Birth certificate for Nationality

Welcome on our forum,

While understanding your needs, this question has already been debated dozens of times in the past.

So please do as we advise all newcomers, take the time to read:
- guides published by the site. They can be found under the "discover" tab
- old discussions that you can filter with our search tool located next to your avatar.

Hi Phipiemar, I have searched thoroughly in this forum before posing this question, Unfortunately nothing i found. Can you please help me to give me that link of that similar one where the debate you found? thanks

There are 35 discussions (including yours) regarding the birth certificate. And all of them concern the Indian document. I am sure that by browsing and analyzing the discussions, you will find the information that interests you.

However, you can also send a message to Aneesh who is our expert on these issues.

https://www.expat.com/en/search/europe/belgium/

Thanks Phipiemar, There are indeed many BC related questions but it is not entirely helping for my questions though...

Hi Anees,

I have been to etat civil department in commune, They have asked me to get only the Birth certificate legalized.. but no additional information were been given. These are some of the questions i have. Possibly you know the answers...

1. Is the Birth Certificate from India - Apostiled -from Foreign Public service would do? or else do we need to follow any additional legaziliation process here from Belgium. Or back from India?

2. Do we need to take any additional Birth Certificate based on the Passport particulars from the Embassy of Belgium/?

3.In my passport , my father name has additional surname but in my birth certificate the additional surname does not exist. Will this be an issue ?

4.Lastly, My Wife passport is bearing with my name in the surname after marriage ,and here residence card also has been given based on the marriage certificate. While giving the papers for nationality, my wife's birth certificate + Marriage Certificate - will it be sufficient to prove that the name has eventually changed or any additional documents would be required to prove this part.

Thanks here

These are very specific questions. Though you can get more clarification from the municipality or even the embassy linked to your nationality.  There is always the option to consult a lawyer with these questions. That may cost a few 100 euros but the cost of applying for Belgian nationality is not that much when compared to other countries.

Maybe you can get information via https://diplomatie.belgium.be/en/servic … se_belgiumhttps://www.agii.be/geboorteakte#:~:tex … oorteakte.

Hi, I hope it is not too late.
I had a similar situation as you concerning your 3rd question. My birth certificate has a short form of my surname as initials. Where in passport and RP, the surname is the expansion of my initials. In such cases, you can use the same birth certificate (legalize it as it is from India).

When you translate it by a court sworn translator in Belgium, the translator can add the surname in square brackets "[]". For example, your BC has the letter "S" from "Surname", the translator can do "Name S[urname]" when translating.  They can add additional information within brackets that completes the document to have a meaningful translation.

Hope this helps.

Best regards,

Hi - I had the same question actually and was wondering if you were able to solve it and could provide some advice? Thanks

adwiprath wrote:

Thanks Phipiemar, There are indeed many BC related questions but it is not entirely helping for my questions though...

Hi Anees,

I have been to etat civil department in commune, They have asked me to get only the Birth certificate legalized.. but no additional information were been given. These are some of the questions i have. Possibly you know the answers...

1. Is the Birth Certificate from India - Apostiled -from Foreign Public service would do? or else do we need to follow any additional legaziliation process here from Belgium. Or back from India?

2. Do we need to take any additional Birth Certificate based on the Passport particulars from the Embassy of Belgium/?

3.In my passport , my father name has additional surname but in my birth certificate the additional surname does not exist. Will this be an issue ?

4.Lastly, My Wife passport is bearing with my name in the surname after marriage ,and here residence card also has been given based on the marriage certificate. While giving the papers for nationality, my wife's birth certificate + Marriage Certificate - will it be sufficient to prove that the name has eventually changed or any additional documents would be required to prove this part.

Thanks here

The name is Aneesh

1. Usually the birth certificate issued from your place of birth, is the one that is accepted. (You can check with etat-civil if they accept BC issued by embassy instead of the one issued from your place of birth). Certificates issued in India must be apostilled by MEA (Ministry of external affairs , New Delhi). You can find info in MEA website how to get apostile stamp. Apostiled BC must be translated to one of the official languages of Belgium (depending on your commune) and translation must be legalized. Most sworn translators will do the legalization too.

2. No (as mentioned in point 1, if you have BC issued from India, you dont need anything else).

3. It is better to get it corrected.

4. You can get a certificate from Embassy of India. It is called "one and the same certificate". This states that the person with name Abc YYY is the same as Abc ZZZ. You have to present your wife's documents before the name change - school cert or birth cert so that embassy can verify and issue you this certificate. This certificate must also be legalized and legalized version must be translated.

This is based on experience. Please check with your townhall/commune for an official answer.

Thanks this is so helpful Aneesh. If my BC is from India and I get it Apostilled by MEA and then translated…I read somewhere that then the documents have to be taken to the Belgian embassy in India to be legalized. Is that also your experience or was it enough to just have the translated document legalized by a sworn translator?

You're mixing things: Apostille & legalization are different.

