Registering a birth and acknowledging parentage of a child in China

Do neither parent have Chinese nationality?

The birth of a Dutch child is declared by the hospital. You do not need to do anything for this. The hospital or obstetrician provides the Medical Birth Certificate (MBC). A Chinese notary can make a certified copy of this document with a translation (出生证公证书). You can have the birth certificate legalised by the Chinese authorities with an apostille.

You will then apply for a passport for your child at the Dutch embassy or consulate. With the passport, you will then apply for a Chinese visa for your child with the Chinese authorities.

Does one of the parents have Chinese citizenship?

If the child has a Chinese parent and is born in China, then China automatically considers your child a Chinese citizen. If you choose to register your child in a Hukou then you must declare the birth at the local police station. China does not recognise dual citizenship, if your child has only actively chosen Chinese citizenship then your child will need a Schengen visa to travel to the Netherlands. If your child has a Chinese parent and has only actively chosen to apply for a Dutch passport then an Entry-exit permit can be applied for with the Chinese authorities that allows your child to travel back and forth once.

When a birth occurs in China, the hospital or an obstetrician provides the Medical Birth Certificate (MBC). A Chinese notary public can make a certified copy of this document with a translation (出生证公证书). You can have the birth certificate legalised by the Chinese authorities with an apostille.

Naming

You indicate your child's name on the Medical Birth Certificate. If you want to register your child in a Hukou, you can only choose a name in Chinese characters, it is not possible to register a child in a Hukou if it has a foreign name. In the Dutch passport, the name will be copied as it appears in the translation of the certified copy of the Medical Birth Certificate, if this is a Chinese name then the Pinyin will be copied in the Dutch passport.

If you live outside the Netherlands, you can have the Chinese birth certificate converted into a Dutch birth certificate at the municipality of The Hague’s Foreign Documents Department. This is not mandatory, but it can be useful if you ever need an extract from the birth certificate in the future. Having the document converted does not take care of your child’s registration in the Non residents Records Database (RNI).

If you live in the Netherlands, you must also register the birth with the municipality where you live, using the foreign birth certificate. Do this as soon as possible once you return to the Netherlands. The municipality will then process your and your child’s details in the Personal Records Database (BRP).

It is not possible to recognise your child in China. However, it is possible in China to have the name of an unmarried father recorded on the birth certificate. This is not the same as recognition.

Do you want to recognise your child so that your child can acquire Dutch nationality? Then you must marry or acknowledge the child in the Netherlands before the child's birth.

If you live in the Netherlands or if you are Dutch and live abroad, you can always acknowledge parentage in the Netherlands of your child born in China. You can do this at the municipality or a notary. You can also authorise someone to do this in the Netherlands on your behalf. To do this, you must get a notary to draw up a power of attorney. You cannot acknowledge parentage of your child at a Dutch embassy or consulate-general.

In the Netherlands, acknowledging parentage of your child does not automatically grant you parental responsibility for your child. Find out more about acknowledging parentage in the Netherlands on Government.nl.