the fastest way to go about this. I was born in CA. my old cert was water damaged into frailty and unreadability and more to the point, has since been lost entirely.

Which would be faster? I eventually want/need to get a passport anyways just because I'd like to be able to travel in general but it sounds like getting just the cert would be fastest

I need to have this together by the weekend of the 22nd.

i have absolutely no idea what the process is in the US, but here in Aust, we can walk into the office of birth, deaths & marriages (I think thats what its called here) and actually get a birth certificate over the counter. The key is you have to go in and do it - doing anything via mail will be useless.

passport application process - 3 months+ *note* on need the birth certificate to GET this - and you will want to get extra copies of your birth certificate when you DO get it, for things like getting a passport and obtaining a new/copy of your social security number, among other things.

certified birth certificate - one day to 6 weeks average, one day if you can walk in to the appropriate office in the appropriate county of your birth. up to 2 weeks if you walk in and order it at a currency exchange that covers birth certificates for the county of your birth. up to 6 weeks to deal with the records office from where ever you are inside the USA.

JUst like Midnight said, you will probably get your certified birth certificate faster than the passport.

The passport requires you to go to a passport issuing postal office, with passport photos in hand and a copy of your birth certificate, where they fill out some forms. You then wait by the mailbox until it arrives.

When I got my birth certificate (to get a passport), it only took two weeks. However, my mother was able to get the paperwork for me since she lived in the county I was born in, and that expidited the process. I've heard that it takes a lot longer to get a passport these days than when I got mine 8 years ago...good luck.

Too bad you weren't born in Washington--they consolidated their birth certificate process a couple years ago, and now you can go into any county records office and get a fresh birth certificate, regardless of where in WA you were born.

However, California says that their by-mail process takes 12 weeks. http://www.dhs.ca.gov/hisp/chs/OVR/BirthOrderCert.htm

Passports take forever, but it seems like in this case you're pretty much SOL either way.