Births, Deaths and Marriages
Whānautanga, Matenga, Mārenatanga
Births, Deaths and Marriages (BDM) registers and maintains New Zealand birth, death, marriage, civil union and name change information, and issues certificates and printouts.
Phone scam alert:
We are aware that customers are being targeted by phone scammers posing as the Authentication Unit, requesting payments for documents.
If you receive a call like this:
- Hang up immediately.
- Do not disclose your personal or financial information to unknown callers, even if they say they are from the Authentication Unit or the Department of Internal Affairs.
- Call us immediately on 0800 872 675.
False claims about birth certificates:
There have been online claims about birth certificates that are not true. New Zealand birth certificates:
- are not linked to bonds or financial institutions
- only have reference numbers on the back of them for internal use by the Department of Internal Affairs - these are not shared with other agencies
- cannot usually be used on their own as proof of identity.
Birth certificates and source documents FAQ (PDF 98KB)
Birth certificates and source documents FAQ accessible alternative (TXT 3KB)
Services BDM helps provide
Most popular BDM forms
Last Updated
Page last updated: