Have a birth or marriage from abroad recognised in Belgium

A municipality copies the foreign certificate into the Belgian civil registry

To have a birth, marriage or divorce from abroad recognised in Belgium, a municipality enters it in the Belgian civil registry. This step is called transcription. The civil registry office checks your foreign certificate, which usually needs official authentication and a sworn translation into Dutch, French or German. Rules and extra documents vary, so ask the office what it wants before you order translations.

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How it works

Register a birth or marriage that took place abroad

Get a foreign birth, marriage or divorce recorded by the local authorities.

If you were born, married or divorced abroad, the authorities may need to record the event before your details are up to date, for example when you register your address or apply for a local document. You usually submit the original foreign certificate, often with a legalisation or apostille and a sworn translation. Requirements depend on the country that issued the document, so check them before paying for translations. Recording the event can take several weeks.

Also searched as

register a foreign marriageforeign birth certificaterecognise a foreign marriageregister a foreign divorcetranscription of a foreign certificateapostille and translation

At a glance

Offices
30 offices in 27 cities
Book online
At 16 of 30 offices
Apply online
Not offered
Offices for specific groups
  • For residence permit holders: 1 office

Ask before you pay for translations

Where to hand in foreign documents

Offices start a file in different ways: some review your documents by email, others set up one appointment to hand them in and another to collect the Belgian entry. Rules on translations and legalisation can differ too.

Find a registry office

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Other countries

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Where to next

Foreign document offices in Belgium

Civil registry offices that take foreign certificates, and what each one wants you to prepare before you go.

Foreign civil document offices in Belgium

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