Register your baby at the Standesamt within 1 week. Request 3–5 certified copies.
Every birth in Germany must be registered at the registry office (Standesamt) of the place where your baby was born. Without it you get no birth certificate, and without the certificate you cannot apply for Kindergeld, Elterngeld or a passport.
Deadline: one week
Birth → Hospital notice → Standesamt → Birth certificate
- Deadline: report the birth within one week (§ 18 PStG).
- Hospital birth: the hospital usually sends the birth notice to the Standesamt. You then only hand in your documents.
- Ask the hospital: how it works there; many have a service desk for this.
Documents you usually need
- Parents: Passports or ID cards of both parents
- Married: marriage certificate (or a certified extract of the family register)
- Not married: the mother’s birth certificate; if done before the birth, the paternity acknowledgement and custody declaration
- From abroad: Documents from abroad may need an official translation and sometimes an apostille or legalisation
- Birth notice: Hospital birth notice, if the hospital does not send it directly
- Check first: Exact requirements differ by Standesamt, especially for foreign documents, so check the website of yours in advance.
Not married? Paternity and custody
- Paternity: if you are not married, the father becomes the legal father only after he acknowledges paternity (Vaterschaftsanerkennung). The mother must agree. Both declare it in person at the Jugendamt, the Standesamt, a notary or the local court. It is possible before the birth, which makes registration easier (§ 1594 BGB; Familienportal).
- Custody: paternity alone does not give custody. For joint custody, both parents sign custody declarations (Sorgeerklärungen) at the Jugendamt or a notary, also before the birth. Without them, the mother has sole custody (§ 1626a BGB).
- Father from abroad: his foreign documents may need an official translation and an apostille. Ask the Jugendamt or Standesamt early which papers they need. If only the father is German, paternity also decides whether your child is German (German Citizenship).
- Free help: the Jugendamt can help you establish paternity and claim child support (Beistandschaft).
Name of the child
You choose your baby’s first name(s) at registration. For the surname:
- Married with a common surname: your child gets that name.
- Joint custody, no common surname: choose the surname of one parent or a double name from both, joined by a hyphen. If you do not choose within one month of the birth, your child gets a double name from both surnames in alphabetical order (§ 1617 BGB).
- Mother has sole custody: your child gets her surname. She can give the father’s surname or a double name instead, with his consent (§ 1617a BGB).
If the Standesamt refuses
If the Standesamt refuses to register the birth or a name, for example because documents from abroad are missing, ask for the decision in writing. You can apply to the local court (Amtsgericht) to order the Standesamt to act (§ 49 PStG).
After the registration
- Certificates: you get several birth certificates, some free for specific purposes such as Elterngeld, Kindergeld and health insurance. 3–5 copies are practical.
- Tax ID: your baby’s Steuer-ID then comes by post automatically; you need it for Kindergeld.
- Address: the Standesamt informs the registration office, so in general no separate Anmeldung is needed for your newborn.
- Non-German parents: register the birth with your embassy if needed, and check your child’s citizenship and residence permit.
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