Fraud cases force Puerto Ricans to get new birth certificates

More than a million native Puerto Ricans living in the United States must apply for new birth certificates.

It's because a new law, which goes into effect July 1, invalidates all Puerto Rican birth certificates.

Puerto Rico enacted the law to combat identity fraud. Birth certificates with Hispanic names can bring good money on the black market. Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, so a stolen birth certificate can be used to apply for other documents.

Word of the change has been slow to trickle out.

"I never expected anything like this. Now it's going to be an inconvenience to me, my mother, my whole family," said Johnny Ocasio, a Puerto Rican who lives in Tampa.

Ocasio is a retired Florida Department of Corrections officer who moved to the United States in 1950.

Two years ago, when he requested a copy of his birth certificate to include in his passport application, it took a month for it to arrive. Now, some expect the wait to reach three months.

Antonio Cotto, a restaurant worker in Tampa, carries his birth certificate with him.

"Here in the U.S. you have to have your certificate with you because you don't know when they're going to ask you for it," Cotto said.

He said because of his accent, he is often is asked to prove his legal status. Cotto thinks the premise of the law is a good idea, but he is concerned about the time it will take to receive the new document and what he will do in the meantime.

According to U.S. Census records, about a third of the 4.3 million Puerto Ricans living in the U.S. could be affected by the law. There are about 122,600 Puerto Ricans living in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area.

An application for a new birth certificate can be obtained online at http://tinyurl.com/yjdudqv. It must be sent in with $5, and a self-addressed, stamped envelope. There are no age exemptions.