Registering a birth that happened in the United States

Registering a birth abroad
A child born in the United States to a German parent is German from birth. Registering the birth does not make the child German: it produces the German paperwork that proves it.

Registration of a birth abroad is the step that turns a legal fact into documents. Without it there is no German birth certificate, and without that a first passport application gets complicated.

Why it is worth doing early

The child is German already if a parent was German at the moment of birth. What is missing is a German record of it.

Registration produces a German birth certificate, and that is what every later procedure asks for: passport, ID card, and eventually the child's own children.

Doing it while the family papers are to hand is far easier than doing it twenty years later, which is the situation many people writing about citizenship by descent are in.

Registering a US birth with Germany

The naming problem, and why it comes first

German naming law is stricter than American practice, and a name entered on a US birth certificate does not automatically become the German legal name.

Where the two do not match, a name declaration is required, and it has to be settled before a passport is issued.

Certifying the signature on a name declaration costs 85.00 €, plus up to up to 33.00 € for certifying the original documents that go with it.

Where the application goes

The application is filed through the German mission for your state, which checks it and forwards it to the registry office in Germany.

The decision and the certificate come from Germany, so the timeline is set there rather than at the consulate.

Registration is not compulsory. It is simply the only way to get German civil documents for a birth that happened here.

What each step produces

Step What you get
Birth in the US to a German parent German citizenship, automatically, with no document
Registration of the birth A German birth certificate
Name declaration, where needed The legal German name, which the passport will carry
Passport application The passport itself, six to eight weeks

Which case applies to you

My child was born last month
This is the easiest moment to do it. Collect the US birth certificate, both parents’ documents and the marriage certificate, and book with your mission.
My child is 19 and we never registered the birth
Still possible, and still worth it. Expect more questions about the parent’s citizenship at the time of birth, because that is the fact everything rests on.
Our surnames are different in the two countries
That is exactly what the name declaration is for, and it has to be resolved before a passport can be issued. Raise it at the first appointment.
Only one parent is German
One is enough. Citizenship passes from either parent, provided that parent was German at the moment of birth.
 Registering the birth is what makes the citizenship visible on paper. The citizenship itself was there from the first day. 
What to have ready
  • The US birth certificate, long form, showing both parents
  • The German parent’s passport or ID card
  • The other parent’s passport or ID
  • The parents’ marriage certificate, if they are married
  • Proof of the German parent’s citizenship at the time of the birth
All procedures
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