Registering German birth in the UK

[gdc]

Hi. I'm a UK citizen, my wife is German, and we live in London. We plan to give birth in Germany (where my wife's mum lives) in July of this year, before returning to London.

I am unable to find out what I need to do in UK as regards registering our arrival to be.

Is there anything that we need to do once we get back other than a passport application for the baby for it to live in the UK?

Thanks in advance.

[Belgianchocolates]

You'll need the birth certificate from germany and a passport for it to travel back to the UK (either british or german, best to check with german and british authorities if it can have dual nationality). Other than that you don't need to register the birth as far as I'm aware. The birth needs to be registered where the baby is born. Just make sure that you've got a copy of the birth certificate when you come back for future use, otherwise it'll be a bit of a hassle.

[sachertorte]

Are you sure you can´t register the birth in the UK? I´m abroad and was told I could add the baby to the UK list of births, but only at great cost through the embassy. This isn´t the same as getting a UK birth certificate but the baby will be included on the list of births. As you are British and living in the UK you should at least get some sort of similar document which might just might make your life easier in the future.. Maybe someone more knowledgable will come along...

[Belgianchocolates]

As far as I'm aware you will be issued a birth certificate in the place that the baby is born. There's no need to register the birth in the UK. The baby will more than likely have dual nationality. Our dcs were born here in the UK and are also registered in the Belgian Embassy as my dcs.
I think it must be similar to registering weddings, because if you get married elsewhere in the EU then you don't need to register that in the UK.
The citizens advise bureau must have some information about this sort of thing and the registry office website too. I e-mailed the citizens advise bureau with that sort of questions in the past.

[Belgianchocolates]

This is all the registry office has to say about British babies born abroad. Not much I'm afraid.

[Belgianchocolates]

And this too. It all seems to assume you're living abroad though, not that you're visiting, IYKWIM.

[Amapoleon]

I can only speak for Spain. I was told that you can register birth at British embassy and pay for a British birth certificate.

I haven't bothered, to get the passport I used the Spanish certificate.

[frogs]

Births are registered with the authority where the baby is born, so if you give birth abroad to a british baby (or baby that is entitled to british citizenship) you register the birth with the nearest British consulate or embassy. They're in Düsseldorf and Munich, and the main embassy is in Berlin, obv. I have a birth cert from the British Consulate-General myself, and a v. fine thing it is too.

You will almost certainly need to register with the appropriate Gm authorities as well, so you need to find out what the deal is that end. You also need to check whether your baby is entitled to dual nationality, and what the regulations are about that (Gms can be a bit funny about dual nationality).

Conversely, if you were to have future dc in London, you would register the birth with the German embassy here, as well as registering with the town hall in the borough where you gave birth (if this is not the same as the borough you live in).

hth.

[Belgianchocolates]

Hello again Amapolean
I must say I was talking for Belgium. My dcs are Belgian, but born in the UK. Because dh and I weren't married at the time of their birth, they had to have my nationality. Anyway, I got their Belgian passports with a British birth certificate and when we got married the could go on our 'wedding booklet' with a certified translation of their british birth certificates. I did have to register their births at the Belgian Embassy, but they did not get a birth certificate for this.

Definitely check about dual nationality. I got in touch with the Belgian Embassy for this, so I suppose that in your case getting in touch with the British Embassy in Germany would be a good idea. Our dcs couldn't get Dual nationality back when they were born, but when I enquired about my bump it turned out that last year the rules have changed and this one will be able to have dual nationality. These sort of things seem to change regularly. Good luck.

[sachertorte]

frogs, did you really get a standard British birth certificate? I was led to believe that you only get ONE birth certificate, wherever the child was born, but the British authorities would add the name to the list of births in UK, at a charge, but this would not constitute a birth certificate as such...

OP, you really need to check out the implications of not getting your child registered properly with the British authorities. I have heard scaremongering in my local community about the consequences if you do not and you want your child eg. to to go UK university at UK rates... Let me know what you find out ; )

[frogs]

No, Sacher, I really do have two birth certificates, although the consular one looks different from a standard UK one. Not sure I even know where it is now, but it has been accepted as the real deal.

The only problem I would envisage is with a system that doesn't recognise dual nationality, or that places severe restrictions on it. The Germans used to be v. v. funny about this, but I gather they've changed their regulations more recently after a spate of high profile incidents where Gm woman married non-Gm men, but were unable to pass on their nationality to their kids, thus landing them with problems when the husband decamped to land of origin with kids. Or some such.

But DO check what you need to do to comply with the Gm system before going ahead, or you may end up with unintended consequences. For example, if you have a Gm passport you are regarded as a Gm national on Gm soil -- they will not cut you the kind of slack that might otherwise be afforded to forriners. Eg. if you are educated in the UK but subsequently want to study in Gm you will be treated as a home student and not as an overseas one (this can be a BAD thing for various v. dull bureaucratic and financial reasons which I no longer recall, but it was v. v. tedious and they were completely inflexible about it). There may also be issues around National Service or whatever they call it these days. So do your due diligence first.

The brits are fine with it: looky here.

[gdc]

Thanks to all for your help, in particular Frogs - the FCO link was exactly what I was looking for.