Birth certificates are important public documents which are often requested in support of applications for visas, passports, school admissions, and other legal processes, from marriage to registration of death. Unlike your passport, which can be used internationally without the need for an apostille*, a birth certificate cannot usually be used outside of the country in which it was issued unless it is legalised, such as with an apostille, a certificate which allows the receiving country to easily verify the authenticity of the document.
Registering a birth
If you give birth to a child in one country but you, your partner, or both are foreign or dual nationals, you may want to register the birth of your child with the other country. The principle of jus sanguinis exists in many countries across the globe, allowing children born abroad to citizens to gain citizenship, provided certain conditions are met (typically, the parent(s) must have been physically present in the country for a minimum period of time prior to the birth). For those with strong ties to their country of nationality, it can be very important to ensure that their child’s right to citizenship is recognised so that a passport may be obtained. In order to do this, the child’s birth certificate will likely need to be legalised so that it can be presented in support of the application, proving their date and location of birth, name, and, crucially, the identity of their parents, whose names will be listed on a full U.K. birth certificate*. Without this information, the child’s right to citizenship cannot be proven.
Registering a death
You may find yourself in a position where you must register the death of a U.K. national abroad. Whether the deceased was a permanent resident or simply a visitor in the country in question, deaths usually must be registered in the area in which they occured in order for a death certificate to be obtained – this certificate can then be shown to the elevant authorities, who can record the death in the U.K. As with all processes, the documents required may vary somewhat from country to country and depending on the circumstances. A birth certificate is not always required but is often requested, as it can speed up the process.
Other purposes
You may also be required to have your child’s complete birth certificate legalised if you are moving abroad with them, both for inclusion on your visa and for school admissions once in the country. A birth certificate is important for these purposes because in addition to proving your child’s identity, it also proves their relationship to you, thanks to the parent details on the full certificate, without which it may be difficult to prove they are permitted to travel with you.
Process
An original U.K. birth certificate with a signature from a register office official can be apostilled straight away. On rare occasions, there may be delays if the signature is not immediately verifiable (for instance, if the registration district no longer exists or has been merged due to structural changes), although these delays can often be avoided by obtaining a duplicate from the General Register Office (GRO). If you are unsure of how to order a duplicate, Pardus Bloom may be able to help you obtain common certificates (birth, marriage, death) from the GRO.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office currently only accepts birth certificates in these two forms – original or official duplicate – hence it is not possible to use a notary-certified copy if you require an apostille.
You should take care to ensure that you have the correct form of birth certificate before you have it legalised to save you the need to repeat the process. In the U.K., there are both short and long-form birth certificates, and short-form certificates may not contain the necessary information for your purposes.
If you are sending the document to a country which has not joined the Apostille Convention, such as China, Thailand, the UAE, and much of the Middle East, it is likely you will also have to have it attested by the embassy after having it apostilled, effectively certifying it twice. Certain embassies allow agents to submit applications on behalf of another individual – in these cases, Pardus Bloom is generally happy to assist with the application process. For a list of the embassies we regularly put documents through, see our page Embassy Attestation. For any queries about embassies not listed, please contact us directly and we will be happy to check whether we are capable of acting on your behalf.
If you are sending the document to a country where English is not a working language, you will likely need to provide a translation of the birth certificate, and possibly of the apostille itself. It is worth noting that, although English remains a procedural language in the EU, many EU countries have begun requesting that public documents be translated – in our experience, Spain in particular tends to want documents to be submitted bilingually, or with sworn translations attached. At Pardus Bloom, we can arrange translation in addition to apostilles/attestation, saving you the time and hassle of finding a translator separately.
*Passport copies may still require notarisation and apostilles – this is because certified copies (produced by a U.K. solicitor or notary) will be viewed as U.K. documents, rather than as travel documents.
*Short-form U.K. birth certificates list only the details of the child and are generally not suitable for citizenship/passport applications.