Changes To British Birth And Death Registrations Overseas
Expat Tips
Published: 03 June 2014 12:54 CET
Updated: 22 June 2022 12:54 CET
Registering The Birth Or Death Of A British Citizen In Spain
If you are an expat living here in Spain permanently, it is important that you become familiar with the process of registering a birth or death of British citizens overseas.
In a move to centralise the registration of births and deaths, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office will be changing the way these registrations are processed.
From the 9th of June 2014 the process of registering births and deaths of British citizens abroad will be changing.
At the moment, the process is done mainly by the British consulates overseas, but will in future be carried out by a dedicated registration unit in the UK. The centralisation of the process will mean a more efficient service and allow the consulates to focus on what they do best, helping British nationals abroad.
Once the new system is fully operational, you will need to allow extra time as documentation will need to be sent to and from the UK.
Please note that consular birth registration is purely an optional service and is only available to those born overseas who have an automatic entitlement to British Nationality at birth. There are no legal requirements to obtain a consular birth certificate. A translated local birth certificate from Spain should be sufficient for example when applying for a British passport.
Likewise, a consular death certificate is also not a legal requirement. A local death certificate is usually perfectly fine when it comes to winding up a person's estate in the UK for probate purposes.
For further information please see the following pages.
To register a birth - https://www.gov.uk/register-a-birth
To register a death - https://www.gov.uk/register-a-death
If you want to register a new birth locally here in Spain, please see our page here
http://www.healthplanspain.com/blog/expat-tips/189-registering-a-new-birth-in-spain.html
