Registering a birth and acknowledging parentage of a child in Luxembourg

If your child is born in Luxembourg, you must register the birth with the civil status records office in the municipality where your child was born. You will receive information about this at the hospital where your child is born. It is not possible to register the birth of your child at the Dutch embassy.

If you live outside the Netherlands, you can have the Luxembourg 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 a child born in Luxembourg with the municipality or a notary public. The acknowledgement is also legally valid in the Netherlands if it is registered with a Luxembourg municipality.

The acknowledgement also gives the parent parental authority over the child.

If you live in the Netherlands or if you are a Dutch national and live abroad, you can always acknowledge parentage in the Netherlands of your child born in Luxembourg. 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.

Acknowledging parentage does not automatically grant you parental responsibility for your child.

Find out more about acknowledging parentage in the Netherlands on Government.nl.