How To Get A UK Passport For A Child Born In Spain

This guide is for births in Spain to at least one British parent and was checked against GOV.UK and the Spanish rules in November 2026. Fees are the ones in force from 8 April 2026.

First, check that your child is British

A child born outside the UK on or after 1 July 2006 is automatically a British citizen when a parent was British at the time of the birth and that parent can pass citizenship on. A parent can pass it on if they were born or adopted in the UK, were given citizenship after applying for it in their own right (naturalisation, or registration not based on having a British parent), or were working abroad for the UK government as a Crown servant (the armed forces or the diplomatic service, for example) when the child was born.

The catch is the parent who is British by descent: born outside the UK to a British parent, and British through that parent alone. Citizenship by descent does not pass on a second time. If that describes the only British parent, your child is not British at birth, and a passport application will be refused. The family must first apply to register the child as a British citizen on form MN1. The fee is £1,000 from 8 April 2026 (down from £1,214), and a £130 citizenship ceremony fee is added only if the child turns 18 while the application is being decided. The usual routes are that the British parent lived in the UK for three years before the birth (GOV.UK adds that this parent's own parent must have been able to pass citizenship on), or that the family lives in the UK for three years with the child, and there is a discretionary route for other cases. Once the registration certificate arrives, the passport application goes ahead in the normal way, with the certificate as the proof of nationality.

Check your own position on GOV.UK before you order anything: apply for citizenship if you have a British parent. If you were born in the UK, your child is British and you can skip to the Spanish paperwork.

Register the birth in Spain and order the right certificate

Spanish law makes the hospital or clinic send the birth to the Registro Civil electronically within 72 hours; you sign the forms before you leave, and most parents never visit the registry office. If that did not happen, for example after a home birth, you have ten days from the birth to declare it yourselves at the Registro Civil for your town. After ten days the registry must open a formal file (an expediente registral) before it can register the child, which takes longer.

For the passport you need the Certificación Literal de Nacimiento, the full certificate that shows the child, both parents and the grandparents. HM Passport Office's own guidance for Spain accepts the Literal and does not accept the short Extracto. You can download the Literal free of charge from the Ministry of Justice online office with a digital certificate or Cl@ve, or collect it from the Registro Civil. The downloaded certificate carries a verification code that HM Passport Office's staff check on the Ministry's portal, so a printed download is what you send; one collected at the registry counter is equally good. Order two copies: one goes to the UK with the passport application, and you will need another for your child's Spanish residence card and for the health centre.

HM Passport Office does not accept the multilingual standard form that Spanish registries can issue instead of a translation. Order the Spanish Literal and have it translated (see the documents section below).

Do you need to register the birth with the UK?

No. The UK's "register a birth abroad" service is optional, and GOV.UK says plainly that you can apply for a UK passport without it. It costs £150, plus £50 for each consular birth certificate and a fee to return your documents. Some families do it so the birth appears in UK records and they can order a UK-style certificate later. It is not a step in the passport process.

How to apply for your child's first UK passport from Spain

Apply online through HM Passport Office

Start at GOV.UK, get a child passport, choose that you are applying from outside the UK, and pick Spain. The form asks for the child's details, both parents' details (full names, dates and places of birth, nationalities, the mother's maiden name) and, where the claim is through grandparents, their details too. The person applying must have parental responsibility for the child. You pay by card at the end, then the service tells you exactly which documents to post and gives you the UK address. Paper forms still exist for people who cannot apply online (see below), but the online route is cheaper and tells you exactly what to send.

Who can confirm your child's identity

After you submit the form, HM Passport Office emails a person you name, who confirms the child's identity online. That person must have known you, the adult making the application, for at least two years and be able to identify you as a friend, neighbour or colleague, not only as a professional contact; be a person of good standing in their community, or work in (or have retired from) a recognised profession such as teacher, nurse, accountant, engineer or solicitor; not be related to you by birth or marriage, in a relationship with you, or living at your address; and hold a current passport. For applications made from outside the UK that passport may be British, Irish, EU, United States or Commonwealth. If it is not British or Irish, send a colour photocopy of its photo page with your documents, and GOV.UK says the application is processed faster when the confirmer holds a British or Irish passport, so if you have the choice, choose that person. Ask them before you name them; HM Passport Office may check their passport and profession and may contact them.

