THEMATIC BRIEFING | MAY 2020 Birth registration and the prevention of statelessness in Europe 11 Barriers to issuing documentary proof of birth to parents Conditions relating to the documentation or migration status of the parents In some countries, not all children receive a birth certificate or documentary proof of their birth, largely due to the parents’ residence or documentation status. Lack of access to birth registration impedes access to a birth certificate. In Latvia, North Macedonia, Serbia, Ukraine and Moldova, for example, children of undocumented parents who cannot have their births registered will not receive a certificate. Birth certificates in Greece are only issued to people registered with a municipality, and only Greek nationals are allowed by law to register with a municipality.29 Provision of extracts from the birth registry in Germany In Germany, if the required documents cannot be presented, parents do not receive a birth certificate but are instead issued with an extract from the birth register, which contains the notes ‘identity not established’ and ‘name not established’. Court rulings have demonstrated that this can lead to practical problems as the extract does not have the same evidentiary value as a birth certificate and could prevent access to different parental entitlements, preventative healthcare and the automatic issuance of a tax number, which in turn prevents access to certain social security entitlements.30 No international version of the extract is issued, so it is only in German, and an extract (as opposed to an original birth certificate) may not be accepted by the authorities in another country for the purpose of civil registration or acquiring a nationality. Although some civil registry offices collect data on the number of children issued with extracts, data is not collected nationally, so it is unclear how many children in Germany are affected. Issuance of birth certificate requires additional action from the parents In some countries where birth registration is possible regardless of the residence status of the parents, documentary proof is still not issued automatically to parents. In Belgium, all birth certificates are kept in the civil status register and are only issued to parents on request. As of May 2019, birth certificates are no longer automatically issued to all children in Norway. Instead, parents receive a confirmation of registered Norwegian national identity number and name, which is automatically sent to the parents’ Altinn, an online tax administration account which is inaccessible to anyone without a residence permit in Norway. Ordering a birth certificate requires at least one parent to have both an Altinn account and a BankID (an online login for accessing banking and public services), which requires a bank account at a Norwegian bank account. This is virtually impossible for non-Norwegians without a valid passport. This means that parents without a residence permit in Norway or a valid passport are not automatically issued with documentary proof of birth and must go through additional steps to request a birth certificate from the Tax Administration.