Registering a birth and acknowledging parentage of a child in the United Arab Emirates

If your child is born in the UAE, you must register the birth there. The hospital will issue a birth notification for your child. You can use this birth notification to get a birth certificate for your child from the UAE’s Ministry of Health & Prevention. The birth certificate is proof that your child’s birth has been registered. You need an extract of the marriage certificate for this registration. If this is a Dutch marriage certificate, it must be legalized. Read here what you need to do for this. If you are unmarried and have a child in the United Arab Emirates, you should expect lengthy administrative and legal procedures. Please inquire about the possible consequences in advance.

Applying for a passport for your child at the consulate-general
If you have a legalised UAE birth certificate for your child, you can apply for a travel document for them. The full chain of names as stated on the birth certificate appears as the surname on the Dutch travel document, and nothing is filled in under given names.

The personal details page of the child’s passport will then read as follows:

• Surname: [chain of names that appears on the UAE birth certificate]
• Given names: ---

Register of births at the consulate-general

Would you like the chain of names to appear in Dutch order in your child's passport, instead of UAE order? Then you can have the birth of your child recorded in the register of births of the consulate-general in Dubai.

What you need to do
In order to process your request on time, send scanned copies of the following documents to the Dutch embassy in the UAE within 21 days of your child’s birth:

• Birth notification from the hospital stating the exact time of birth
• Birth certificate and a translation
• The personal details page of both parents’ passports, the page with their citizen service number (BSN) and the page with their visa for the UAE
• An extract from the marriage certificate (not older than one year). Do you have a foreign marriage certificate? Then check whether you need to legalise and translate the marriage certificate.

Email the scanned copies of the above documents to dba-ca@minbuza.nl.

After the consulate-general in Dubai has received the necessary documents within 21 days, the birth certificate will be issued. In accordance with Dutch law, the consulate-general will register your child with their given name(s) and surname, assuming that the father and/or mother has a surname. These names will appear in the child’s Dutch passport. The birth certificate issued in the UAE will then be added to the register of the consulate-general in Dubai. You will receive confirmation of this and a notification as soon as the birth certificate has been drawn up. You can then immediately make an appointment to submit a passport application for your child. You will receive a copy of the prepared birth certificate (for a fee) during your appointment.

Name registration

If you do not register your child via the register of births of the consulate-general and you apply for a passport, the chain of names will be fully adopted as a surname in the Dutch passport. If you want your child’s surname and given names stated separately on their travel document, you must first have their surname registered with Justis. There is no cost for this, but it can take up to 9 months. Read more about the procedure for a name registration on the Justis website (information in Dutch).

If you live outside the Netherlands, you can have the birth certificate from the UAE 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 want your child’s surname and given names stated separately on their travel document, you must first have their surname registered with Justis. There is no cost for this.

What you need when applying to have a name registered

• A completed application form for changing/registering a surname. Under ‘type of request’ (type verzoek) at the top of the page tick the box for NV (naamsvaststelling).
• An original, certified official copy of the long-form foreign birth certificate.
• A statement of agreement from the parent whose surname the child will take.
• A copy of both parents’ passports.
• A copy of the child’s passport or identity document.

If the birth certificate is not in Dutch, English, French or German, you must have it translated and legalised.

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 the UAE. 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.