Birth registration

If your child is a first generation born outside the UK (for example, in Ecuador), you do not have to register your child's birth with the Embassy. However, we recommend that you do register the birth as this will provide your child with a British style birth certificate and proof that he or she is a British Citizen.

You will have to register the second generation born outside the UK if you want your child to have British Nationality.

A Consular Birth Certificate is the only birth certificate issued by the British Government. It states that the holder is a British Citizen and specified under which section of the relevant Nationality Act this citizenship is derived. Birth Certificates issued in the United Kingdom do not have these features. Unlike birth certificates issued by British Missions overseas, a birth certificate issued in the United Kingdom does not confer on its holder British Nationality.

British Nationality

There are two main ways in which a child may be a British Citizen. They are: by birth (e.g. by being born in the United Kingdom of a British Citizen or a settled parent); or by descent (e.g. one of the parents was born in the UK and the child was born overseas after 1 January 1983). We will be able to tell you if your child is entitled to British Citizen.

If you wish to register your child's birth you should provide us with the following documents:

a) Completed application form 
    Birth Registration Form 

b) Parents' birth certificates. In the case of a British parent, we need to    see the full (long) version
c) Parents' passports
d) The parents' marriage certificate *
e) The child's Ecuadorian birth certificate issued by the local authority (not the hospital certificate)
f) Parents' British registration/ naturalisation certificate (if applicable)
FEES . (Please note that the birth registration fee does not include a copy of the British Birth Certificate. If necessary, you will have to pay an additional fee).

All these documents must be the originals. We cannot accept photocopies. We will, of course, return your original documents to you once we have finished with them.

(*) Different document may be required if the parents are not married - please contact us for further information.

Death Registration

Should any British National pass away whilst in Ecuador (either resident or visitor), their death can be registered at the Embassy. But there is no obligation for the death of British Nationals abroad to be recorded in this way. However there are the advantages that a British Death Certificate is then available and that a record of the death is afterwards held at the General Register Office in the United Kingdom.

To register the death we require:

a)      Local Death Certificate;
b)      Evidence of deceased's claim to British nationality (e.g. Birth certificate, Passport, Certificate of Naturalisation);
c)      Completed Death Registration Form 
d)      FEES

How to obtain further copies

If you need to obtain a further copy of birth or death certificates issued in the UK, please contact the General Register Office in the UK. These links provide information on how to order a certificate and relevant fees.

For futher information:  General Register Office - GRO