Registering a birth and acknowledging parentage of a child in Brazil

If your child is born in Brazil, you must register the birth at the notary public’s office (cartório) in the place where you live in Brazil or where your child was born. Often this can also be done at the hospital. It is not possible to register the birth of your child at the Dutch embassy.

In Brazil there are two types of birth certificates: a short and a long version. Request a long-form birth certificate (certidão de nascimento de inteiro teor).

If you live outside the Netherlands, you can have the Brazilian 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).

You can acknowledge parentage of your child in Brazil through:

• registration of the birth
• a public document or non-notarial instrument in the register of births, deaths and marriages
• an explicit declaration before a court.

In some cases more than one person can acknowledge parentage of the same child. For example:

• the biological father (with proof from a DNA test), and
• the father taking responsibility for raising the child.

In Brazil, acknowledging parentage of your child automatically grants you parental responsibility for your child. Acknowledgement of parentage in Brazil is legally valid in the Netherlands.

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 Brazil. 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. Acknowledgement of parentage in the Netherlands is legally valid in Brazil.
Find out more about acknowledging parentage in the Netherlands on Government.nl.