Registering a Child's Birth With Sri Lanka From Australia

To register an Australian-born child's birth with Sri Lanka, a Sri Lankan parent applies to the High Commission in Canberra or the Consulate General in Melbourne for birth registration and citizenship, with originals and two copies of each certificate. A JP, solicitor or GP certifies the parents' statutory declaration, so no notary is needed. The child must confirm citizenship before 21.

Key takeaways

• The Sri Lanka High Commission registers births abroad under the Citizenship Act and the Birth Registration Act, if a parent was a Sri Lankan citizen at the birth.
• You file the birth registration and the citizenship application together, choosing the form set by the child's age.
• Each certificate goes in as an original with two photocopies. The High Commission attests the copies and returns the originals.
• The parents' statutory declaration is certified by a JP, solicitor or GP. A notary is not required.
• The citizenship certificate becomes void at 21 unless the child applies to keep Sri Lankan citizenship before then.

Who can register, and where?

The Sri Lanka High Commission in Canberra says registration of a birth outside Sri Lanka is carried out by the High Commission and the Consulate General under section 5(2) of the Citizenship Act and section 16 or 24 of the Birth Registration Act. The condition is simple: the child's mother, father or both must have been Sri Lankan citizens at the time of the birth. All the application forms must be completed and signed by one and the same parent.

The High Commission divides Australia between two offices:

Office	Covers in Australia
Sri Lanka High Commission, Canberra	The ACT, New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory
Sri Lanka Consulate General, Melbourne	Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania

The High Commission also covers New Zealand and several Pacific countries. Send your application to the office for where you live.

Choose the right form for the child's age

The High Commission asks applicants to select the correct application set based on the child's age on the date you submit, and to print the forms single-sided in block capitals, in duplicate:

1. Under three months: the section 16 form, Form B4.
2. Three to twelve months: the section 24 form, Form B6.
3. Over one year: Form B6 as well, with a late registration fee for each year beyond the first.

With it goes the citizenship application, which the High Commission says every applicant must submit at the same time as the birth registration. Guidelines for both are linked from its page.

The document list

The High Commission asks for two sets of photocopies with the originals, and marks most items compulsory:

• The child's Australian birth certificate: original and two copies.
• The father's and mother's birth certificates: originals and two copies each.
• The parents' marriage certificate: original and two copies.
• The parents' passports: originals with two copies of the bio-data page and the alteration and observation pages, and the current passports too if different.
• Evidence of residence status: in Australia, a VEVO record, the Visa Entitlement Verification Online result.
• A statutory declaration by the Sri Lankan parent or parents, in duplicate, certified by a JP, a solicitor or a GP.
• The original dual citizenship certificates, if a parent was a dual citizen at the birth.
• If the parents were not married at the birth, an affidavit on paternity and a declaration of citizenship, certified by a solicitor.
• A covering letter with your phone numbers and email address.

Two special notes on the page are worth reading twice: translations are not accepted as originals, and photocopies should be on A4 paper. The High Commission attests the copies itself and returns the originals to you.

Was the parent still Sri Lankan at the birth?

The whole application rests on a parent being a Sri Lankan citizen on the day the child was born, and for families who have lived in Australia for years, that is not always certain. A Sri Lankan who became an Australian citizen may or may not have kept Sri Lankan citizenship, depending on whether they obtained Sri Lankan dual citizenship. That is why the list asks for the parent's original dual citizenship certificate if they were a dual citizen at the birth, and marks it compulsory.

If the Sri Lankan parent became Australian before the child was born and has no dual citizenship certificate, ask the High Commission about their status before you prepare anything else. Citizenship questions are decided by Sri Lanka's Department of Immigration and Emigration, not by a JP or a notary.

The VEVO record

The list asks for a certificate of evidence of residence status, and for Australia names VEVO, the Visa Entitlement Verification Online service run by the Department of Home Affairs, which lets a visa holder check and print their current visa details. A parent living here on a visa can generate the record online and print two copies. A parent who is an Australian citizen does not hold a visa, so ask the High Commission what it wants instead, for example a copy of the Australian passport or citizenship certificate. The Department of Home Affairs explains Australian citizenship.

The statutory declaration, and who certifies it

This is the only document on the list that needs an Australian witness. The High Commission asks the parent or parents who were Sri Lankan at the time of the birth to complete a statutory declaration in duplicate and have it certified by a Justice of the Peace, a solicitor or a GP. Any of the three will do, so a free community JP is usually the easiest choice, and there is no need for a notary.

A statutory declaration is a written statement you sign before an authorised witness, knowing that a false statement is an offence. Use the form or wording the High Commission provides, fill it in before your appointment with the witness, and sign it only in front of them. Our guide on who can witness a statutory declaration explains the witness's role.

If the parents were not married when the child was born, the list adds an affidavit relating to paternity and a declaration of citizenship, certified by a solicitor. That narrows the witness to a solicitor. Many Australian notaries are also solicitors, but it is the solicitor's certification the High Commission names.

The age-21 rule

This is the part of the page that parents most need to pass on to their children. The High Commission's special note says a child whose birth is registered through a Sri Lankan mission receives two certificates: one from the Registrar General's Office under the Consular Functions Act, and a citizenship certificate from the Department of Immigration and Emigration under the Citizenship Act.

The citizenship certificate becomes void when the child turns 21. Before then, the child must apply to the Department of Immigration and Emigration to decide whether to keep Sri Lankan citizenship, the citizenship of the country of birth, or both. If they do not, they automatically lose Sri Lankan citizenship, as the certificate itself states. The High Commission advises parents to keep their children informed. Put a reminder somewhere it will be found at 19 or 20.

Lodging and what happens next

The High Commission forwards the citizenship application to the Controller General of the Department of Immigration and Emigration in Colombo, and sends the certificate on to you when it arrives. It asks parents to tell it if their address or contact details change in the meantime, and warns that incomplete applications and missing documents cause delays. If you need your originals back sooner, you arrange extra postage; the High Commission does not take responsibility for documents lost in the post, so use a tracked service. Ask the office before paying by money order or bank transfer, as it wants prior instructions. We do not quote the fees here.

Do you need an apostille or DFAT?

Not for this. The High Commission sees your originals, attests the copies itself and returns the originals, so nothing on its list needs DFAT. Sri Lanka is not a party to the Hague Apostille Convention on our last check, so an Australian document going to an authority in Sri Lanka by another route would take a DFAT authentication rather than an apostille; check the HCCH status table on the day. Our guide to documents for Sri Lanka covers that chain.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Using the wrong form set for the child's age on the day you submit.
• Leaving out the citizenship application, which must go in with the birth registration.
• Having different parents sign different forms; one parent signs them all.
• Sending a translation in place of an original.
• Forgetting the VEVO record or the dual citizenship certificate.
• Letting the child turn 21 without applying to keep Sri Lankan citizenship.

In short

If a parent was Sri Lankan at the birth, apply to the High Commission in Canberra or the Consulate General in Melbourne for birth registration and citizenship together, on the form set for the child's age. Send originals and two copies of the child's and parents' certificates, the passports, a VEVO record, a statutory declaration certified by a JP, solicitor or GP, and a covering letter. No notary is needed. Tell your child about the age-21 rule. For other countries, see our guide to registering a birth overseas; our guide to notarising Sri Lankan documents covers documents that do need a notary.

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If a document is going to Sri Lanka rather than the mission, send us what you have been asked for, and we will explain each step before you book.