Digitally Certified True Copy

[Lashawna Vorhees]

You do not need to obtain a Certified True Copy if the U.S. government asks for a copy of your certificate for official U.S. government business. You may use a normal photocopy of your certificate for legitimate U.S. government business. For example, when you apply for a U.S. passport, you must submit the original Certificate of Naturalization, and you should also submit a normal photocopy that has not been authenticated.

In order to certify a copy of the certificate, you must make an appointment with your local USCIS office and bring both your original document and your photocopy. We do not authenticate or certify copies as true through the mail or electronically. Please call the Contact Center at 800-375-5283 to request an appointment.

Note: If you are a family member requesting a Certified True Copy for a deceased U.S. citizen, you must also provide evidence of your relationship to the decedent (such as a birth certificate, marriage certificate, death certificate, or other documentation showing your relationship).

USCIS will provide Certified True Copies and return these along with the supplied documentation to you. USCIS does not accept fees on behalf of the U.S. Department of State or any other government agencies, and we do not forward Certified True Copies to any other government agency on your behalf. We will return to you all documentation that you submit to us, including any documentation supplied by the Department of Homeland Security.

Outside agencies may require a wet ink" signature on certified documents. Please check with the intended agency to determine whether they will accept a digitally certified document. Our court staff cannot advise you as to whether an outside agency will accept a digitally certified court record.

Adoption and Juvenile cases are confidential. Access to these cases is limited. For information about requesting copies from an adoption case, please see the Guardianships & Adoption page. To request copies from a Juvenile case please contact the Juvenile Justice Center.

Multnomah County Circuit Court creates digital audio recordings for all proceedings/hearings held on the record. For audio requests please be prepared to include the information listed below: Note: if you don't have this information, please send us an email mul.r...@ojd.state.or.us, to help you complete your order.

Copies of audio recordings are sent through a secure website. The court uses a digital audio recording system called For The Record" (FTR). To play the recordings you will need to download the free FTR Player. Court staff cannot assist you if you encounter problems with downloading the FTR Player. If you encounter technical difficulties with the FTR Player, you will need to contact technical support at FTR.

When I click "Certificates" to sign a PDF file, I saw "Digitally Sign" and "Certify (Visible Signature)" on the toolbar. Both of them can be used to sign the document. But what exactly the difference between these two functions?

The answer is very little. Digitally signing, in this case, is certifying. A digital certification creates an encrypted hash of the PDF. Someone with the Public key for the certificate can then verify that the certification is valid and the document hasn't been modified since it was signed. I don't totally understand the nuances between the too, but am under the impression that more than one "Digital Signature" can be applied to a PDF, whereas a PDF can only be "Certified" once.

Thanks for the explanation. The reason why I feel confused about these two functions is that I've always been thinking when I digitally sign a document with an encrypt digital certificate or a token, I have already "certified" the document. But as you said, from the view of a workflow, these two things can happen one next to the other. Somebody can "sign" the document first and later it can be "certified" by another person?

I have tried on my computer of a PDF document, just to see if the above workflow can be done. However, once it is digitally signed, it cannot be certified anymore. You can add more digital signatures as you wish but it is not possible to certify the document.

Still I am not quite clear about the difference. The only thing I know is if another person open the file that "Digitally signed" or "Certified" by myself, he will see the "Signed by" or "Certified by" in the part of the Signatures on his computer screen. This is the only difference from a viewer.

Digitally sign a signature field allows any signer to apply their digital signature for a particular portion of the PDF document. Certify with Visible Signature will lock the entire document. Normally it is intended to seal the document with a final approving (or dissapproving action); usually after a review workflow is completed and normally reserved for the creator or author of a document.

Once it is Digitally Signed, you can still create more fields for other digital signatures, but you cannot certify it. It seems that the "Certify" can only be done on a clean document without any signature. And, once a clean document is "Certified", you will not be able to put signatures anymore.

This only makes sense when you work for the FDA and FDA-regulated agencies , for example. They need workflows like these because a reviewer has to verify that all information is accurate. If any discrepancies are found another reviewer with the final authority to certify a document must also sign without altering the already signed document and without disassembling the original document. Certifying seals all that process and once it is closed it cannot be altered or modified.

The have a thing called Title 21 Part 11 -(21 CFR Part 11), for example. It is a requirement in their workflow to not only protect electronic records from being copied (they have to remain in digital format from beginning to end(no hard copies), but also , protecting the individual's PII in those documents as well as those that have a need to know when they request for such documents for review.

Very strict sanctions or fines are imposed if the companies that conduct business transactions with agencies like the FDA (i.e. medical device manufacturers, food manufacturers), violate any of these procedures.

But these two things are technically the same thing under the covers. Acrobat just handles them differently, like the text in the purple bar. But there is more to it. A "signature" is part of the form thing. So I don't think the entire AcroForm key inside the PDF is part of the hash, that way you can still make some form changes and not invalidate the signature. Whereas Certifying may or may not include the entire PDF in the hash, so any change invalidates it. You'll note that are some some permission options when you apply a certification. These determine what is included in the encryped hash.

A certified copy is a copy (often a photocopy) of an original document that contains an endorsement or certification that it is a true copy of the original. Many legal and administrative processes require documentary evidence to establish identity, residence, qualifications, or other facts.

Certification of documents by an authorised certifier may be required by a variety of statutes, regulations, rules, or the internal policies or procedures of government departments and private organisations.

Not every document needs to be certified by an authorised certifier. If the certification procedures of an organisation are unclear as to who is authorised to certify a document, the person who is seeking certification of a copy of a document should contact the organisation for clarification about the certification process they should use.

Public documents, that is, copies or extracts of official records or registers issued by the body that creates or holds those official records or registers are not original documents. Examples include land titles issued by Land Victoria, a transcript of academic results issued by the university that awarded them or travel documents issued by the governments of foreign countries.20

To certify that a document is a true copy of an original, you must inspect the original to ensure that it is an original document and inspect the copy to ensure that it is identical to the original document.21 A person does not have to be the owner of the document to obtain a certified copy.

Sometimes an original document will be lost or destroyed but a certified copy of the original is available. To certify a copy of a certified copy of an original document, you must inspect the certified copy of the original document to ensure it appears authentic and inspect the copy of the certified copy to ensure it is identical to the certified copy of the original document.25

The prescribed words shown above are to be written or stamped on the first page of the certified copy of a certified copy of an original document, unless there is insufficient space on the first page.26

There is nothing to prevent you from certifying a document in a language other than English, if you believe (using your best judgement) that the content of the original document and the copy are actually identical. You do not have to understand a document to be satisfied that it is a true copy.

The definition of original document in the Oaths and Affirmations Act 2018 recognises that a certifier cannot be expected to carry out a forensic examination of the original document. Rather, the expectation is that the certifier will take reasonable steps to assure themselves that the relevant document is an original.

You must not certify a copy of a document as a true copy of an original document if you know that the original document is not in fact an original document, or the purported copy is not in fact a true copy.

Knowingly making a false or misleading statement about the circumstances in which the certification of a true copy of a document or whether or not a certified true copy of a document was actually made can lead to a criminal charge punishable by a fine of 10 penalty units. Please refer to the full Schedule of Offences in Section 24.4.

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