The non-refundable fee for the first copy of a certificate is $20; each additional copy ordered at the same time is $15. Fees for additional copies will be refunded if no record can be found. Payment should be made to DHS/Vital Records.
- Orders requested by fax, telephone, Internet or mail and billed to credit cards will be charged a non-refundable fee of $32.50 for the first record. Additional copies of the same record ordered at the same time are $15; a non-certified fax copy can be sent for an additional fee of $15.
- If you are paying by credit card, you may request overnight delivery by UPS Next Day Air or US Postal Service. Fees vary depending on vendor, date, time and location of delivery. Please see Rush Ordering for additional details.
- International customers should note that payment must be made in U.S. dollars and that only money orders and traveler's checks issued by U.S. banks are accepted.
Check Processing Policy: A $25 penalty may be assessed for NSF (non-sufficient fund) checks per ORS 30.701 (5). In the event that your check is returned unpaid for insufficient or uncollected funds, we may present your check electronically. In the ordinary course of business, your check will not be provided to you with your bank statement but a copy can be retrieved by other means.
Why does a record search and certified copy cost $20?
Oregon has chosen to fund its Center for Health Statistics with fees. Fees for records cover approximately 80 percent of the cost of staff and systems to:
- register approximately 136,000 birth, death, fetal death, marriage, and divorce records that are filed each year;
- continue to collect and analyze data to produce quality reports for use by public and private agencies;
- continue to maintain more than five million vital records filed since 1903 and develop improved registration, storage, data analysis, retrieval, issuance and archiving systems for the future;
- process requests for records and data quickly and accurately while maintaining or improving security measures to prevent fraud and identity theft;
- complete and track all changes to vital records to add missing data, correct errors, and complete amendments according to laws related to adoption, establishing paternity, court ordered changes and delayed and court registration of records.
The remaining twenty percent of the budget for the Oregon Center for Health Statistics is funded through contracts and grants.
HOW DO I CANCEL AN ORDER AND RECEIVE A REFUND?
Oregon charges a search fee for records. Once an order is received and processed, the first $20 record search fee is not refundable. If you order multiple copies and no record is found, the fees for the extra copies will be refunded. If you send an order to Oregon Vital Records and the order makes it clear the record is filed in another state, or is not available because the event occurred prior to when birth, death, marriage or divorce records were filed, the fee will automatically be refunded. If you contact the Oregon Vital Records office and request a record search to be canceled, fee will be refunded only if the record search has not been done. If you place an order and payment is made with a credit card, the order will be processed using the Vital Chek Network. A $7 processing fee for Vital Chek will be charged even if the order is canceled and the Vital Records office refunds the search fee for the record.
