Consular birth registration
Please read these notes carefully - you may wish to print a copy for reference before proceeding.
It is obligatory to register the birth of a child born in Italy with the Italian authorities. For further information please contact your local Town Hall (Circoscrizione or Municipio).
There is no obligation for the birth overseas of a British national to be registered with the British Embassy. However there are the advantages that a British form of birth certificate is then available, and that a record of the birth is afterwards held at the General Register Office in the United Kingdom.
If you send in your application by post, your documents will be returned to you by Posta Celere assicurata. The Embassy cannot accept any responsibility for any delay, loss or damage to your documents caused by the postal services. You MUST complete the Posta Celere declaration (PDF, 23 KB), giving a daytime contact telephone number, preferably a mobile, to allow the Postal Services to contact you if necessary. Please complete and return the form to British Embassy, Via XX Settembre 80a, 00187 Rome. We are unable to return your documents without the Posta Celere declaration. The relevant Consular Fees must be sent in the form of an assegno circolare made payable to “British Embassy Rome’’. If you are applying for this Service by post, you can pay by debit or credit card using our payment authorisation slip (available both in PDF and Microsoft Word format).
The following services are chargeable in Italy under the Consular Fees Order 2009:
- Registering a birth in the Consular Register;
- Issuing a certified copy of an entry in the Consular Register of births;
- There is also a postal charge for the return of your documents by posta celere assicurata.
Before registering the birth we need to see evidence of the national status of the person whose birth is to be registered. Photocopies of documents are not acceptable, but original documents will be returned to you as soon as possible.
We need to see:
- The child’s full overseas birth certificate naming both parents;
- The British parent's long birth certificate, or if parent is British and born outside the United Kingdom, documentary evidence of their claim to British nationality, eg. naturalisation or registration certificate;
- The non-British parent's birth certificate;
- The parents’ marriage certificate and, if appropriate, evidence of the termination of any previous marriage of either parent;
- Copy of British parent’s British passport plus copy of non British parent's passport or ID card.
PLEASE NOTE:
If both parents are British citizens, documentary evidence of citizenship of both must be produced.
Declarations of paternity are a necessary part of the documentation required for registering a birth where:
- A child born before 1 July 2006 whose claim to British nationality is through a BC father and a foreign born mother and where that child was born out of wedlock and the parents subsequently marry; or
- The claim to nationality is through the mother only, the parents are not married and they want the father's name to be entered in the birth register.
You should telephone your nearest British Consulate to make an appointment.
The consular birth registration form (PDF, 159KB) should not be used where the child's parents are not married and the British parent was born outside the United Kingdom. In this case application for registration of the child as a British citizen may be made to the Home Office through the British Embassy within one year of the child's birth.
However there are a few exceptions to the above. Further information and forms may be obtained direct from:
British Embassy
Via XX Settembre 80a
00187 Rome
Tel: 06 4220 2600
E-mail: Rome.BirthRegistrations@fco.gov.uk
Please also see the information on the UK Border Agency website.
Nationality and Passports Section
Consular Division
Old Admiralty Building
London SW1A 2AF
Tel: +44 (0)20 7008 0186
