Having a baby in Georgia as a foreign parent: registration, birth certificate, apostille and citizenship

What do you need to do, in brief?

When the parents are citizens of another country, a birth in Georgia means registration in two countries: first in Georgia, where the child was born, and then in the parents' country, which gives the child citizenship and a passport. The sequence below describes a typical case.

1. Before the birth: prepare your documents

   If you are married, have your marriage certificate apostilled or legalised in your own country and get a notarised Georgian translation in Georgia.

2. The maternity hospital's notification

   The maternity hospital sends the medical certificate of birth to the Agency electronically, within five working days.

3. The parent's application within one month

   A parent or their representative submits the application to the Agency, at a Public Service Hall or remotely, and gives the child's name.

4. Certificate and apostille

   The Georgian birth certificate is free; for use abroad it needs an apostille or legalisation and a translation.

5. Embassy and passport

   Check your country's embassy rules for registering the child or obtaining a passport, and submit the certified documents.

How is a child's birth registered?

Article 22 of the Law of Georgia on Civil Acts requires the Agency to register every child born in Georgia. The Agency, that is the Public Service Development Agency, is the Ministry of Justice body that records births, marriages, deaths and other civil status events. The law extends this rule to foreigners staying in the country illegally: for them, it is precisely births and deaths that are registered, so the child's registration does not depend on the parent's status.

The process starts from two sides. The maternity hospital must notify the Agency within five working days of the birth and send it the medical certificate of birth electronically. The law, in turn, requires the parents to apply for registration of the birth within one month. Do not rely on the hospital's notification alone: the child's first name and surname and the parents' details are recorded through your application.

Who can apply, and which documents are needed?

The application can be submitted by the parents, their representative, the guardianship and custodianship authority or the medical facility. According to the Agency's page, the documents depend on the parents' marital status:

A document already held in the Agency's database does not need to be submitted; this mainly applies to documents issued in Georgia.

Once it has the full set of documents, the Agency registers the birth by the end of the next working day and charges no fee for the certificate. The application can be submitted at a regional office of the Agency, at a Public Service Hall, the one-stop centre for public services, or through the Agency's remote service.

How should you prepare foreign documents in advance?

The most common delay involves the marriage certificate. Under the law, a document issued in another country must be legalised or apostilled to be used in Georgia, and the Agency requires it together with a notarised Georgian translation. The only exception is identity documents, such as a passport, which do not need an apostille.

The apostille is done in the country that issued the certificate, not in Georgia. So if you are planning to give birth in Georgia, have your marriage certificate apostilled before you arrive: the one month after the birth may not be enough for this, especially if the original is kept in another country. A country that does not recognise the apostille requires consular legalisation, which is usually a longer process.

Through our civil certificate translation service we prepare the Georgian translation of your marriage certificate, with transliteration matching your passports, and its notarisation. The difference between the two routes of certification is explained in our guide to apostilles and notaries.

Will the child receive Georgian citizenship?

Article 10 of the Organic Law of Georgia on Georgian Citizenship lists who becomes a Georgian citizen by birth. Among other cases, the list includes a child at least one of whose parents is a Georgian citizen at the time of the birth; a child born in Georgia to stateless parents with status in Georgia; and a child born in Georgia one of whose parents is a stateless person with status and the other is unknown. Under Article 11, a minor living in Georgia both of whose parents are unknown is considered a Georgian citizen until proven otherwise.

This list contains no rule that would link citizenship solely to the fact of birth in Georgia. As a result, a child of two foreign parents does not become a Georgian citizen by being born in Georgia. The child's citizenship is determined by the laws of the parents' country and, as a rule, is arranged through its embassy or consulate.

The table summarises the general rule in Article 10 of the Organic Law on Citizenship. For dual citizenship and special cases you need individual legal advice.

How do you register the child at your country's embassy?

Every country has its own rules for registering a citizen born abroad: in some, the child must be registered at the embassy; in others this is optional; and some countries ask for a passport application straight away with the local certificate. So the first step is to check your embassy's or consulate's website or ask its consular section, before the birth.

The UK Government's rules, for example, are as follows: the child must first be registered under the rules of the country of birth, and the local certificate is accepted in the UK for a passport, school and medical registration. Additional registration in the UK is optional, for a child born after 1 January 1983, and if the local certificate is not in English it needs a translation by an approved translator. Other countries' rules may differ significantly, so do not assume this example applies to your embassy.

As a rule, embassies ask for the Georgian birth certificate, often with an apostille and translation, the parents' passports, the marriage certificate and photographs of the child. The embassy sets the exact list, forms and fees. Until the child has a passport or travel document, you cannot cross the border, so if you have planned to return home on a particular date, build the embassy's processing times into that plan in advance.

How do you certify a Georgian birth certificate for use abroad?

A Georgian birth certificate is in Georgian. For it to count as an official document in another country, it usually needs two things: certification and translation. If your country is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, an apostille is enough; in Georgia it is affixed by the Public Service Development Agency, at its offices and Public Service Halls. The standard service takes eight working days, while the expedited service costs more and can even be completed on the same day, as set out in the Agency's fees.

If the country is not a party to the Convention, two-stage legalisation is needed: first the Agency, then the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and in some cases confirmation by your country's embassy as well. You can check which route applies to your country with our Apostille or legalisation? tool, and the whole procedure is described on our apostille service page.

• Order of steps. As a rule, the apostille is first affixed to the Georgian original, and then both the certificate and the text of the apostille are translated; some countries require the translation to be certified on their own territory.
• Several copies. The embassy may keep one certified certificate, and you may need another for registration at home or for social benefits; ask how many you need.
• Spelling of the name. Make sure the child's name is written in the Georgian certificate the way you want it to appear in the child's future passport.

What about pregnancy care and the baby's medical care?

For foreign parents, the cost of childbirth is, as a rule, a matter for private insurance or their own funds, because the Universal Healthcare Programme mainly covers citizens and certain protected categories. The exception is holders of a permanent residence permit, who since the beginning of 2018 have been entitled to antenatal care and childbirth under the state maternal and child health programme. This, choosing a private policy and finding a doctor for your child are covered in our guide to healthcare for foreigners living in Georgia.

When you are discharged from the maternity hospital, take the discharge summary and the newborn's medical records, including the record of vaccinations given. Your paediatrician at home will need these documents, and if the family later plans to move to another country, the vaccination history will also be useful for the immigration medical, which is covered in our guide to the immigration medical examination. We translate maternity hospital records through our discharge summary translation service.

Solidaroba.ge does not provide medical services and does not represent the state Solidarity Fund. Our work is translation, certification and coordination, described on our international patients page; we serve parents in English or Russian, and for families who speak another language we bring in an interpreter.

Frequently asked questions about having a baby in Georgia