Kentucky Application for Registration of Foreign Birth (VS-56)
Official state formAdoptionForm VS-56Free downloadLast verified November 10, 2026
Notarized application asking the Kentucky Office of Vital Statistics to create a Record of Foreign Birth for a child born in a foreign country and adopted by legal residents of Kentucky. It is mailed or delivered to the office in Frankfort with the adoption documents.
Who can use this form
- Legal residents of Kentucky who adopted a child born in a foreign country, through a Kentucky circuit court or in the foreign country.
- A parent or guardian signs under oath before a notary for a child under 18.
- If the child entered the USA on an IH-4 or IR-4 visa, the parents must finalize the adoption in a U.S. court and follow the process for adoptions completed in the USA.
- If the adoption or foreign birth registration first occurred in another state, that state is responsible for the child's record.
What to send with it
- The completed form with no errors, white-out, corrections or omissions, signed before a notary. Unknown items are written as UNKNOWN.
- Adoption through a Kentucky circuit court: a completed VS-102 signed and sealed by the clerk of the circuit court of the county where the adoption was filed.
- Adoption completed abroad: a certified copy of the adoption decree, order, judgment or certificate listing the parents' residence as Kentucky, with a certified translation if it is not in English.
- Adoption completed abroad: an original document showing the child's legal entry, either a Certificate of Citizenship or a foreign passport with an IH-3, IR-3 or IR-2 visa stamped by USCIS.
- Adoption completed abroad: certified copies of each adoptive parent's birth certificate.
- A completed VS-37 application with the required fee, to order certified copies of the Record of Foreign Birth.
Where to send it
- Mail to
- Office of Vital Statistics 275 E. Main Street, 1E-A Frankfort, KY 40621 ATTN: Foreign Birth
- State fee
- Not provided
- Typical processing
- Not provided
- Form revision
- Revised 09.13.2022
- Source
- Official government page