Hi,

My husband and I are both english and expecting our first baby in April. I'm struggling to find out how we go about registering the birth and then getting a passport for her, as we are flying to england at the end of June and need it all sorted by then. I can only look on english websites as my german isn't good enough and can't find much except the British embassy in Bern! Anyone else registered a british baby over here and know how to do it etc?!

Thanks

Cat

I got my son an Irish passport, he was born in the April, and we had his passport in a matter of weeks.

I don't know how it works at the UK embassy, but I got the forms in advance sent out ot me, from the Irish embassy, and put the required documents together in advance, and as soon as my son was born and I had his birth cert, which they give at the time you register him, and his photo, posted it all off and had the passport back within days.
Give the embassy a ring, and they will tell you the procedure and send you out the necessary forms, and you can make sure you have all the required documents, in advance.

The birth certificate will be issued by the AMT (Birth office) a week or 10 days after the birth of your child. It will normally be sent to your home address. (In Schaffhaussen the office is in the centre of town where they preform the marriage ceromonies ie the Standesamt, this was the case 6 years ago). The birth details was sent directly from the hospital.

I take it that you and your husband and baby to be will have the same surname, if this is the case it is straight forward. You then need to apply for a passport in Paris, all British passports for Switzerland are issued out of Paris now. You will also have to arrange medical insurance for your child after their birth.

We had our baby in Zurich in October and had her British passport in hand by the end of November so you have time if you are prepared.

First step is to get your baby's Swiss birth certificate. You bring the documentation to the hospital with you when ready to deliver and they send it to the city office. We needed 1) both parents' birth certificate issued within 6 months of the birth of the child (original ones won't do. you need to order new certified copies. ordering online was quick and easy: https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/c...ates/Login.asp) 2) copies of both parents' passports, and 3) marriage certificate. I had the birth and marriage certificates apostilled but I'm not sure if that is absolutely required. I also brought copies of our residence permits but I can't remember if they needed those or not. You fill out a green name card at the hospital and that is also included in the paperwork they send to the city. We turned all of this in at the hospital and received the birth certificate by mail a couple of weeks later.

Next is the passport application. You can download the form online. Complete it and send it with 2 passport photos, original birth certificates, copy of passports and payment (i filled out the credit card payment form and enclosed it with my paperwork). I mailed mine to Paris on a Friday and had the passport (and original documents) delivered back to me the very next Friday. Very impressive turnaround time. All info for this process is here: http://ukinfrance.fco.gov.uk/en/passports/ Most photo studios in Zurich can do the baby passport photos. We went to Foto Ganz on Rennweg http://www.fotoganz.ch/framedef_1.cf...vi_id=06010102

You have the option to register the birth with the embassy in Berne. This records the birth in the UK system and allows you to use GRO to order birth certificate copies in the future if needed. You have to call the embassy in Berne to get the forms and info for this. It's optional and not required for the passport. http://ukinswitzerland.fco.gov.uk/en...register-birth

I hope this helps. The best advice I can give is to get all of your paperwork in order before giving birth so it's ready to go before you have a newborn in the house!

"I take it that you and your husband and baby to be will have the same surname, if this is the case it is straight forward"

What if, however it isn't straightforward?

We're both from the UK, unmarried, my girlfriend is divorced and has retained her married Swiss name.

I'm not comfortable with my kid having that name - how does one go about solving that little scenario?

Getting a birth certificate if you are not married is a challenge ... we went through an exhaustive process to get a certificate for our little one a few months ago.

Apart from the original copies of the birth certificates and the other documents mentioned above, you will also need to show proof of your wife's divorce.

As the father, you will also have to legally recognize the baby as yours. You have to do this at your local town hall ... I think - check this out, this is an important step. My (German) partner also had to do this at the German Embassy.

The good news is that the baby can take your name / the surname of your choice. If you were both Swiss the baby would have to take the name of the unmarried mother, but if you are both British you can choose.