Passport photos for babies and children

You can get a digital photo code from a photo shop or booth before you start, or have someone take the photo on a phone during the application; GOV.UK says shop and booth photos are approved more often. The rules relax for small children: a child under six does not need to look at the camera or hold a plain expression, and a baby under one does not need to have their eyes open. Lay the baby on a plain, light-coloured sheet and photograph from above; a hand may support the head as long as it does not show. No dummies, toys or other people in the picture, and no shadows across the face. The service checks the photo when you upload it, but the decision is made when the application is examined, and a photo that fails the rules delays the whole application, so if a home photo looks doubtful, pay for a shop photo with a code.

What documents do you need to send?

Originals only. HM Passport Office does not accept photocopies, certified copies or laminated documents. For a child born in Spain you normally send:

• The child's Certificación Literal de Nacimiento, the full Spanish birth certificate showing the parents.
• Proof that the child is British: the British parent's full UK birth certificate (the long version naming their parents), or that parent's naturalisation or registration certificate, or the child's own registration certificate if you went through form MN1. The British parent's passport details are also entered in the form.
• Grandparents' details when both parents were born after 1 January 1983 or were born outside the UK: the form asks for their full names, towns and countries of birth and the date of their marriage, and HM Passport Office may ask for a grandparent's birth or marriage certificate.
• The parents' marriage certificate only matters for children born before 1 July 2006 whose claim runs through the father. For a baby born in Spain today it is not needed.
• Any other passport the child already holds, and any court order about parental responsibility or residence, if there is one.
• An official translation of any document that is not in English or Welsh, so the Spanish birth certificate always needs one. HM Passport Office wants a translation by a professional translator, signed by them and carrying their details, not one you did yourself. A sworn translator (traductor jurado) in Spain meets that rule.

Check that every name is spelt the same way on every document, including accents. A mismatch between the birth certificate and the parent's passport is a common reason for a letter asking for more evidence, and each letter adds weeks.

Passport fees from Spain in 2026

Fees rose by about eight per cent on 8 April 2026. For applications made from outside the UK:

• Child, online: £75.50 (was £70)
• Child, paper form: £89
• Adult, online: £116.50
• Adult, paper form: £130

On top of that, applications from abroad carry courier charges, which also rose in April 2026: around £14 to deliver the new passport and the same again to return your documents separately. The online service shows your exact total before you pay. A child's passport is valid for five years, so budget for a renewal before the child starts school. GOV.UK's passport fees page shows only the fees for applying inside the UK, which are lower; the fee for applying from Spain appears in the online service once you choose Spain.

Can you apply by post instead?

Yes, but it costs more (£89 for a child) and takes longer. You order the paper form, complete it, have the person who confirms your identity (the countersignatory) sign the form and one photo, and post everything to the UK. The documents, photo rules and identity rules are the same. Most families in Spain apply online and keep the paper route for the few cases where the online form cannot handle their situation.

How long does a child's first passport take from Spain?

HM Passport Office publishes a three-week guide for people applying inside the UK and says there are different turnaround times from other countries, without giving a figure. Allow several weeks from the day your documents arrive in the UK. HM Passport Office's overseas guidance asks you not to chase an application until at least four weeks have passed, the application service shows its current estimate for Spain once you sign in, and a request for extra documents adds more. You can follow the application online once the documents have been received.

There is no fast track and no premium service from abroad, and a first child passport cannot be rushed. If you must travel before the passport arrives, there is no quick fix. An emergency travel document normally goes only to someone who has held a UK passport issued since 2006. A newborn who has never had one is considered only in exceptional circumstances, case by case, with evidence of the child's British nationality; GOV.UK gives a child born unexpectedly abroad as its example, warns that it can take several weeks for a child under 16, requires an appointment at the consulate with both parents or legal guardians, and charges its own fee. Do not book flights on the strength of a passport you do not yet hold.

