How to Request a Birth Certificate
We provide you with detailed information about Portuguese birth certificates. To assist you in requesting a certificate, we inform you about the independent management, advisory, processing, and counseling service provided before public registries, whose purpose is to facilitate the procedure for users and provide support in obtaining the consultation code for the digital birth certificate.
We will provide you with a form to collect the necessary information and, once completed and processed, you will receive an access code directly to your email within a maximum of 5 business days, in a safe and secure manner, which you can use to access the certificate for the next 6 months, without the need to use any digital certificate or install it on your device.
Types of Birth Certificates
A certificate can have four formats:
- Online certificate – requested online without authentication, issued in digital format. The information provided corresponds to that registered on the date of issue of the certificate and is equivalent to a complete, up-to-date certificate.
- Narrative – all content is presented in summary form. Elements are extracted from the text and combined with modifications resulting from annotations.
- Full copy – all content in its entirety, including the full text of the relevant certificates and their annotations.
- International template – for use outside Portugal, in multilingual format. This template is not available for online consultation.
Once available, the certificate can be viewed for six months using the access code that was sent to you. Submitting the certificate code online is the same as submitting a paper birth certificate.
What is a birth certificate used for?
The birth certificate (also known as a birth record) is very important. It is the first civil registration of existence as a citizen, and certifies the birth of a person in Portuguese territory. Its purpose is to authenticate the event of birth, attesting to the fact of the act itself, the date and time it occurred, and the official registration, as well as the sex of the person.
The birth certificate contains the name and parentage, date and place of birth, and basic citizenship information. Throughout life, mandatory registration events such as marriage and death are recorded. It can be issued at birth or when someone acquires citizenship.
This document may be requested by any citizen who needs it or has an interest in it, except in cases provided for by law, which do not allow the consultation of a birth certificate without special authorization.
As a rule, they have no expiration date and, like any other type of certificate, you can apply for one at any time. Birth certificates are usually requested for family, social security, or marriage purposes.