either the postal service or the us consulate has lost my passport, birth certificate and original signed name change decree. i feel like shit and i can’t stop thinking about it. am i fucked, will i ever need the original for anything, which i will never have, or am i ok because i have a certified (i think ?) copy of the order. i dont know if i will need the original for anything someday, this fucking sucks i cried for an hour in class today

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flabberghaster wrote on January 17, 2024 at 10:48 PM

A certified copy is just as good as the original. You're good! No worries!

You'll just need to get a new passport which sucks, but they make certified copies for this exact reason.

cute_spider wrote on January 17, 2024 at 10:50 PM (edited on January 17, 2024 at 10:51 PM)

Definitely you can get a re-print of your birth certificate - you'll want to find your birth state's Health and Human Services and navigate around 'till you find it. I did it by mail a ~~few years~~ decade ago with Texas and the hardest part was to get the mail-in form notarized. I got three so I always have backups!

I do not have experience with your other documents though. Are you outside the US now?

I_got_killed_one_time wrote on January 17, 2024 at 8:12 PM

YOURE GOING TO BE FINE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOURE NOT THE FIRST PERSON ANY THING HAS HAPPENED TO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PEOPLE ARE UNDERSTANDING WHEN YOU EXPLAIN THINGS TO THEM !!!!!!!!!!!! THERE ARE SOLUTIONS FOR EVERY THING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IF YOU DONT HAVE THE ORIGINAL THATS FINE YOU CAN TELL THEM AND THEYLL ACCOMMODATE YOU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hollyhoppet wrote on January 18, 2024 at 5:01 AM

how much red tape it is depends on what state you're in (except for passport since that's federal), but all of these documents are replacable. your birth state probably has a page on how to get a new copy of your birth cert, and the court that did your name change still has that in their records and will send you one for a fee if you call them i believe. either that or that's another thing the state keeps a record of. honestly that also depends on the state lol

EITHER WAY there are avenues to get all of these. like peoples' houses burn down documents are lost all the time