Germany - Obtain Birth Certificate

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Procedure

A birth certificate is an official document certifying the birth of a person, and it is issued by the responsible registry office. The document includes the seal of the registry office, the signature of the recording registrar and the name of the recording registrar.

Apply In- Person

1. Make an appointment to visit the registry office in the region where the birth took place or registered.
2. At the registry office, ask for birth certificate application form
3. Fill in the application form for birth certificate with the correct information.
4. Attach the required documents to the application form and submit to the assisting officer.
5. Note that if you are requesting for replacement of a lost or damaged certificate, you need to provide valid identification documents and for certificate of a new born baby, you have to attach these documents to the application form : Link to application form.
6. The assisting officer will validate your documents and you will be required to pay the application fees.
7. Your document will be processed and produced. In some offices your document will be produced in some day.

Apply through Online

Some registry offices already offer via a so-called "registry office online service" that the birth certificate can be requested online. There are also independent service providers which allow for a small processing fee, the online application for the certificate.
Visit the registry portal where the birth was registered to an online application for the birth certificate. For example, Registry office in the centre of Berlin:

1. Open the office portal through this link:Pilitik
2. Scroll down to certificate point and then click on online and it will open a new page “Request for Documents”
3. Read the instruction on how to request for the document as you scroll down, when you reach “order certificate online” click on the first hyper link.
4. This will open an application form for requesting birth certificate online.
5. Fill in the application form with the accurate information and click on Agreement to pay for the order you are placing.
6. Complete the procedure and submit your application.
7. After you have completed the ordering process, you will receive from the registry office center of Berlin no separate confirmation of receipt. Your request will be processed immediately and sent to you unsolicited. Fees will be sent with the certificate.
8. If you require documents earlier, they must be requested and collected by you personally or by a proxy at the registry office during office hours.

Apply by Post/fax

1. You can also apply for your birth certificate by post or by fax. In this regard, you must write an informal letter in which you ask the registry to send you a birth certificate.
2. You can write the inform letter in this form: Frank Furt (An example from US embassy and consulate in Germany)
3. And the mail you request to the registry office where the birth registered.
4. Contacts and address are provided below in office and contact section.

Application from Oversees

If you live abroad and you need to request for an extract of your birth certificate from Germany, You can opt to apply for the certificate through the online option or by mail/fax as shown above. You can also visit the Germany Embassy or Consulate near you for more enquires.

A Proxy

If you are not able to make the application or collect the certificate personally, you can choose a representative to make the application on your behalf provided that they are eligible to make the request.

In this case, the following persons are eligible:

• Ancestors and descendants (for example, children, grandchildren)
• Siblings, if they make a legitimate interest credible
• other persons who make a legal interest credible
• In addition, the registry office, in the case of non-personal appearance, in addition to the identity card or passport of your representative, requires a power of attorney written by you as well as your original identity card or a certified copy.

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Required Documents

For new born baby

When applying for the birth certificate for your newborn baby, you should submit the following documents to the relevant registry office so that it can certify the birth of your child:

• “The certificate of birth”: If the child was born in the hospital, this is the medical certificate. In the case of a home birth or childbirth in the birthplace, the registry office requires a certificate from a midwife.
• “Identity card or passport”: The valid ID documents of both parents must be submitted to the registry office when the birth certificate is applied for. 
• “Family Book or Marriage Certificate”: These documents can only be provided if you are already married. 
• “Birth certificates of both parents:” If you are not married, you need the deed of birth from the studbook or the birth certificate of the mother and father.

Request for replacement

• Identification documents
• Informal letter requesting for the documents
• You can also be requested to produce the damaged birth certificate.

Office Locations & Contacts

District Office Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg of Berlin
Tel :( 030) 90298-0
Mailing address
District Office Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg of Berlin
PO Box 35 07 01 
10216 Berlin
Direction

Germany Embassy & Consultant

Eligibility

• All births that are registered in Germany are eligible to obtain birth certificate.

Fees

You will receive 3 toll free earmarked birth certificates for applying for

• child benefit
• Parental allowance and
• Maternity assistance at the health insurance.

Please note that when applying for child benefit etc. these earmarked documents must be presented in the original.

Other birth certificates are chargeable. Please specify,

• how many birth certificates you need in addition and
• whether the documents are punched (for ring binder stud books) or
• Unperforated (for Klemm master books) to be made.

