Birth declaration

The birth declaration is a compulsory step that allows you to draw up your child's birth certificate. Every birth that takes place on the territory of the City of Brussels must be reported to the Civil Registry officer within 15 calendar days following the birth.

You can only make an appointment (for birth declarations and recognitions) by telephone (reception by telephone: Monday to Friday from 9 am to 12:30 pm and from 2:30 pm to 4pm) or by email at the following address: naissances-geboorten@brucity.be.

Only by appointment, at the counter of the Administrative Centre.

To make an appointment:

02 279 34 30

To make a declaration of recognition during the declaration, you must complete the form and return it to the Births Service ( naissances-geboorten@brucity.be):

Online application for a declaration of recognition at the birth registration (PDF, 302.19 KB)

For unmarried parents:

The presence of both parents is mandatory in the event of immediate recognition in the birth certificate.
If prenatal recognition has already been established in advance, the presence of only one parent is sufficient.

For married parents who live at the same address:

Presence of the father/companion or mother.

For married parents who have been living at different addresses for more than 300 days:

The presence of both parents is mandatory.

For single mothers:

Only the presence of the mother is required.

Married parents:

The certificate from the clinic and/or (in case of home birth) midwife
The ID card of the declarant(s)
Your wedding booklet if you are married in Belgium
Please note: if you are married outside Belgium, make sure that your marriage is registered by the municipality where you live and that it is recorded in the national register
Proof of marriage if you are not registered in Belgium
The individuality certificate if the information is not identical on all submitted documents

Non-married parents with prenatal recognition of the child:

The certificate from the clinic and/or (in case of home birth) midwife
The ID card of the declarant(s)
Prenatal recognition certificate (if the father or companion has previously recognized the child at the municipality)
Please note: for the prenatal recognition that has been done abroad, you must also ensure that it is in accordance with Belgian law
The individuality certificate if the information is not identical on all submitted documents

Unmarried parents without prenatal recognition of the child (in accordance with Article 327/2 of the Civil Code):

The certificate from the clinic and/or (in case of home birth) midwife
The ID card of the declarant(s)
The nationality certificate of the parents (not necessary if you are registered in Belgium)
Proof of parents' place of residence (not required if you are registered in Belgium)
Proof of parents being unmarried (not necessary if you are registered in Belgium)
The individuality certificate if the information is not identical on all submitted documents

Single mothers:

The certificate from the clinic and/or (in case of home birth) midwife
The mother's ID card
Proof of marital status if you are not registered in Belgium
The individuality certificate if the information is not identical on all submitted documents

Please note:

All these documents must be legalized or provided with an apostille, possibly translated by a sworn translator and recent (less than 3 months).
If you are registered in Belgium and have a National Register number, you must check whether your information has been registered with the municipality where you are staying (for example: civil status, name, address...).
If necessary, additional documents can be requested (for example: law certificate).

Free

Immediately if paternity or motherhood recognition is not required.

If recognition is required, the procedure takes place in two steps:

1st step: preparation of the declaration of recognition against delivery of the aforementioned documents
- A decision is taken either immediately or within a maximum of two to five months if the request requires a thorough analysis under the law of 19 September 2017 on the fight against fraudulent recognition
- Please note: if all requested documents are not provided, the declaration of recognition cannot be made.
- Please note: there is no parentage bond if one of the parents only wants to take advantage by having a recognition certificate drawn up with regard to the stay. The decision is taken within a period of 2 months, which can be extended by 3 months by the public prosecutor.
  In the event of a refusal by the civil servant, the person (who wishes to establish the parentage bond) can appeal to the family court within one month after the notification of the decision. Persons whose authorization is required for the recognition are summoned to hear the case.
2nd step: drafting the recognition certificate

1 extract from the birth certificate
1 document for the child benefit (only issued once, in the event of loss you must contact the child benefit fund)
1 document for the health insurance company (only provided once, in case of loss you must contact the health insurance company)
1 document regarding the compulsory polio vaccination, to be completed by the doctor or during the consultation with ONE or Kind & Gezin and subsequently to be submitted to the municipality where the child lives

According to Belgian law, the parents have the option of giving their children the name of the father/companion mother, the name of the mother or a combination of the two names in the desired order.

External site Giving a family name (in French)

Please note: for a first child, it is mandatory to take the Model Declaration of Name Declaration document, signed by both parents: External site Name choice declaration (in French).

Two or more nationalities?

Since 1 January 2018, the rules of private international law have been amended on the applicable law for establishing and changing the surname and first names of a child who has multiple nationalities. If a child has two or more nationalities, the chosen nationality is taken into account.

The choice must be formulated in the following way:

expressly
in a signed and dated document of all persons, whether or not married, at the time of determining the name or first names of the child. Please have the following statement with you:
- in Doc: Model statement for the applicable law with regard to the determination of the name (DOCX, 82.41 KB) (in French)
- in PDF: Model statement for the applicable law with regard to the determination of the name (PDF, 157.41 KB) (in French)
in a certificate of nationality of the child/proof of nationality. Please have the certificate (to be applied for in the country of origin or at the Consulate) with you.

Please note: for this declaration, the parents choose the law applied to determine the name of their child, without this choice affecting the nationality of the child, which is taken into account for the stay and registration in the national register.

The determination of the first name of a child is governed by the law of the state of which the child has the nationality.

According to Belgian law, the choice of first name or given names is free, but the Civil Registry official can refuse the first name in the following cases:

The first name is confusing (for example, a typical girl's name for a boy or vice versa)
The first name can harm the child (for example, a ridiculous, absurd or offensive name)
The first name can harm third parties (for example, an existing family name is given as a first name to a child, although this is not common)

For more information, contact the Registry Office of your municipality.