Geburt im Ausland beurkunden lassen

If your child was born abroad, it is advisable to apply for the birth to be certified in a German birth register (subsequent certification) if at least one parent has German citizenship. In this way, you also determine the name. At the same time, possession of German citizenship is checked and confirmed during the procedure.

If your child born abroad to German parents or a German mother or father is to acquire German citizenship, you must have this procedure carried out within one year of the birth. In your application, you can request the issue of one or more German birth certificates, including multilingual versions, so-called international birth certificates. You will be able to use these with all German authorities in the future. The advantage of this is that you will no longer have to have your foreign certificates translated and you will also be able to prove the child's name and nationality.

As a German citizen living abroad, you can apply for the birth of your child to be certified in a German birth register via the German diplomatic mission responsible for you.

The registry office in whose jurisdiction the person born abroad has or last had their place of residence or habitual abode in Germany is responsible for notarizing the birth of a German abroad. If this does not give rise to jurisdiction, the registry office in whose jurisdiction the applicant has or last had his or her place of residence or habitual abode in Germany shall certify the birth. If there is no jurisdiction, the registry office I in Berlin will notarize the birth.

Parents, spouses or partners or children of the person born abroad are also entitled to apply.

Details about the procedure can be obtained from the responsible German diplomatic mission abroad or viewed on their website.

At Standesamt I in Berlin, births of Germans abroad or on German ships are certified or certificates are issued for Germans who have never had a residence in Germany. If necessary, birth certificates or copies of certificates from the following registers can be obtained there:

• Consular registers,
• Registers from former German colonies,
• registry office records from the former German eastern territories, East Prussia, West Prussia, Upper Silesia, Lower Silesia and Pomerania,
• Registers for areas occupied during the Second World War, i.e. the Generalgouvernement, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Belarus, Ukraine, the Netherlands and Norway from 1940 to 1946.

Most of these register holdings have been handed over to the Landesarchiv Berlin by the Standesamt I in Berlin for reasons of responsibility or will be handed over in the coming years. Please note that the place where the person you are looking for lived is not necessarily the same as the location of the registry office responsible for the birth certificate at the time. You may have to look up where the responsible registry office was located, especially in smaller towns. Local registers in libraries can help with this. Alternatively, try searching the Internet.

If Registry Office I in Berlin has a birth register entry for the person you have requested, the birth certificate will be issued against payment. Otherwise - for example, if the records were destroyed during the war - you will receive a written confirmation that the registry office is not in a position to issue a birth certificate in your case.

Please provide a postal address with your request, as birth certificates cannot be sent by e-mail.

You will need the following documents

• valid identity card or passport

You must also submit the following documents:

• foreign birth certificate with translation into German, which has been carried out and certified by an officially recognized translator and, if necessary, legalization or apostille (an international birth certificate may be sufficient)
• for naturalized citizens: additional naturalization certificate
• for persons entitled to asylum, stateless persons, homeless foreigners and foreign refugees: additional proof of special status

For representation additionally:

• Written power of attorney from the authorized person to whom the entry relates
• Valid identity card or passport of the authorized person

The registry office may request the submission of further documents if necessary.

The following requirements must be met:

Persons entitled to apply for the certification of a birth abroad:

• Parents, each parent separately,
• the child born abroad,
• his or her spouse,
• their life partner,
• their children

Minimum age as applicant: 16 years of age

To acquire German citizenship by birth: at least one parent must have German citizenship and apply for subsequent certification within one year of birth abroad

You have a birth that took place abroad notarized as follows:

• You submit an application for notarization of a birth abroad to the competent registry office in Germany or to the competent German diplomatic mission abroad.
• If the application is made in Germany, the registry office in whose jurisdiction either the child concerned or the person making the application in Germany has or last had his or her place of residence or habitual abode is responsible. Otherwise, the registry office I in Berlin is responsible.
• Standesamt I in Berlin is responsible for issuing birth certificates from birth registers from the former German territories and from the consular and colonial registers. If no records are available, you will receive a written confirmation of this.
• The parents, each parent, the child born abroad, their spouse, their partner and their children are entitled to apply.
• Birth certificates are only sent by post for a fee.

• Birth abroad Notarization
• German citizenship is acquired by birth if at least one parent has German citizenship
• Birth abroad can be notarized in the birth register in Germany upon application
• Entitled to apply:
  - parents of the child
  - person themselves
  - spouse
  - civil partner
  - child(ren)
• Responsible:
  - in principle the registry office in whose jurisdiction the person born has or last had his or her place of residence or habitual abode
  - if there is no jurisdiction after this, then the registry office in whose jurisdiction the applicant has or last had his or her place of residence or habitual abode
  - if there is also no jurisdiction after this, then the registry office I in Berlin