Registering your child’s birth & Applying for birth certificate

If you are unsure how you apply for your baby’s birth certificates and register his/her birth in Germany.
Here are some guidelines:

(Disclaimer: This document is only a guideline to the procedures, please ensure that the procedures
are double checked with the necessary offices as they may differ from case to case basis.)

Once you have given birth in Germany, you are expected to register your child’s birth.

This must be done within 7 days of the baby’s birth date.

The birth can be registered by a number of people:

The mother, the father, the midwife who was present at birth or the doctor (Hospital) who was present at the time of birth.

Hospital Births (Krankenhaus)

If you give birth in a hospital, they are obliged to register the birth of your baby. Often in hospitals, there is a special department working in the hospital which is responsible to register the birth on behalf of the parents. The person working for this department, will come directly to you to take your documents before
you are discharged, however, it is worth asking your hospital of choice how they do this ahead of time, so you are prepared.

The documents you will need to bring with you for registering the birth are:

• Passport of both parents
• Birth Certificate of both parents(-to-be) (translated in to German)* (In cases when parents do not have birth certificates, they may speak directly to the hospital birth registration department or the Standesamt (the office where birth is registered and which issues birth certificate) whether they would accept a document issued by the Consulate General of India in Germany, certifying the date of birth of the parent. Generally this document is acceptable).
• Diplomas for any parent who has a Master’s Degree or higher ( only if you wish for your qualifications to be included on the birth certificate)
• Parents’ marriage certificate (translated in to German)*
• Registration documents of you and your partner (Meldebescheinigung)

Make multiple copies of these documents and bring the copies as well as the originals

 When registering the birth through the hospital, you will have your original documents checked (as listed above) and they will take the necessary originals/copies of the documents. In exchange they will hand you a confirmation of the birth (Geburtsbescheinigung) which you must keep.

They will likely ask you how many copies of the birth certificate (and International Birth Certificate issued generally in English, German and French- if you are ordering those) you wish to order. It is worth keeping in mind to order a couple of extra birth certificates as this is the easiest and quickest way to do it and they can be helpful in the future.

If, for any reason, it isn’t possible to register the birth through your hospital, you will need a Anzeige der Geburt form, from where you gave birth, to take to the Standesamt (along with your documents) to register the birth yourself (see the list of who can do this above) within 7 days of the baby’s date of birth.

* It is recommended to get your birth certificates and marriage certificate translated by a certified translator if they aren’t in German. This generally facilitates faster processing of the application.

Home Births

If you plan on giving birth at home, you will be given a form (Anzeige der Geburt) by your attending midwife which you will need to present to the Standesamt in your district (Bezirk) yourselves (your partner can do this for you as long as they have the documents listed above). The form must be handed in to your Standesamt within 7 days of the baby’s date of birth.