Hi,

Please help! I have waded through loads of threads and various websites and can't seem to find a definitive answer of what I need to do. Our baby will be born in a month, we are married, both British and live in Zurich. We will have 3 months between the birth of the baby and needing to leave the country.

Can anyone tell me what is the process to register the birth and get a passport? I am having the baby at Triemli.

Thanks in advance

Hello,

The process we followed a few years ago was:
1) register birth within 48 hours in the canton
2) downloaded the child's passport application form from the Internet (the Paris consulate)
3) send form with photos etc to Paris
4) waited 3 weeks, new passport arrived!

In our canton we needed copies of marriage certificate, birth certificates.

If you want a British birth certificate you need to speak with you consulate who can advise you if the forms needed

Agree, its easy, quick and painless. In fact, i even think they register the baby automatically at the hospital. We're waiting (any day now) and the hosptal told us to bring our documents for that purpose

Good luck

You will also need your own birth certificates, both less than 6 months old to register the birth. You need (well that's what we did at least) to take them to the council office -can't remember what it's called in German, maybe Zivilstandsamt- before the birth -it can take them a while to verify the certificates so if you're in a hurry for the passport, I'd do this sooner rather than later. You may also need your marriage certificate.
They will give you a list of any other documents you need. After the birth the hospital will take copies of your permits and they send birth info to the council. They will then send you the birth cert. Ask for an 'International certificate' and it will have english on it too.

Passport advice has already been given. It only too a couple of weeks for us and we had the passport in our hands about a month after our baby was born.

There is heaps of info on the forum - search for birth certificate

Zivilstandsamt link for Zürich

Can you call the the Embassy for confirmation in writing that the British birth certificate, unlike other countries' certificates, does not expire.

Applying for fresh birth certificates is expensive and takes time. I was told by the British consulate in Germany they were constantly having to educate German registration offices that a seal does not expire, whereas a stamp does.

Be aware that as the birth of your child is overseas, your grandchildren will be born stateless (See post 7 below), unless your children can return to Britain for the birth. Please ask the Embassy for confirmation on that too.

Well, apart from that being a little far ahead, its not quite true, is it? For that to be true, the child would have to marry another child who was born outside of their home country, and they'd need to settle somewhere that they didnt or couldnt get residence....so the chances are pretty remote, I'd have thought.

Also not sure why its relevant to mention now....its not as if anybody can do anything about it one generation in advance

Assuming they have a son, in 25 years time under present legislation the grandchild would not automatically get British citizenship. It would have to be applied for, stressing the ties to UK, number of visits, other relatives living in UK etc etc. If son married another lost citizen, grandchild would be stateless.

It is very relevant, as they might now just want to drive to UK and have their child there.

Thats proper planning ahead driving to another country whilst heavily pregnant to have the baby there just in case said baby meets another stateless baby (I never knew one, let alone two who got married!) to save the grandchild filling in some forms in 25 years time is quite a longsighted plan....I'm impressed

It happened to foriends our ours when we lived in Belgium so it is not as uncommon as you think.

They were not married at the time of the birth and in Belgium the father has to officially 'recognise' that the child is his in such cases which may take some time.

Parents were both British but she was born in Africa so she couldn't automatically pass British nationality on to her son. Father couldn't pass on British nationality until he officially recognised the child. Child couldn't have Belgian nationality just because he was born there so he was effectively stateless and couldn't get a passport or leave Belgium until they resolved the matter.

The parents actually married soon afterwards so everything worked out OK in the end but it did cause them major hassles as she missed her brother's wedding due to not being able to travel with their child.

Had they done their homework beforehand they could probably have done things differently.

That's kind of my point - he just didn't do his paperwork on time. Its not the same

Anyway....the only point I was making to Ittigen is that when somebody asks "How do I register my baby?", its maybe a little bit alarmist to use expressions like "BABY IN STATELESS SITUATION SHOCKER" for something that is i) VERY unlikely to happen and ii) would only happen in 25 years time.

