In Switzerland, an Instruction to the Civil Registry Ordinance on the registration of
non-nationals explicitly prohibits public officials from reporting people with irregular
residence status to the migration authorities when registering births. This clear firewall
helps provide assurance to undocumented migrants that they may report and register
the births of their children without fear of being reported to immigration authorities.
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Three countries in the Statelessness Index have mandatory measures in place that require public officials to
report certain immigration matters to the enforcement authorities (Belgium, Germany, and the UK). The fear
that this creates among migrants with irregular residence status can be a significant barrier to parents
approaching public services to register births or to accessing public health services to give birth, which can
complicate the birth registration process. In Belgium, public servants including civil registrars are required
by law to report undocumented migrants to the immigration authorities. Similarly, in Germany, registry
officials are required to report people subject to deportation, who breach geographic restrictions or who
have irregular residence status to immigration authorities.
Public health providers in the UK are required to report certain immigration matters
to the immigration authorities and undocumented migrants may be subject to
charging for healthcare, which may combine to prevent them from accessing health
services and registering the birth of their child, though no recent cases have been
reported.
In Bulgaria and North Macedonia, although there are no mandatory reporting requirements, health
authorities may decide to report undocumented migrants to the authorities and there are instances of this
happening in practice. In Croatia, despite there being no mandatory reporting requirements, in practice, all
state institutions and bodies report people who are undocumented to the police. In Montenegro,
information on birth registration is exchanged between health authorities and the Ministry of Interior. In
Türkiye, undocumented migrant parents are at risk of detention and deportation in all interactions with the
authorities, given that foreigners must first register themselves to access rights and services, which may deter
parents with unregulated residence status from registering the births of their children.
In most other countries, while there are no mandatory requirements for health or civil registry authorities to
report undocumented migrants, the lack of a clear firewall prohibiting the sharing of information by these
entities with immigration authorities could deter undocumented parents from coming forward to register
their children.