Consular Report of Birth Abroad

If a child is born while his or her parents are traveling abroad, one of the most important steps they will need to take to help make sure they get back into the United States without delay involves obtaining a Consular Report of Birth Abroad. This document can be obtained from the nearest United States embassy or consulate in the location the parents are traveling in. It is a necessary first step in making sure that the child in question gets the U.S. citizenship that they are entitled to.

Requirements for a Consular Report of Birth Abroad

One of the most important things to keep in mind is that if you have a child while on an international trip, you need to report that birth as quickly as possible. In order to obtain a Consular Report of Birth Abroad through the appropriate channels, there are a number of important things you will have to keep in mind:

• The United States embassy or consulate through which the Consular Report of Birth Abroad is obtained will only provide one copy of the document at the time of request.
• Understand that as of 2011, embassies and consulates do not actually print these documents locally. However, your application must be submitted in person to cut down on fraud.
• Note that a Consular Report of Birth Abroad will only be issued to a United States citizen (in this case, the child who was born on an international trip) who acquired U.S. citizenship at the time of their birth. This means that if one or both of the child’s parents were not already U.S. citizens or if the child would otherwise have not received citizenship for any reason, a Consular Report of Birth Abroad would no longer be applicable and would not be issued.

Obtaining this document is not necessary in a number of different territories as children born there are not considered by the U.S. State Department to have been born abroad. These include:

• Puerto Rico
• Guam
• Swains Island
• The U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa
• The Philippines (prior to July 4, 1946)