Also, after the birth you will contacted by the local authorities with regards to the setting of maintenance payments. This is a legal requirement (to protect the child).

And don't forget to arrange health insurance for the baby - best done in advance!

Here is a thread that asked this question a while ago.

There is a link with what looks like, are official rulings.
http://www.stadt-zuerich.ch/internet...me/geburt.html

That is for ZH.
tanyarama,who was in that situation said this:
"Das Kind nicht verheirateter Eltern erhält den Familiennamen der Mutter. Durch die spätere Anerkennung kann der Familienname nicht geändert werden.
Ausnahmen gibt es, wenn das Kind nicht Schweizer Bürgerin oder Bürger ist"

So basically it says that if both parents are not Swiss the child can take on either surname. You must go to Stadt Zurich Bevölkerungsamt BEFORE the birth of your baby to declare you are the daddy in order for the name change to occur.

But thats off topic.

Hi Grace123,

Thank you very much for all that info, hopefully it will happen that quickly for us too!!

Cat

Say it isn't so....I have my original birth certificate, won't the Swiss authorities accept this, or a certified copy? I was born in Kenya - getting a new original is going to be a joke.
Does anyone have experience with this? Our child is due in June, so if I _have_ to have a new original from Kenya, I better get started now

Afraid so, we have just gone through all this and received our b.certificate yesterday, we didn't know about the 'less than 6months rule' and sent copies of our original in the hope that it was good enough. It wasn't.
We are British and were just issued a certified copy of our original to send. We applied online but guess it could be a longer process for you. But hey at least you know this before the birth and can get started unlike us

thanks Zurich99. What if I just send in the original version that I have & take the chance that they lose it? I really can't believe that (even ) the Swiss would expect people to go back to their home countries if the original paper copy issued 30 years ago exists.

We're going through all this right now trying to register our twins.

The documents we gave the hospital were 'rejected' when we sent them off for the birth certificates, because we got married in Sri Lanka and they won't accept our marriage certificate - we have to get it translated by them into German at a cost of 1250CHF... okay you think, we'll take the hit and get it done - but wait for it... it takes between 6-12 months to get the translation from them!

Also yes, they want copies of birth certs from within last 6 months. We've just got these through and now we need to see if there's a way round the marriage cert. stuff!

Sorry to harp on this but not really getting my answer!
If the above is true, is it not sufficient to provide a notarized copy of my original birth certificate? Or does that copy have to come from the agency that provided it first? Or can I not wing it & send my original birth certificate in & hope it's not lost?
Anyone with experience & can respond to the above, would be really appreciated!

They kept our birth certificates and marriage certificate that we sent in on file - so I wouldn't send them the only version you have. We got current extracts of our birth and marriage certificates and that was sufficient.

Thanks MarieZug - and by "extracts" do you mean copies from the issuing agency?

Yes - copies that are officially issued with a new seal/stamp and date from the same place as your original was issued. I got mine from Australia and my husband's from another EU country. We googled, found the office and applied for them online. Request an international version with either French or German translations on the back.

Thanks again MarieZug!

I think getting a French or German translation from Kenya is going to be pushing it but I will try to get the document re-issued at least.

From what the lady at the British consulate told me, the reason they have to be less than 6 months old is to make sure you have not changed your name - not just your surname but your first name also.

I was told not to send my original too as you wont get them back, unless you call and ask for them back.

Hi, I was wondering if anyone has registered a birth (by 2 foreign parents) in the canton of Vaud. In the list of documents required to register a birth, the canton website has no mention of birth certificates for the parents, except in the case of an unmarried mother. We are married. Thanks for any information you have on this.

I have a different scenario here. I have dual citizenship (not swiss). Would I have to get birth certificates issued in less than 6 months from 2 different countries then? Do they need to be translated to french? I'm in Vaud too and didn't see anywhere mentioning about birth certificates for the parents but I don't want to wait till the last minute to find out.