Registering a Child's Birth With Greece From Australia

To register an Australian-born child's birth with Greece, a parent attends in person at the Greek consulate covering the state or territory where the child was born. You bring a recent registry birth certificate, the parents' recent Greek municipal certificates and passports. The parents' marriage must already be registered in Greece, and no Australian notary is normally involved.

Key takeaways

• Greece's missions in Australia say Greek citizens abroad are required to register births with the Greek consular authority, and a person born to a Greek parent is Greek from birth.
• The birth must have taken place in the jurisdiction of the post you use, and registration is done in person.
• The parents' marriage must be registered in Greece first.
• Certificates must be recent: the Australian birth certificate and the Greek municipal certificates no more than six months old.
• The consulate lists no notarised or apostilled document for a birth registration, so you usually do not need a notary.

Why register the birth at all?

The Greek missions' citizenship page says a person acquires Greek nationality at birth if born to a Greek parent, but that registration in the records of a Greek municipality is the legal proof of that citizenship. The certificate of registration from the municipality is what later supports a Greek passport, and both the parents' marriage registration and the child's birth registration are prerequisites for it.

The same page makes a point worth knowing: Greek consulates do not grant citizenship. They help you exercise a right that already exists under Greek law, and it is Greek authorities, the Decentralised Administrations and the Ministry of Interior, that confirm citizenship. So registering the birth is the first step, not the whole process. An Australian-born child can usually hold both Australian and Greek citizenship, but ask the consulate about your own case.

Which Greek post covers you?

The vital records page says a birth can be registered at a consular post only if it took place in one of the states or territories in that post's jurisdiction. The Greek missions list these jurisdictions:

Greek post	Covers
Consulate General in Sydney	New South Wales and Queensland
Consulate General in Melbourne	Victoria and Tasmania
Consulate General in Adelaide	South Australia and the Northern Territory
Consulate in Perth	Western Australia
Consular Office of the Embassy in Canberra	The Australian Capital Territory

The test is where the child was born. A child born in Brisbane whose family has since moved to Melbourne belongs to the Sydney post for this purpose, so check with the posts if your family has moved.

What to bring

For a birth registration, the vital records page lists:

1. The child's recent original birth certificate, not more than six months old, from the state or territory Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages.
2. The parents' recent municipal registration or family status certificate, not more than six months old, from the competent municipality in Greece. If you do not have it, the consulate can obtain it for you.
3. The parents' Greek passports or identity cards, if they have them.
4. The church baptism certificate, if the child has been christened.
5. The applicant's Australian passport.

Two details on the page save a return trip. If you register the birth at the same time as the marriage, or shortly after it, you do not need to submit the municipal certificates again. And municipal certificates should be recently issued so that they reflect Greece's administrative reforms. For a child under 18, one of the parents completes the registration; an adult registering their own birth must attend in person.

Register the marriage first

The page is explicit that the parents' marriage must already be registered in Greece before a birth can be registered. For a marriage that took place in Australia, the consulate covering the place of marriage registers it, and asks for:

• A recent original marriage certificate, not more than six months old, from the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, showing the number of the marriage (first, second and so on) for each spouse.
• A recent municipal registration certificate for each spouse who is a Greek citizen, or, if only one spouse is Greek, a birth certificate for the other spouse.
• Passports or identity cards for both spouses.

Check that your Australian marriage certificate shows the marriage number. Some older or commemorative certificates do not, and you may need to order a full certificate from the registry. Because the six-month limit applies to both certificates, order the marriage and birth certificates close to your appointment, not months ahead, so neither has expired by the time you attend.

Do you need a notary or an apostille?

Usually not, and it is worth being clear about that. The consulate's lists for births and marriages contain no notarised document and no apostille: the consular officer sees your original Australian certificates and draws up the Greek record directly. You attend in person, so there is no signature to verify remotely.

The Greek missions also list notarised acts, such as powers of attorney, and verification of a private individual's signature among the services they perform themselves by appointment. An Australian notary becomes relevant when a document goes to Greece itself rather than to a consulate here, for example a power of attorney prepared in Australia for a relative handling matters in Greece. Greece is a member of the Hague Apostille Convention, so that document would take a DFAT apostille; in Australia, only DFAT issues apostilles. Check the HCCH status table on the day. Our guide to apostilles for Greece explains that chain, and our guide to notarising Greek documents covers what a notary does.

If the child is now an adult

Many people of Greek descent in Australia find, years later, that their birth was never registered. The same page covers them: an adult registering their own birth must attend the consulate in person, with the same documents, and the parents' marriage still has to be registered in Greece first. The citizenship page adds that you should bring all the data and documents establishing your Greek origin, and that the consulate will explain how Greek law applies to your case. It is Greek authorities in Greece that confirm citizenship, so expect the consulate to pass the file on rather than decide it at the counter.

What follows registration

Once the municipality has recorded the birth, the certificate of registration supports a Greek passport application. The Greek missions say passports have been issued exclusively by the Hellenic Police since 2006, and that consulates in Australia collect applications, supporting documents and fingerprints by appointment at the post nearest your permanent residence. For sons, registration also brings Greece's national service rules into view: the missions' national service page says male Greek citizens aged 19 to 45 are required to serve, and that those living permanently outside Greece may postpone service until 45. Ask the consulate how those rules apply before your son travels to Greece as a young adult.

Booking the appointment

The Greek missions say vital records and citizenship matters are handled only by in-person appointment, unlike some services that can be done online through MyConsulLive. They recommend contacting your post by email, fax or post and phoning the consular officer to arrange an appointment, and bringing all documents that establish your Greek origin. A digital request service, e-proxeneio, is also now open to citizens for some requests. We do not quote the consular fees or processing times; check them with your post.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Booking the birth before the marriage is registered in Greece.
• Bringing an old birth certificate. It must be no more than six months old.
• Using a certificate that does not show the marriage number for the marriage registration.
• Going to the post for where you live now rather than where the child was born.
• Paying for a notary or an apostille the consulate has not asked for.

An illustration

This is an illustration, not a real case. A Greek-born father and an Australian mother married in Adelaide and have a son born there. The father attends the Consulate General in Adelaide, which covers South Australia. He brings a new marriage certificate showing it is a first marriage for both, his recent municipal certificate, the mother's birth certificate and both passports, and the marriage is registered. Soon after, he returns with the son's new birth certificate and his Australian passport, and registers the birth without resubmitting the municipal certificate. No notary is involved at any point.

In short

A child born in Australia to a Greek parent is Greek from birth, but registration with a Greek municipality is the proof. Register the parents' marriage first, then attend the post covering the place of birth with a registry birth certificate under six months old, the parents' recent municipal certificates and passports, any baptism certificate and the Australian passport. The consulate does not list a notary or an apostille for this. For other countries, see our guide to registering a birth overseas, and for documents going to Greece, our apostille service.

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If a document is going to Greece rather than the consulate, send us what the Greek authority asked for, and we will explain each step before you book.