firewall between immigration authorities and public services is the safest way to ensure that people can access their rights to healthcare, civil registration and other public services, free from the fear of being subject to immigration enforcement actions in practice.488 Firewall between registry officials and immigration authorities in Switzerland 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.499 Reporting of people with irregular residence status to immigration authorities 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. Barriers to healthcare for undocumented migrants in the UK Health officials in the UK are required to report certain immigration matters to the immigration authorities and undocumented migrants are subject to charging for healthcare, which may combine to prevent them from accessing health services and registering the birth of their child. 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. 8. ACCESS TO LATE BIRTH REGISTRATION Free and prompt birth registration should be assured in law and practice, even if the period within which the birth should have been declared has expired, to ensure that no child is left unregistered. Any barriers that might prevent access to late birth registration, such as financial penalties, should be avoided.50