BIRTH IN SPAIN

By law, all births in Spain must be reported and registered. Even if you unexpectedly have your baby while you are on holiday in Spain, the birth must be reported here.

This is done at the Registro Civil, the civil Registry, of the town where the birth takes place.

The attending physician or other official of the hospital certifies the birth, though a registered midwife may also do this if the birth takes place at home with only the midwife in attendance.

The report must be made within eight days and include the hour, date and place of birth, the child’s first and last names, the full names of the both parents, and the doctor’s certificate. This information will go on file at the civil registry.

The parents can then request for their own records one of two forms of the birth certificate. One is called the « extracto de inscripcion de nacimiento», which gives the birth date and inscription number and the names of child and parents. This abbreviated « extract » for mis sufficient for most legal purposes.

You can also get a « certificacion literal », which is more complete and contains all of the ítems in the declaration, such as the exact place and hour, the attending physician, and so on. This one will cost you a little more, but neithe of the forms is expensive.

A child born in Spain has two last names. When you register the birth of your child, you will come in contact with the peculiarly Spanish practise of using two last names. If you are John Smith and your wife’s maiden name was Betty Jones, your son will be registered in Spain as James Smith Jones. The Spanish rule is that the last name of the father comes first, followed by the last name of the mother. A child may choose to use his mother’s last name first when he comes of legal age.

Armed with this certificate of birth in Spain, you can then go to the consulate of your home country in Spain and report the birth. Some countries, such as Great Britain, require the literal certificate before they will issue a birth certificate of their own country. You may also need your passport, your own parent’s birth certificates and your marriage certificate. Procedure and necessary documents vary somewhat depending on your country of origin. Your consulate will then issue a certificate of birht of a citizen abroad.

Nationality of child born in Spain

A child born to foreign parents in Spain does not automatically acquire spanish nationality. If both parents are foreigners, the child will be a foreigner even if the parents are residents.

However, if the child should, between its 18th and 19th birthdays, choose to apply for Spanish nationality, it will certainly be granted, particularly if the child has been living in Spain during most of that time.

If either of the child’s parents is Spanish, a child born in Spain is automatically entitled to Spanish nationality.

A child born in Spain out of wedlock, where the paternity is not disclosed, is also entitled to Spanish nationality, regardless of the nationality of the mother.

The laws about nationality vary from country to country and can be quite complicated in their attempts to cover the various possible combinations, such as a citizen-and-foreign wife or citizen-and-foreign husband, or a father born in that country who has since taken another nationalilty.

Make enquiries at your own consulate. Sometimes a country requires that a child of its own nationals who is born abroad must return to his parent’s country for a certain tiem period in order to justify his nationality, for example.

For further information you can visit http://www.direct.gov.uken/Governmentcitizensandrights/Registeringlifeevents/index.htm