Start here by situation
| You want to | Go to |
|---|---|
| Renew a passport without overpaying | Passport renewal sites |
| Replace a Social Security card | Replacing the card for free |
| Order a birth certificate | Birth certificate sites |
| Check whether an immigration helper is allowed to help | Notario fraud |
| Verify a nurse before hiring | Check a nursing license |
The guides
Passport renewal sites that overcharge
The official mail and online routes, the fees in federal regulation ($130 for an adult book, $60 expedite) and why the top search results are private businesses.
Replacing a Social Security card
Free through SSA, limited to 3 a year and 10 in a lifetime, with imposter-call warnings from the inspector general.
Buying a Social Security card
What 42 U.S.C. 408 covers, with ceilings, and why a bought card or number leaves the buyer exposed.
Ordering a birth certificate
Why it comes from the birth state, what a state-approved vendor looks like, and the federal ceiling for forging one.
Notario fraud
Who may represent you in immigration matters, signs of the scam from three state offices and USCIS, and how to report.
Fake nursing diplomas
The Operation Nightingale figures as reported, the 87-month sentence and how the scheme worked.
Checking a nursing license
Nursys QuickConfirm, what it covers and what it misses.
What these have in common
Each document has one issuer: the State Department for passports, SSA for the card, the birth state for the certificate, a state board for a nursing license. Whenever a third party offers to be the issuer, or to get the issuer to act faster, you are looking at either an overcharge or a fraud. For driver's licenses, IDs and permits, see the driver's license hub. For law, federal document-fraud statutes; for victims, what to do now.
International Driving Permits, which only AAA and AATA issue, are covered in the IDP guide because most people who need one are drivers.
How the guides fit together
The passport, Social Security and birth certificate guides share one pattern: a real government service, a paid intermediary near the top of the search results, and a way to check. The notario guide is about people, not websites. The nursing guides are about a credential and the license record built on it. The statutes behind the ceilings quoted in all of them are summarized on the federal law page.
Why look-alike sites are the main threat here
For driver's licenses, the demand to buy a bogus document is small. For passports, Social Security cards and birth certificates, the demand to do the real thing is enormous, and paid intermediaries rank for it. On October 5, 2026 the top results for passport renewal were private businesses, the first result for a Social Security card query was SSA itself, and the top birth certificate results were state sites. The pages in this hub treat each case on its own terms, because the risk differs: in one you overpay, in another you hand identity data to a stranger, and in a third you may be dealing with someone who cannot lawfully help.
The order to read in
- Find your document in the table above and read that guide.
- Check the fee against the figure stated and the date it was checked.
- Use the official issuer, not a middleman, unless the issuer itself names one.
- If you already paid or sent documents, go to the victim page.
What is not in this hub
Driver's licenses, REAL ID, CDLs and permits are in the driver's license hub. Language certificates and other qualifications beyond nursing are not covered, because we did not open enough U.S. sources to write about them accurately.