How to request a genealogical study from the Demographic Registry

The Demographic Registry describes genealogy as the science concerned with tracing origins and studying the composition of families, and explains it may be ascending, laying out a person’s ancestors, or descending, laying out their descendants. In practice, the Registry searches your family’s civil registry records: for each ancestor it gathers the birth, marriage and death records. On completing the study it delivers your pedigree chart, duly certified with the basic data. It is a research service, not an identity certification, and the Registry itself signals this by clarifying that these charts are not issued on security paper.

The Registry asks you to provide any information the Registrar requires to confirm the kinship between you and the person whose data you are requesting, so the family link is part of what is evaluated. The scope limit is published: the genealogical study may extend to the fourth direct ascending line, which the Registry defines as parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. And there is an archive time limit worth keeping in mind: the Registry’s archives run from 1885 to the present; if your search falls outside those years, the Registry suggests requesting the baptism record from the parish or church where your relative was baptized.

• Presenting or mailing a signed and completed application, together with a copy of current photo identification: the Registry names a driver license or a passport.Verified against the official source
• Making the corresponding $100.00 payment in internal revenue stamps or a money order, for the application or search performed.Verified against the official source
• Providing any other information the Registrar requires to confirm the kinship between you and the person whose data you request.Verified against the official source
• Handling it through the Central Office: the Registry states that every genealogy study is authorized and processed from the central offices, and that the process is carried out only at the Central Office, Metro Center, Calle Mayagüez #5, San Juan, PR 00910.Verified against the official source

• The genealogical study application. The Registry states the required application and additional instructions can be obtained from its document “Instrucciones para Estudio Genealógico Enmendada”.
• A copy of current photo identification: driver license or passport.
• The $100.00 payment in internal revenue stamps or a money order.

1. 1

   Step 1: Confirm the study does what you want

   Before paying $100.00, two limits. First, the scope: the genealogical study may extend to the fourth direct ascending line, meaning parents, grandparents and great-grandparents; if you are looking further back, this is not the service. Second, the nature of the document: the Registry clarifies that the charts are not issued on security paper, so it is a family-research tool, not a document to present where a secured certification is required.

2. 2

   Step 2: Check whether your search falls within 1885 to the present

   The Demographic Registry’s archives run from 1885 to the present. If your request falls outside those years, the Registry tells you what to do: request the baptism record from the parish or church where your relative was baptized. Knowing this beforehand saves you paying for a search that cannot reach where you want.

3. 3

   Step 3: Get the application and the instructions

   The Registry publishes a document called “Instrucciones para Estudio Genealógico Enmendada”, which contains the required application and additional instructions. Start there rather than improvising a letter.

4. 4

   Step 4: Gather everything that establishes the kinship

   The Registry asks you to provide any other information the Registrar requires to confirm the kinship between you and the person whose data you request. The clearer the link is from the start, the fewer rounds of additional information — which is what in practice stretches the 20 business days.

5. 5

   Step 5: Present or mail the application to the Central Office

   The Registry accepts both: when you visit or write to the Demographic Registry’s Central Office, you must present or send the signed and completed application together with a copy of your current photo ID and the $100.00 payment. Every genealogy study is authorized and processed from the central offices, at Metro Center, Calle Mayagüez #5, San Juan, PR 00910.

Only at the Demographic Registry’s Central Office: Metro Center, Calle Mayagüez #5, San Juan, PR 00910. The Registry states that every genealogy study is authorized and processed from the central offices, and accepts both a visit and a written submission.

• Paying the $100.00 expecting to reach further back than great-grandparents, when the published scope is the fourth direct ascending line.
• Counting on the chart for an official procedure, when the Registry clarifies it is not issued on security paper.
• Searching for an ancestor from before 1885, when the Registry’s archives begin that year and what applies is the parish baptism record.
• Sending the application to a local office, when every genealogical study is authorized and processed only from the Central Office.
• Counting the 20 business days from when you handed in the application, when the Registry counts from when payment is made and the information is complete.
• Mailing the application without a copy of current photo ID, which the Registry asks for alongside the signed application.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de Salud de Puerto Rico

  Salud

  www.salud.pr.gov

• Demographic Registry — vital event certifications

  Departamento de Salud

  www.salud.pr.gov