Chargeable documents

Birth certificate: 10 euro, For addition copy- 5 euro
International Birth certificate: 10 euro, for addition copy -5 euro

Validity

Birth certificate are valid forever

Documents to Use

You can write the inform letter in this form: Embassy and consulate in Germany)

Sample Documents

Please attach sample completed documents that would help other people.

Processing Time

• In some registry office, birth certificate are processed and produced immediately upon application while in some registry offices it will take up to 2-3 weeks.

Related Videos

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Instructions

• To obtain a birth certificate from the Federal Republic of Germany, you must contact the competent German agency (i.e. the “Standesamt” or Registrar's Office). Your letter should be addressed to the Standesamt of the place (Village, Township, and City) where you were born. You can find the contact information for your Standesamt by searching the World Wide Web for the key words: Standesamt+place where you were born.
  
• The German phrase for asking for an international birth certificate is:
  
• Ich bitte um Ausstellung einer internationalen Geburtsurkunde für (first name/middle name/last name),geboren am ... (date of birth) in...(place of birth).Eltern: ... (name of father) geboren am ...(date of birth) in ... (place of birth) und ... (maiden name of mother) geboren am ... (date of birth) in (place of birth).”
• Please indicate the month of your date of birth in letters and not with numbers, since doing so could lead to a mix-up (in Germany, the date 10/12/56 refers to December 10, 1956). Information about the fee will be sent to you with the certificate.
  
• Please do not forget to mention your name and address!
• It good for ordering the international version of the birth certificate. This version is already translated into several languages, including English and French, and will save you the expense of a translation.

Obtaining birth certificates from former eastern German territories:
In order to obtain a German birth certificate from the former eastern territories of the German Reich and Prussia, please contact the registrar's office “Standesamt 1” in Berlin. The address is

Standesamt 1

Schönstedtstraße 5

13357 Berlin (Mitte)

Germany

E-Mail

urkundenstelle“at”labo.berlin.de.

If the relevant register is available at the Standesamt, a birth certificate will be issued. Otherwise (eg if registers have been destroyed during the war), you will receive written confirmation that the Standesamt is not in a position to issue a birth certificate in your case. When inquiring, please include a postal address, as birth certificates cannot be sent via e-Mail. link title.

Required Information

• Applicant's name and address (first name/middle name/last name)
• Date of birth
• Place of birth
• Father's name, place and date of birth
• Maiden name of mother, place and date of birth
• Postal Address

Birth certificate will contain the following Information

• The first name and the birth name of the child
• The sex of the child
• Place and date of birth
• The first names and surnames of the child's parents
• The legal affiliation of the child and his / her parents to a religious community, if the membership results from the register entry.

Need for the Document

• Major use of birth certificate is to prove your age and nationality

Birth certificate for the health insurance

• After birth, you will need to submit your newborn's birth certificate to ensure your child's health coverage.

Birth certificate for the employer

• The employer needs the birth certificate as proof of the parenting status of the long-term care insurance. Because parents pay less for the statutory long-term care insurance than childless workers.

Birth certificate for parental allowance

• It is only with the certificate of birth of your child and the birth certificate that you can apply for parental allowance.

Birth certificate for the wedding

• Please note that in the course of a marriage from 01.01.2009 a certified copy from the birth register is required. If there are already common children, you also need the birth certificate of the child or the certified copy from the birth register.

Information which might help

For written inquiries, the registry office will send you the desired certificate (s) to the postal address you provided. You will receive a payment request in advance in order to settle any administrative fees. The dispatch of the document (s) takes place only after receipt of payment. To speed up the communication, it is recommended that you enter an e-mail address and monitor the SPAM folder with regard to the request for payment by e-mail from the registry office.

Please allow up to two weeks for processing, plus the post repayment time of 3-4 days. We ask you to refrain from previous inquiries due to the large number of incoming applications.

If you have arrived with the read here and found that you are "wrong" at the registry office Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg of Berlin, you may be helped with the form for the application. There you can add the address of a registry office of your choice manually.

Most registry offices outside Berlin also provide information on the Internet about applying for a certificate. These should be easily found using an Internet search engine of your choice. To obtain a civil status document, the use of a fee-based service provider on the Internet is not required. It is advisable to always contact the registry office directly.

Other uses of the Document/Certificate

• Including mention used above birth certificate required when processing crucial document required by governments and other federal bodies both in Germany and Abroad.

External Links

German Mission in Canada
US Embassy and Consulate in Germany
Berli.de

Others

More information which might help people.