Registering a birth in Luxembourg

Hi,
Have a look on this page for all details: [link moderated]
Note there are many sub-pages to the above.

First of all congratulations.

1) When your child is born, you will receive from the hospital a Birth decleration (avis de naissance).

2) You need to take the Birth deceleration along with the ID of yourself, your wife as well as a copy of your marriage certificate to the commune in which your child is born - not the commune where you live. If your marriage certificate is in a language other than French, German or English - it would be worth checking if it would be accepted beforehand.

3) The commune will give you some forms which need to be completed to register your child for Social Security, Child allowance etc. They will also give you 8 copies of the birth certificates. In addition to attaching copies to the forms mentioned above, you will also need to send a copy to your employer (personally I just gave them a scanned copy which was accepted).

4) When you register the birth, tell them what nationality your child will be. They will give you a special certificate in an EU standard format which you can use to register the birth and apply for a passport.

5) Once you have received the passport for your child, you need to take it along with a copy of the birth certificate to your local commune in order that they can issue your child with an ID. The commune that has registered the birth will automatically inform the commune where you are living - but it's worth double checking a week later to make sure that has happened. As you will have no form of ID for your child while you wait, I suggest you carry a copy of the birth certificate with you.

6) Tip: Check the spelling of all the forms carefully before signing. In my case they spell t some of the names correctly, then the same name wrongly elsewhere. If you spot an error later on, it can be quite a job to have it corrected later on. It's also worth typing out the correct name your yourself, your wife and your child's name(s).

You will receive your child's Social Security Number through the post a couple of weeks later.

The hospital will also issue you with a blue book where your child's check up's and jabs are documented. Make sure the doctor stamps the book properly, as this is important to claim the birth allowance. The commune (where the birth is registered) will give you the correct form to complete to claim the allowance, however part of the allowance is withheld until the child is 2 years old (after completing all the check up's and jabs).

Hope this helps, it's not too bad once you figure it out.