Hello,

I am a British Citizen not born and raised in the UK.

I am living in Zürich and I would like to get married here in Zürich.

I do not have any Birth certificate. My Parents never registered me in the country where I was born or in the UK.

The ZH-Marriage Office (Zivielstandsamt) gave me two information's about the Birth Certificate.

They one Lady told me it is enough when I can get a letter from the Embassy that I can not get a Birth Certificate and the other women told me without any Birth certificate I can not get married at all.

Does anybody had same experience ?


Do I really need a Birth Certificate to get married?


thx

I had a similar problem. I called the authorities in Zurich a while ago to ask about this and they said that a letter from your Embassy stating the reasons why you cannot obtain the birth certificate would be acceptable. My problem was not that I didn't have a birth certificate. I had one, but the country I was born in no longer exists. They require a birth certificate re-issued by the issuing authority where you were born within the last 6 months. I didn't follow through though. It seemed like too much trouble, so I just got married in the States instead. Although you got conflicting information, I am sure the advice I got was correct because according to the other advice you got it would be impossible for those born in countries that no longer exist to get married in Switzerland, right? (e.g. Rhodesia, South Vietnam, USSR). But then again, absurd rules do exist in this country.

Not sure if there's an alternative if you keep pushing the relevant Swiss officials, but I was told I not only must have a birth certificate, it must be issued within 6 months of applying for the marriage license.

The Swiss rules are pretty difficult to comply with if you're not from here, and I suspect they might like it that way so there are fewer foreigners taking up their administrative time.

I wish you luck. I was luckily able to obtain a new birth certificate, albeit after spending 1,300 CHF to fly to my place of birth and requesting it in person. Now I just have to hope my fiance and I can get all the other required documents within the 6 month window I have to use that birth certificate...

Welcome to the Forum!

Yes you need a birth certificate for most things, I think you had better contact the British Embassy in Bern very soon!

http://ukinswitzerland.fco.gov.uk/en...sy/contact-us/

well my Problem is that my mother never registered the birth in my birth country (INDIA) and it was also not registered at any UK EMbassy or at the General Reg. Office.

So I do not have any idea how I can get a valid Birth Certificate.

Given that you were born in India, I would call the Indian Embassy to find out what they can do for you.

they told me I only can get one from the local authority if I was registered there. The Problem I have is that I was not registered there at all.

Therein lies your solution. Explain your situation to the Embassy and ask them to confirm in writing that you cannot obtain a birth certificate for those reasons. Ask the Swiss authorities if this will be acceptable to them.

That's what I did...the first time I went to the marriage Office and told them about my Problem they told me to get a confirming letter from the Embassy. I did get that Letter and went to Apply for the marriage and then the other Lady told me she can not accept the letter I need to try to get one Certificate otherwise I can not get married. She recommended me to fly to India and to try to get one... and that it is not her fault that my mother did not get the Certificate :/

You should try again, and with a different person. Perhaps ask to speak to a supervisor. It seems the lady who told you this is just bent on being a bureaucrat and applying the rules without thinking or considering the circumstances. Flying to India will probably be a waste of time and money.

What about hospital records? Registration of births is not 100pc in India and many Indians get their birth certificates issued from the local municipality even as adults by submitting a copy of their birth hospital records.

I was not born in a hospital...my mummy was on some kind of hippie trip in India and decided not to give birth in a hospital well she was not the most responsible Person at this time and leaving me with this kind of stuiped Problems.

I agree, try again.

I was in a similar situation here in Basel. I was born in Bangladesh just after it was declared independent. I never lived there (ok maybe until I was 6 months old ), I lived in the US my whole life prior to coming to Switzerland 7 years ago.

My birth was "registered", however, not at a hospital, but a by Bengali midwife friend of my mother's 6 months after I was born. I tried to get a cousin who still lives there to get me an official birth certificate "issued in the past 6 months", it was taking forever. I had given up hope after 3 months of waiting to hear if he had any luck (I hardly know my cousins so it was like asking a complete stranger).

So I went into Basel civil office (Zivilstandsamt) and told them my situation, 3 times over another 3 months. On the 3rd time, they finally agreed that I could go without a birth certificate, paid a bit more extra money for an exception (self-affidavit of my age) and they took care of it.

Money talks, bureaucracy walks. 700 CHF instead of 200 CHF. Not bad.

well I will try to go there again and talk to them .....

Good luck! In essence, IF you have a BRITISH passport (incidentally has your date of birth), they should treat you as a UK person not an Indian person.

I don't know what the rules for getting married here are in terms of whether a birth certificate is a must. But whatever the outcome of this discussion, you should try and get a British one if you can. Usually you would need to supply a copy of your local birth certificate to do that and I don't know what happens if you're unable. The following link might give you some pointers.

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/...rtificates.htm

Do you have any evidence of the date and place of your birth?

A passport is all fine and dandy but it's not a substitute for a birth certificate if you can possibly get one. It's proof of citizenship in case your passport is ever lost or stolen. One reason authorities like to see a birth certificate is because passports can be stolen or forged. It's an added level of control. They're not just nit picking. Frankly you're lucky to have managed to get this far in life without the problem having come up before

How can you get a passport without a birth certificate O_o

One scenario comes to mind would be a refugee who lost all his/her papers because of war or some natural disaster, in this case he/she would be naturalized without needing a birth certificate.

The OP hardly sounds like belonging to that category though. And AFAIK it is nigh impossible to get an UK passport sans birth certificate and/or Home Office registration.

And as the OP was supposedly born in India and then followed (one assumes) his mother to Europe i fail to see how he did that if not either on the strength of his own passport that he couldn't have gotten sans birth certificate or on his mother's passport (same remark).

How does the OP know he's a British Citizen? What documentation does he have that will convince the British authorities that he is a British Citizen.

( My wife has no birth certificate. Where she needs one, her Certificate of Naturalisation (as a British citizen) is an acceptable alternative )