Delivery of the passport and your documents

The passport is printed in the UK and sent by courier to the address you gave in Spain. Your original documents come back in a separate courier package, often on a different day. HM Passport Office emails a tracking link when each package is dispatched, and the courier needs someone at the address to sign. Until dispatch there is no tracking, only the status in the online service.

After the passport: residency for your child in Spain

A child born in Spain to foreign parents needs their own residence document, every route asks for the child's passport first, and both routes carry a deadline counted from the birth.

• If you hold the Withdrawal Agreement TIE as a British resident from before 2021, a child born here after that date is covered by the Agreement when both parents are beneficiaries, when one is and the other is Spanish, or when one is and has sole or joint custody of the child, which covers almost every family. You apply for the child's TIE at the national police with the passport, the Literal birth certificate and your own TIE. Spain's rules give you three months from the birth to make that application, with extra time only for a justified reason, which is the practical reason to start the passport application the week the Literal arrives.
• If you live in Spain on another permit, you apply for the child's own residence authorisation as a minor born in Spain. It needs no visa and is granted for five years. The parent applies in person within six months of the birth, with copies of the child's and the parent's passports and the child's Spanish birth certificate, and the child's TIE is then requested at the police within a month of the grant.

Sort the residence card as soon as the passport arrives: the NIE on it is what every other office, from the health centre to the school, will ask for.

Can my child become Spanish as well?

Not at birth, unless one parent is Spanish or was themselves born in Spain, or the child would otherwise have no nationality at all. A child born in Spain to two British parents can apply for Spanish nationality after one year of legal residence, instead of the ten years most adults need. How that works alongside British citizenship is explained in our guides to becoming a Spanish national and dual citizenship in Spain.

Health cover for your child in Spain

Between the birth certificate, the passport and the residence card, a newborn's first months in Spain are a stack of paperwork. Private health cover is the part you can settle in a day, and it gives you English-speaking paediatric care from the first weeks. Read our guide to health insurance for children in Spain, or compare Sanitas health insurance plans for the whole family.

Frequently asked questions

Is my child automatically British if born in Spain?

Only if a parent was a British citizen at the time of the birth and can pass citizenship on: born or adopted in the UK, naturalised or registered in their own right, or in Crown service. If the only British parent is British by descent (born abroad to a British parent), the child is not British at birth and must first be registered as a British citizen on form MN1, which costs £1,000 from 8 April 2026. The passport application comes after that.

Do I have to register the birth with the UK before applying for the passport?

No. Registering a birth abroad with the UK is optional and GOV.UK says you can apply for a UK passport without it. It costs £150 plus £50 for each consular birth certificate. The passport application uses the Spanish birth certificate.

Which Spanish birth certificate does HM Passport Office accept?

The Certificación Literal de Nacimiento, the full certificate showing the parents and grandparents. The short Extracto is not accepted, and neither is the multilingual standard form. Send the Spanish Literal with an official translation into English, signed and stamped by the translator.

How much does a child's first UK passport cost from Spain in 2026?

From 8 April 2026 a child's passport applied for from outside the UK costs £75.50 online or £89 on a paper form, plus courier charges of around £14 to deliver the passport and the same again to return your documents. An adult's passport from abroad is £116.50 online or £130 on paper.

How long does a first child passport take from Spain?

HM Passport Office gives no fixed time for applications from abroad; allow several weeks from the day your documents reach the UK, and more if they ask for extra evidence. There is no fast track or premium service from outside the UK. For urgent travel an emergency travel document is considered only in exceptional circumstances for a child who has never held a UK passport, is decided case by case and can take several weeks, so it is no substitute for applying early.

Can my child born in Spain get Spanish nationality too?

Not at birth, unless a parent is Spanish or was also born in Spain, or the child would otherwise be stateless. A child born in Spain can apply for Spanish nationality after one year of legal residence instead of the usual ten. Our guide to dual citizenship in Spain explains how that sits alongside British citizenship.