scrubbedexpat067

Hi,
I'm a British father living in Bilbao.
I'm trying to apply for my sons first passport, the mother is South American, so it's through me that I'd like to get him a British passport.

I'm a little confused, I have my sons Spanish birth certificate, but do I need to get this translated into English, and if so, how?

I've checked out the new UK government website, https://www.gov.uk/overseas-passports/y/spain but it's quite confusing for trying to find the exact details for my case, and the only numbers to call for advice seem to be premium number and more to do with complaints



thanks for any advice.

ShinyAndy

What details are you looking for?

It was all really easy to do (apart from trying to take an acceptable photo of a 6 month old!); download the guidance notes and then just fill in their clever PDF and credit card auth form, send it off with copies of your and your son's FULL birth certificates (no need to translate, I had to also apply to the GRO for my full one as I only had the short version) and copies of you and your other half's passports then sit back and wait. Just study the notes carefully and you shouldn't have any problems.

scrubbedexpat067

Thanks,
I wasn't sure about whether I had to translate his certificate to English, as I had read notes which seemed to be conflicting.
I asked for my sons full certificate and they said that there is only one type (maybe it's just the Basque country) but what they gave me is called the 'Certificaciòn Literal'.

Thanks for your help!

ShinyAndy

Same here, you get the Libro de Familia straight away and we had to apply (incredibly could do this online and it worked!) for the Certificación Literal which was free and required/accepted for the passport

Cadiza

My son was born in Spain, we had the option to register him Spanish or British, chose British.
We sent off for a British birth certificate first then sent everything back for a UK passport. Didn't need to translate his Spanish birth certificate

b0ris

May I ask just how soon after birth one can apply? I am a British father with a Moroccan wife both resident in Spain, and she's soon to give birth. I'd like to do the paperwork ASAP because my wife would like us to visit Morocco soon after the birth and the child will take my nationality.

cricketman

Straight away I should think

My son only has a Spanish passport but we applied from it when he was just 3 weeks old as when he was 2 months old we flew to Barcelona for Christmas

GPT

With regard to translations of official documents, I have received this response via email from HMPO Passport Enquiries. I guess this represents the latest policy on the topic of translated supporting documents for passport applications:
"Any documents that are in a language other than English or Welsh must have a translation. This should be provided by a translator who is employed by a recognised translation company, for example a member of the Association of Translation Companies. The translation must be attached to the documents, signed and certified as a true translation by the translator and authenticated by their stamp.

An official translation prepared overseas must have been prepared by a translator who is a member of an official body in their own country or have been certified as a true copy by the relevant Foreign Embassy."

Rosemary

As Concierge for the Spanish section of BE I would like to say hello and welcome.

BE is a very large expat website, so if you have problems finding your way around we have concierges who will try to direct you. The moderators for the Spanish forums are Mitzyboy and Fred James, moderators are there to ensure that the site runs smoothly within the rules of BE. Problems and complaints should always be addressed to a moderador who will look into the matter and deal with it efficiently and fairly. Our members who post in the Spain Forums are friendly and helpful with a wealth of knowledge of the issues of living in Spain. At the top of the page you will find a quirkily named thread called Free Beer which is full of important and useful information. Hope you enjoy your time participating in the forums.

Please let me know if you need any further help.

Rosemary

BritInParis

Many European countries (including Spain) are signatories of the Convention on the Issue of Multilingual Extracts from Civil Status Records.

This means that you can obtain multilingual birth, marriage and death certificates directly from the Spanish authorities rather than pay for an expensive English translation of the Spanish original. As the treaty was written in French these are known as Formule A for births, Formule B for marriages and Formule C for deaths.