Registering a birth and acknowledging parentage of a child in Norway

If your child is born in Norway, the birth must be registered there. The obstetrician or doctor will register the birth in the population register. Be sure that they do so using the correct surname and given names. You do not have to register your child’s birth with the embassy.

Within 6 months of the birth, you must register your child’s name with the Norwegian Tax Administration through their website.

• If the registration is automatically approved, your child will be registered immediately with the chosen names.
• If the registration is not automatically approved, registration of your child’s names will take longer. This may happen if, for example, you select a name that is less common in Norway.

You will then receive a notification of registration by email or post. Check that all the details are correct. You can also check the details on the Norwegian Tax Administration website.

Birth certificates are not issued automatically. You can apply for a paper birth certificate on the Norwegian Tax Administration website.

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

If you are not married there are 3 ways to acknowledge parentage of a child:

1. online before the birth: this is possible from 22 weeks into the pregnancy if you and your partner are registered in Norway.
2. online after the birth: this is possible if you and your partner are registered in Norway.
3. in person: you can do this whether or not you and your partner are registered in Norway.

Acknowledging parentage online before or after the birth

To acknowledge parentage of a child online in Norway:

• The mother must report the father’s name on Farskapsportal (log in using BankID)
• The mother enters the expected due date (or the actual delivery date) and the father’s Norwegian ID number (fødselsnummer)
• The mother confirms that this person is the child’s father
• The father then receives a message with a link to Farskapsportal
• The father logs in and verifies that the information is correct
• The father confirms that he accepts the consequences of acknowledging parentage of the child.

Acknowledging parentage in person

You can acknowledge parentage of your child in person through:

• the Norwegian Tax Administration
• an office of the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV) or before a Norwegian court of law
• an obstetrician or doctor during a prenatal check-up
• the hospital where the child is born
• a foreign civil servant, if the father is abroad.

In Norway, acknowledging parentage of your child automatically grants you parental responsibility for your 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 Norway. 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.