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Friday May 25 2012

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December 13, 2002

Juneau Vital Statistics office moves to 5441 Commercial Blvd. (near Costco)

Bureau issues 70,000 vital records certificates annually.

BVS buildingAfter 16 years in the same location, the Bureau of Vital Statistics (BVS) moved to 5441 Commercial Blvd., according to Al Zangri, BVS Chief. "The new convenient location has the space we did not have at the Alaska Office building for our staff and records," he said. "It was specifically designed to meet our needs for years to come, including a vault with 20 years of growth space for our vital records."

The Alaska Bureau of Vital Statistics is responsible for managing vital records in the State of Alaska. "In an average year, we issue 70,000 documents, including birth certificates, death certificates, fetal death, divorce and marriage certificate data, and reports of adoption," Zangri said.

The Juneau office, as well as the offices in Anchorage and Fairbanks, offer walk-in service for vital records. "The Bureau has also have been quite successful offering useful information to the public on it's web site. The BVS web pages get the highest amount of traffic of any within DHSS," he said.

Zangri explained why these documents and information are called "vital records." "You need a death certificate to close out checking accounts and for other transactions to close out the estate of a person who has passed away. You need a birth certificate to apply for a passport or a Permanent Fund dividend. We maintain some of the most important information there is about an individual's identity."

Bureau of Vital Statistics fact sheet

  • Under Alaska law, all "Vital Statistics records" are strictly confidential until they become public.

    • Birth records become public records 100 years after the event;

    • death, marriage and divorce records become public records 50 years after the event.

  • Complete instructions for requesting certified copies of vital event certificates is available at the BVS web site:

  • Alaska Bureau of Vital Statistics provides copies of vital event certificates only for those events which have occurred in Alaska.

  • For events which occurred outside of Alaska, requests must be sent directly to the appropriate state. Addresses for vital record offices outside of Alaska can be obtained from the National Center for Health Statistics web site:

  • For additional information regarding an Alaska vital record please contact our Record
    Processing Unit in Juneau at (907) 465-3392.

Contact information for all the Bureau's Juneau, Anchorage and Fairbanks offices is
available at http://www.hss.state.ak.us/dph/bvs/contact.htm.

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For more information, please contact

Sherry Hill, Special Assistant to the Commissioner for Communications
(907) 465-1611

Or

Ross Soboleff
Public Information Officer III
(907) 465-1611