Massachusetts RMV question

[camwyn]

A friend of mine tried the other day to renew his Massachusetts state ID at the RMV web site. He tried to use his Missouri birth certificate at the part where the RMV asks for proof of legal right to be in the US. The problem is the RMV asks for 'registration number' on their web site, and the box only accepts up to nine digits. The number on the front of his birth certificate is in XXX-XX-XXXXXX format, which adds up to eleven digits. There's a number printed on the back of his cert too, but it doesn't say what that number is. I think it's six or seven digits, though.

What the hell is the registration number for RMV purposes? When I try to look for 'birth certificate registration number' ninety percent of the results I get are Australian.

Comments

[genarti]

Are you sure it means the birth certificate registration number? My immediate thought for an RMV registration number is that it's referring to the car's registration number (and thus must be optional, since plenty of people with state ID won't have a car registered in MA). But it's been a while since I had to renew my ID, so I could be wrong.

[camwyn]

This isn't a driver's license. It's a Massachusetts state ID for non-drivers. And the prior page said 'which document are you using for proof of legal right to be here', with a dropdown that included things like passports and green cards, and U.S. Birth Certificate. So he chose birth certificate, and on the next page it asks for name, date of birth, 'registration number of certificate'.

I've been peering at a few places that do not refer to Australia and it seems that the first three digits of a standard eleven-digit birth certificate number are the location the birth was registered, the second are usually the year in which the birth was registered, and then there are six more digits which may be the registration number in themselves.

[genarti]

Ah, gotcha. Yeah, I'm sorry, I don't know anything about this then! How deeply unhelpful of them not to give any info on picking the registration number out of a longer certificate number if that's the case, though.