Thats all

It wasn't a question of him doing his paperwork in time. It's impossible for him to 'recognise' a baby as his before it is born (in Belgium at least). They only way they could have changed anything would have been to marry before the birth. Had they had the info Itiigen posted at the time maybe they would have done that.

Yes it's not relevant in the OP's case but it may be useful to other people who read this thread.
Many people don't realise that a baby born overseas to Brithish parents will not be able to pass on British nationality to their children and this info could be useful to know. There may be British people living here now who were born elsewhere and if they had a child born here it would not be British. Ittigen was only trying to make people aware of potential problems.

You'll need to get copies of your birth certificates...

http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/

I think there is an express option. You'll also need your wedding certificate. Good luck!

Hi,
My baby was born in Feb (also at Triemli) and we got her a British Passport. (Both parents with British Passports). Similar to the threads above but would like to expand and let you know my experience. Personally I think you should call the Consular Section of the British Embassy in Bern.
http://ukinswitzerland.fco.gov.uk/en/ They will give you all the correct information and are very helpful.

The process I followed from memory:
1) register birth within 48 hours in the canton - The hospital sent the forms in for us. We had to fill these out and gave them to the hospital the night I arrived in labor but only after she was born and we had named her. (Fathers job to remember)
2) The canton sent us her Swiss Birth certificate but this took 6 weeks to arrive. I visited the Register of Births Deaths and Marriages at the Stadthaus in Zurich but was not able to hurry this service.
3) Once we received the birth certificate we personally visited the British Consulate in Bern (but you can do this by mail) and got our daughter a "Consular Birth Registration" (156chf). We had to provide the babys birth certificate (naming both parents), both the mother and fathers long birth certificate, marriage certificate (not relevant for us) and both the mother and fathers passports. I got my citizenship through Naturalisation and also had to provide the certificate.
It took about 3-4 days for a copy of the Consular Birth Registration to arrive in the post. (another (100chf for the certificate).
The advantage of registering the birth is that a British form of birth certificate is available, and I record is held at the General Register Office in the UK.
4) You have to get the childs birth certificate from Paris. http://ukinfrance.fco.gov.uk/en/help...als/passports/ Forms are downloadable from the internet. I am not sure what documentation you need to provide but we just sent the Consular Birth Register Certificate. I cant remember the timescales but I believe this took about 3 weeks to arrive.

Hope this information helps.

Sorry point 4) above should read.
You have to get the childs PASSPORT from Paris

Hello,

We have 2 kids both born in Neuchatel and the hospital administrator was around by 8 o'clock the following morning after the birth with the forms.
There were a couple next door who locked themselves in their room as they had not been inspired to find a suitable name for their newborn. The administrator called back to the room 10 times knocking loudly on the door throughout the day and they eventually let her in.

Incidentally if both parents are foreigners they child will take the father's nationality as far as the Swiss are concerned

regards

John

What???

A child born to British parents doesn't have jus sanguinis citizenship? That's a silly rule, and creates statelessness if it's true.

I don't believe this is true. See here for home Office guidelines:
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/br...en/bornabroad/

My interpretation - assuming that the OP and/or his partner are British and have lived in the UK in the past, their child will be eligible to pass on its British nationality to its children provided it lives in the UK for a continuous period of at least 3 years during its life. But if the child never goes back to the UK and somehow the grandchild is born stateless then the UK will still grant citizenship to the stateless child of a BRitish citizen, whether they are a citizen by descent only or not.

Should both the child and the grandchild never live in the UK, if the OP's great grandchild is born stateless, then it is probably stuffed.

Sorry if this is off topic a little but why on earth do you have to get the passport for your child from Paris? Why can the Bern consulate not issue the passport? Afterall can't you get a passport renewed in Bern?

UK government centralised the process, cost saving : - UK nationals from Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg all have to be processed through Paris now.

We recently got a passport for our baby - it didn't take too long - but it was delayed a while because they weren't happy with the photos. Not that they told us - they waited until we rang them asking why it was taking so long. We sent more photos - about 4 pairs, each signed by a patient friend! They chose the one they liked.