Apostille is a a French word meaning certification. An Apostille is simply the name for a specialized certificate, issued by the Secretary of State (foreigner ministry 99.99% of the time in case of visa & else)
It's an agreement between countries to recognized an official document emits from a foreign country if there's an apostille (special seal/sticker) (to recognized the signature of the official on the document, so the document is considered valid and can be used abroad. Only the signature/seal of the home country is recognized, NOT the content!)


Legalization is the old way of doing thing when a country didn't signed the apostille agreement.
Legalization means that "a" country recognize the signature/seal/stamp of an official on a document (NOT the content) and is "ready" to be use abroad. (by the foreign ministry of a country)
THEN, the embassy of the country where you want to use the document has to legalize the signature of the official that recognize the document (minister) from your home country to be used and valid in that country. (NOT the content)


India has signed the convention about apostilles, so it's less administration for you, compare to other countries which are still using legalization (Vietnam, ...).

Meaning that once an official document has an apostille, it is recognized to be used abroad. The translation must be done before the apostille by a sworn translator, or immediately at the foreign ministry of your home country.
Both the official document and the translation will have the seal/sticker on it.



More information on https://diplomatie.belgium.be/en/servic … _documents

Hi,

I want to apply for Belgium Nationality. Currently, I hold an Indian passport.

I have a specific question related to birth certificate.

Passport:
Given Name : Xxx Yyy
Surname: Zzz

I can get birth certificate with only one field "Name".

Now question is what shoukd be the name?
01. Xxx Yyy Zzz
02. Xxx
03. Xxx Zzz

Thanks for your guidance.

Kind Regards,

What so ever will be on passport and subsequently that appears on ur Residence card, will go into Nationality Card.

If u wish to correct the same, correct the passport first. First name can also be changed after ur nationality for free in some commune.
Best is always to get it better in Indian passport although the process will be lengthy, tedious and cost you. To avoid any future Indian embassy related hasseles for administrative reasons. For birth certificate, well u cant change there much. Good if u can do that.

Hi Arun,

Thank you.

The issue is not incorrect name.

Issue is

passport has 2 fields "Given Name" & "Surname".

Birth certificate has only 1 field "Name".

How to match data? What should be the next step?

In vlanderen they mean surname or family name from the "naam"
They said "voornaam" to your first name or given name

Join both names together for birth certificate please. It's simple analogy. Your name is also a combination of your first name and family name.

Is that mentioned by any authorities in commune to be kind of any issue ?

Because thats normal Indian BC missing Surname the old format in many states.

I suggest to simply submit whats available and hear out if having surname is any kind of issue.

Do share back ur experience to help others in the group.

Thank you people for the suggestions.

I don't have much time to do trail and correct steps to get the Belgium Nationality.

I want to do it as correct as possible for the first time.

The person who has received the nationality can share their experiences.

@expat2021 : what's easiest way to get an appointment? What's waiting period?

Dears, Indian Embassy Belgium is issuing Birth certificate, I have opted for this as my Last name is just an Initial in my current birth certificate, For applying for nationality the etat civil will they accept the birth certificate issued by Indian Embassy of Belgium then translated and court legalized?

It is better to get a one and same certificate from embassy which states that your last name is just expansion of your initial in your birth certificate

@naveenhariprasad

The Indian Embassy in Belgium issues the Birth certificate based on passport, will this document not enough? I am not planning to submit my old birth certificate

Once clarify this with your commune. If they are ok with it then fine. Else you can take one and same certificate and translate it.

@naveenhariprasad

do we need to bring birth certificate from India ?

or we can get it from Indian embassy ?

in my city they give birth certificate in Hindi

THE BIRTH ceritificate is legalised for my wife when she applied for dependent visa in 2017. Can we submit the same birth certificate or get a new one issued from india again?

@ak2134 :

No.

The birth certificate (date) should not be older than 6 months.

@Jimsen  what you say is correct. In practise I have seen people getting citizenship without a fresh copy of the certificate. The commune was reluctant to take the file initially but once pushed through, there was positive outcome at the end.

@Jimsen you mean the legalised copy shouldn't be older than 6 months?

In my country birth certificate is issued once and that is it.

@Aneesh The Indian Embassy in Belgium issues the Birth certificate based on passport, will this be enough for the nationality purpose?

I have used origianl BC has 5 yr old apostille  so it should be a problem . Intold them that the apstille was done when i was coming to beglum  . they didnt say anything and accEpted my BC 

Hi ,

We have all the documents ready for nationality , but the in charge in our commune is behaving very racistically .  its been almost 6 months and he is telling us that  he don't have time to check the documents. How can we move forward ? is there any other options ? Can anyone help me please?

@Anjali4455

Hi, which commune are you applying at?.

That is a strange behaivour for someone to check your application.

Are you applying or just want to check if you have all the documents?.

Also at the commune you have multiple people who handle nationality application.

@BMM996210 Hi ,

Our is a small commune.  its just one person. We need to just pay and start the procedure . the documents are correct. but to pay he is not giving an aPpointment.

You need to pay online

But the file should be processed by the commune . he should

@Anjali4455

You mean payment for Nationality?

That you need to do online on myminfin and take that document. You dont have to pay anything at the commune.