Tribal Membership and CDIB

A CDIB is a federal government document issued by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) which certifies an individual possesses a specific quantum of Indian blood of a federally recognized Indian tribe.

Each state issues their own style of birth certificate determined by date of birth and date of issuance. The general rule is to obtain the state issued certificate from the state vital records office from the state capital, that includes the state file number signed by the state registrar. Do so by using the paper application instead of online, to ensure you obtain the correct format. If your state has an option for long form, full form, book copy, or flat form please obtain that copy. Once your original document is reviewed, at that time we can determine if it is correct. ** WE DO NOT REPLACE ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS SUCH AS BIRTH CERTIFICATES THAT ARE LOST IN THE MAIL**

The BIA policy states all documents for everyone in the lineage to the Final Rolls is required. Therefore, depending on the lineage records on file, additional birth certificates, death certificates and/or other evidence as determined by the BIA may be requested. Until the application and initial documents are received, it is difficult to determine what else may be required without further investigation by the Tribal Membership Department.

• If only a CDIB application is submitted, a CDIB card will be printed and mailed to the address on the application once approved by the BIA.
• If both a CDIB application and Tribal Membership application is submitted, the Tribal Membership Identification card will be issued if the applicant has submitted a valid photo identification and passport style photo. This card serves as a federally recognized identification and will be mailed to the address on the application. The CDIB card will be printed on one side and the Tribal Membership card with photo and ID expiration date will be printed on the other side. The expiration date is for ID purposes only.
• If a CDIB and Tribal Membership application is submitted and does not meet the Tribal Membership Identification card requirements, the applicant will receive a Tribal Membership Verification card, which does not have a photo.

Your expiration date on your tribal membership card is for ID purposes only. If the card expires, it cannot be used as a form of ID. An expired card does not impact tribal membership status.

The Tribal Member must complete a Tribal Membership application, submit a valid photo identification and passport style photo.

1. Valid photo identification includes, but not limited to, non-expired Tribal Membership Identification card, state issued identification card, state issued Driver’s License, Military ID, Student/school ID, passport, and SmileSafe photo card.

One replacement card will be issued during a two-year period. However, any changes such as name or address, will not count against the replacement restriction.

Please submit a Tribal Membership application with updated information and a new card will be issued.

• For married name change, submit copy of marriage license, reflecting the name change. Married names will only reflect on Tribal Membership and not the CDIB; therefore, documentation only needs to be attached to a Tribal Membership application.
• For an adoption name change, submit court order documentation including, but not limited to the petition to adopt and/or the decree of adoption and the new state issued original birth certificate reflecting the name change. This must go through processing for a CDIB amendment first, then Tribal Membership will be processed upon BIA approval; therefore, documentation needs to be attached to both a CDIB application and Tribal Membership application.
• For court ordered legal name change, submit the court order documentation granting the name change and a state issued original birth certificate reflecting the new name unless the court order states the birth certificate does not require an amendment. This must go through processing for a CDIB amendment first, then Tribal Membership will be processed upon BIA approval; therefore, documentation needs to be attached to both a CDIB application and Tribal Membership application.