If your child's Aadhaar shows a wrong or “declared” date of birth, a UIDAI Standard Operating Procedure dated 24 December 2025 has changed what you can submit to fix it. For anyone below 18 years of age, the birth certificate is now effectively the only document UIDAI will accept as proof of date of birth. This guide shows exactly which document applies to which age, and how to make the correction.
Quick answer: To add or correct a date of birth in a child's Aadhaar, you now need the birth certificate issued under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969. No other document is accepted for the 0 to 5 and 5 to 18 age groups.
| Age band | Accepted proof of date of birth |
|---|---|
| 0 to 5 years | Birth certificate only |
| 5 to 18 years | Birth certificate only |
| 18 years and above, resident | Birth certificate or another proof from UIDAI's approved supporting document list |
| NRI below 18 years | Birth certificate or Indian passport |
Under the SOP, “for the age group 0 to 5 years and 5 to 18 years, Birth Certificate is the only document permitted” as proof of date of birth. A resident Indian below 18 must “mandatorily submit birth certificate as proof of date of birth”. A Non-Resident Indian below 18 may submit the birth certificate or an Indian passport. For residents who are 18 or older, the wider UIDAI supporting-document list still applies, so this guide focuses on the under-18 rule where the birth certificate is now mandatory.
Aadhaar records a date of birth in one of three states: “declared”, “approximate” or “verified”. A date of birth backed by a birth certificate is treated as “verified”, which is the strongest status. Earlier, parents often enrolled infants and young children on a self-declared date, which is why so many Aadhaar cards carry a “declared” year that later clashes with school records, passports or exam forms.
The birth certificate is the primary civil-registration record of when a person was born. It is issued under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, by the Civil Registration System through the State or local Registrar of Births. A birth is required to be registered within 21 days of its occurrence; late registration is possible under Section 13 of the Act, with the permission and fee that your local rules prescribe. Online-verifiable digital birth certificates now exist and can be procured, including for the 5 to 18 age group, which is why UIDAI can treat the birth certificate as a single, checkable source of truth.
By insisting on this one document, UIDAI removes the guesswork: a child's Aadhaar date of birth is now tied to the same registration record that schools, passport offices and universities rely on.
You can correct or add a date of birth online or at an enrolment centre. For a minor, a parent or guardian carries out the update.
Keep the acknowledgement or Update Request Number until the change reflects on your downloaded Aadhaar, so you have proof that you filed the request.
An individual can have only one date of birth in Aadhaar. Once a birth certificate has been submitted as the Proof of Date of Birth document, UIDAI does not allow any further date-of-birth change on request.
This makes the very first submission critical. Check that the date you enter matches the birth certificate character for character before you submit.
If a genuine error later needs to be corrected, you cannot simply file a fresh date. You must first get the birth certificate itself corrected through the Registrar, then submit the corrected birth certificate, which must bear the same Birth Registration Number as the one already on record. In other words, fix the source document first, then update Aadhaar from it.
If your local Registrar delays or refuses to issue or correct the birth certificate, the Right to Information Act, 2005 is a practical lever. You can ask the municipal or panchayat registration office, in writing, for the status of your application, the file notings, and the reason for delay. See how to file an RTI for a delayed birth certificate and keep The RTI Playbook handy for the appeal stages.
A “declared” date is a self-stated one that UIDAI has not checked against a document. It can clash with school and exam records later. Submitting the birth certificate upgrades the status to “verified”, which is the reliable state to keep.
No. Under the SOP dated 24 December 2025, for the 0 to 5 and 5 to 18 age groups the birth certificate is the only permitted proof of date of birth. The one exception is an NRI below 18, who may use the birth certificate or an Indian passport.
Apply to your State or local Registrar of Births first. A birth should be registered within 21 days, but late registration is allowed under Section 13 of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, on the permission and fee your local rules prescribe. Many States now issue online-verifiable digital birth certificates, including for the 5 to 18 group.
Not directly. Once a birth certificate is submitted as the Proof of Date of Birth, no further date change is allowed on request. You must get the birth certificate corrected by the Registrar and then submit the corrected certificate bearing the same Birth Registration Number.
The mandatory birth-certificate-only rule is for those below 18. For residents aged 18 and above, UIDAI's wider supporting-document list still applies, so a birth certificate is one option among the accepted proofs rather than the only one.
Both routes work. You can update the date of birth online through the official myAadhaar portal by uploading the scanned birth certificate, or in person at an Aadhaar Seva Kendra or enrolment centre with the original certificate.
Author: Dr. Shrawan Kumar Pathak. Last verified against the UIDAI SOP dated 24 December 2025.