Registering a birth with the French consulate in the UK

Birth registration
A birth can be declared at the consulate in London within 15 calendar days, in person. After that, or if you would rather not travel, you ask for a transcription of the UK birth certificate by post: it is free and has no deadline.

A child born in the UK to a French parent is French from birth, but the French state only knows about it once the birth is in its registers. The consulate's birth page gives two ways in, and the forms and booking link on it are those of the Consulate General in London.

Declaration or transcription

The declaration is made at the consulate within 15 calendar days of the birth, weekends included, and only there, by appointment. If the parents are married, one of them is enough; if not, the father must already have recognised the child or be present to appear on the certificate. The baby does not need to come.

UK law still requires you to register the birth with the local registrar as well.

The transcription copies the British birth certificate into the French registers. You send the request by post to the consulate's civil status service. It is free, and no deadline applies, but the page advises not to wait: the French certificate makes every later step, starting with a passport, easier.

Declaration Transcription
When within 15 days of birth any time
How in person, by appointment by post
Fee none on the fee table free
Uses London's forms the UK birth certificate

Name, recognition and the family book

Since 1 January 2005 a child can take the father's name, the mother's, or both in the order you choose. Without a joint declaration the child takes the father's name.

Two ways to register a UK birth: Declaration; Transcription

The choice made for your first child together is irrevocable and applies to the next ones; it has to be made at the declaration, or with the transcription request before the child turns three.

Parents married
Filiation is established for both parents by the declaration itself. One parent can attend.
Parents not married
Each parent’s link is separate. A parent can recognise the child before the birth, at the declaration or afterwards (except a French mother in the last case), without the other’s permission.
Child now an adult
The page has a separate form for transcribing the birth of an adult.
Livret de famille
The family record book is issued at your marriage or at the birth of your first child together, and is updated with each event.

Who handles it

The forms, the checklists and the booking link for declarations on the birth page all belong to the Consulate General in London: separate forms exist for married and unmarried parents, for a minor's birth and for an adult's.

For a transcription by post
  • The form matching your case (married or not), from the birth page
  • The full UK birth certificate
  • The name declaration, if you want both surnames
  • The documents on the form’s checklist

Once the birth is transcribed, you can register the child on the Registre and apply for documents.

 Missed the 15 days? Nothing is lost: the transcription by post is free and has no deadline. 

Official sources: Naissance.

All consular procedures
How to book an appointment

Checked against the official sources on 10 November 2026.

This directory is run privately. frenchconsulates.co.uk does not belong to the Quai d’Orsay or to any consular office.

We publish what the official sources say and point out where they disagree. Before you go, check the detail with the consulate.

Go up