Your embassy: birth registration by nationality

The shared sequence

Every nationality follows the same local order. First, the hospital issues the medical birth certificate (出生医学证明). Check the spelling of both parents’ names against the passports before you leave. Second, register your child’s stay or residence at the Exit-Entry office of the public security bureau within 60 days of the birth, as the Exit and Entry Administration Law requires. Third, apply for your child’s home-country passport at your embassy. Fourth, put a Chinese visa or residence permit in that new passport so your child can stay and can leave.

You will need a Chinese notarial translation of the medical birth certificate for almost every embassy. Use a notary office (公证处) that has done foreign birth certificates before. Budget several weekdays and a few hundred yuan.

United States

Apply for a Consular Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA) and a U.S. passport. Create a MyTravelGov account, complete the eCRBA, pay online, and upload proof of the U.S. parent’s physical presence in the United States. In Beijing, appointments are not booked on the public online calendar. The embassy directs parents to its Beijing ACS Inquiry Navigator, and questions go to BeijingACS@state.gov. You can often combine the CRBA and passport in one appointment. Then apply for your child’s Chinese visa before you book flights. Start the eCRBA as soon as you have the medical certificate. Official page: china.usembassy-china.org.cn/birth/.

United Kingdom

Your child may already be a British citizen, depending on the British parent’s own status and circumstances at the birth. Check this on GOV.UK first. If your child is British, apply for a first British passport. If not, you may be able to register them as a citizen before applying. Registering the birth itself with UK authorities is optional: GOV.UK says it costs £150 and that you can apply for a passport without it. Expect to need the medical birth certificate, a translation, both parents’ passports, and evidence of the British parent’s status. Then complete the Chinese visa.

Canada

Not every child born abroad to a Canadian parent is a Canadian citizen. For births on or after 15 December 2025, a child beyond the first generation born abroad qualifies only if the Canadian parent spent at least 1,095 days in Canada before the birth. Check eligibility first. Then apply for a citizenship certificate before the passport: a child born outside Canada needs proof of citizenship to get a Canadian passport. Typical documents: medical birth certificate, translation, parents’ passports, and proof of the Canadian parent’s citizenship. Then apply for the Chinese visa.

Australia

Apply for Australian citizenship by descent, then a passport. The Department of Home Affairs application is Form 118, lodged online through ImmiAccount. You will need the medical birth certificate, translation, and proof of the Australian parent’s citizenship and identity. Processing can take weeks. Do not book a flight until both the Australian passport and the Chinese visa exist. Start at immi.homeaffairs.gov.au.

Ireland

Apply to Foreign Births Registration if the Irish claim is through a parent born outside Ireland, or follow the embassy’s first-passport process if a parent was born in Ireland. Rules depend on which generation holds Irish citizenship. Read the Department of Foreign Affairs page before the birth. Documents usually include the medical birth certificate, translation, and long-form parent documents. Then complete the Chinese visa.

New Zealand

If a parent is a New Zealand citizen by birth or grant, a child born overseas is a citizen by descent, but you must register that citizenship before you can get the child a New Zealand passport. A parent who is a citizen by descent cannot pass it on this way. You will need the medical birth certificate and a translation. Then apply for the Chinese visa.

South Africa

Register the birth with the South African mission and apply for your child’s passport. Missions often want the medical birth certificate, a translation, both parents’ passports, and the parents’ marriage certificate if you have one. Unmarried parents should ask the mission about extra forms before the birth. Then complete the Chinese visa.

European Union and other passports

Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, and most other EU states each have their own “birth abroad” process. Some require an in-person appointment. Some require the birth to be entered in a home-country register before a passport is issued. Open your embassy’s Beijing page in the third trimester and list the documents. The local Chinese steps — medical certificate, Exit-Entry, then a Chinese visa in the new passport — stay the same.