A birth certificate is an official document which serves as primary proof of identity. It contains information about a person’s birth, including the date and place of birth. The certificate also notes the person’s full name, the names of both parents, their nationality and their biological sex. Applying for various services generally requires only one form of identity document, but in some cases you also need to present your birth certificate.
When do I need my birth certificate?
In most cases, showing your ID is sufficient, but the following occasions also require your birth certificate:
- Marriage
- Issuing a personal ID card
- Issuing a child’s passport
- Naturalisation
- Adoption
- Registering at a school
- Acknowledgement of paternity
- Possibly at the request of an employer
- Possibly for entering into an insurance policy
However, this applies primarily to birth certificates being submitted in Switzerland. If you need to submit your birth certificate abroad, there’s more to consider.
When do I need my birth certificate abroad?
If you emigrate, i.e. become an officially recognised resident of another country, you’ll need your birth certificate for the emigration process. But if your destination country has a different official language, it is absolutely essential that you get your birth certificate translated. But you can’t do this yourself – you need the translation to be certified by a notary. A certified translation confirms to the foreign authorities that your birth certificate is authentic.
How can SemioticTransfer help?
As a leading Swiss translation agency, certified according to the industry standard ISO 17100, we provide quality, confidentiality and accuracy. We have over 20 years of experience and offer certified translations in 40 different languages. So if you need a certified translation of your birth certificate, you’ve come to the right place! Our professional translators are native speakers and always provide an outstanding service, delivering high quality translations of birth certificates and treating your information with the utmost confidentiality.
If you’d like to learn more about how to get a certified translation of your birth certificate, don’t hesitate to get in touch. We look forward to reading your comments and messages! For more updates, you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter.