Birth Registration of Children Born Abroad to U.S. Citizens

Children born abroad to U.S. citizen parents may have a claim to U.S. citizenship. If the parent(s) meets the transmission requirement, a child's birth may be reported at this Embassy and a U.S. passport and social security number may be obtained for him or her.

To schedule an appointment to execute a Consular Report of Birth Abroad application, please click here after reading the information below. Remember, parents must bring evidence that they spent the necessary time in the United States to transmit citizenship.

We recommend that the birth of your child be reported to the Embassy as soon as possible after the birth. It is not possible to report the birth of a child over the age of 18. Even if your child holds nationality of a country other than the U.S., if your child has a claim to citizenship, he or she must be in possession of a valid U.S. passport to enter and exit the United States.

In order to determine if your child has a claim to U.S. citizenship, please view the Eligibility for Citizenship and Physical Presence requirements of our Passport and Citizenship pages.

If your child has a claim to U.S. citizenship, it will be necessary for the U.S. citizen parent to execute an application for a "Consular Report of Birth Abroad" before a consular officer. This Report is official evidence of citizenship issued to a person under the age of 18 who was born abroad to U.S. citizen parent(s) and acquired citizenship at birth.

The child must accompany the parent to the Embassy. If only one parent is a U.S. citizen at the time of the child's birth abroad, he or she must provide satisfactory documentary evidence that he or she spent sufficient time in America to meet the physical presence requirements.

This could include any combination of the following evidence:

• old passports;
• employment records;
• school/college transcripts;
• tax returns;
• W2s;
• bank statements

Please bring the following to your appointment:

• Download the Application for Consular Report of Birth Abroad
  of A Citizen of the United States of America - DS-2029: Do not sign the DS-2029: (This is a PDF document which can be downloaded using Adobe Reader. If you do not have Adobe Reader, download the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader).
• Birth Certificate: Please bring the child's long-form birth certificate, which is issued by the local authorities. This document shows both parents' names;
• Marriage Certificate: Original certificate issued by local, state, or national government authorities. If married in the United States, please provide a state certificate issued by the civil authorities.
  If your marriage certificate is in a language other than English, a certified translation must be provided;
• Evidence of Parents' Citizenship and Identity: Parents' current U.S. (or foreign) passports must be submitted at time of application.
• Divorce Decrees/Death Certificates: It will be necessary to show termination of all prior marriages for both parents (and certified translations, if appropriate).
• Fees: The application fee is U.S. $65.00. This fee is non-refundable. Accepted payment methods are:
  • the fee may be paid by credit card (we cannot accept
    Laser cards);
  • in cash, U.S. dollars or equivalent in Euro;
  • by U.S. dollar bank draft made payable to "U.S. Embassy". The bank draft must be the exact U.S. Dollar amount of the fee payable. We cannot give change if the amount of the draft you present is greater than the correct amount of the fee. The Embassy is not authorized to accept personal checks for payment of passport fees.

Additional Requirements for the Passport Application

You are not required to apply for a passport at the same time you report your child's birth, but many applicants choose to do so (especially if you have upcoming travel plans to the United States) because both applications require personal appearance at the Embassy. At the time you report the birth of your child, you may also submit an application for his or her U.S. passport and for a social security number. If your child is under age 16 and you are also applying for his/her passport, please ensure you read the Applications for Minors requirements carefully. If you wish to submit both applications on the same day, the following documentation will also be required:

• You may complete either version of form DS-11:

  • DS-11 Application for U.S. Passport or Registrations (Fillable) [1001 Kb]. This form should be filled in online and printed on white A4 or letter-size paper, with each page on a separate sheet of paper.

  • DS-11 Application for U.S. Passport or Registrations
    (Non-Fillable) [ 743 Kb]. This form should be downloaded and printed on white A4 or letter-size paper, with each page on a separate sheet of paper. Complete in Block Letters. (Please ignore pages one and two of the
    instructions pages of this form, as they do not apply when applying for your passport outside the United States. Instead, please follow the instructions on this page).

• Two identical passport color photographs. The Embassy will reject any photographs that do not meet the specified requirements. Vending machine photographs and photographs printed on a home computer are unacceptable;

• Fees: The application fee for a child under the age of 16 is U.S. $85.00; aged 16 and over 16 is $100.00. This is in addition to the CRBA fee noted above. Accepted payment methods are listed above;

• Envelope: Include a stamped self-addressed envelope, size 8 1/2" x 11" approx., for the return of your Consular Report of Birth Abroad and passport. Please affix to the envelope a €5.50 regular postage stamp or a combination of stamps to the value of €5.50. We will return your documents to you by Express Post mail.

Processing Time

If all documentation is complete and in order, your Consular Report of Birth Abroad may be issued on the day of your appointment. An application for a full-validity (ten years for adults; five years for children under age 16) passport will be sent to the United States for printing with a secure, photo-digitized image of the bearer. You should allow approximately three weeks for the passport application to be processed and the new passport returned to you.