U.S. residents who plan to apply for a passport will need a new birth certificate.

Joann Behrens, Carbon County prothonotary, explained that the U.S. Department of State has made changes to the requirements for obtaining a passport. The change affects the current birth certificate that residents use to apply for a passportBehrens said that the prothonotary can now only accept a certified copy of a birth certificate that has the applicant's name on it, as well as their parents' names. No other birth certificates will be accepted. The change is effective immediately and no exceptions will be made."If you have a certified copy of a birth record and it does not have the applicant's parents' names, you must apply for a new certified copy," Behrens noted. "The state will now be issuing new certified birth records with this needed information."To obtain help in ordering a copy of the new birth certificate, applicants can contact state Sen. John Yudichak's office in Jim Thorpe, by calling (570) 325-3274; or Rep. Doyle Heffley's offices in Lehighton at (610) 377-5675 or Albrightsville at (570) 722-8700 or at his satellite office in Lansford, located in the Lansford American Legion on Wednesdays.