How to Get a Portuguese Birth Certificate from Abroad
A Portuguese birth certificate, or certidão de nascimento, proves the facts recorded for a birth in the Portuguese Civil Registry. If you live outside Portugal, you can request the certificate through the official Portuguese route or ask Portugal Papers to handle the request for you.
The right route depends on what the receiving authority needs. Some procedures accept an online certificate and access code. Others require paper, an international model, apostille, certified translation or a recently issued document.
Quick facts
- Official online fee: €10
- Paper certificate for ordinary purposes: €20
- Online access code: valid for 6 months
- Portugal Papers service: from €99
Prefer us to handle the request?
Portugal Papers can obtain the Portuguese birth certificate remotely and coordinate apostille, certified translation and delivery when required. Our certificate service starts from €99.
Get My Birth CertificateWho can request a Portuguese birth certificate?
The official Portuguese service allows any person to request their own birth certificate or another person's certificate.
There are specific restrictions for records of an adopted person and for records of a person who changed sex and first name. Those cases follow restricted-access rules and should not be treated as ordinary third-party certificate requests.
What information helps identify the correct record?
If you know the record details, an ordinary certificate request is usually the correct starting point.
Useful information includes:
- Full name used in Portugal
- Date and place of birth
- Parents' names
- Registry office, parish, year or entry number, if known
You do not need to know every field before contacting Portugal Papers.
If the person is a parent, grandparent or older relative and the exact date, place or registry details are missing, the case may require a record search rather than a standard certificate request.
Official ways to request the certificate from abroad
1. Online certificate
The official Portuguese online civil-registry service allows a Portuguese birth certificate to be requested online. The standard official fee is €10.
When the request is completed, the certificate is consulted using an access code. For a birth certificate, the code is valid for six months from issuance. Presenting the access code has the same effect in Portugal as presenting the paper certificate.
An online certificate is convenient, but the receiving authority still decides whether an online certificate is acceptable for the procedure in question.
2. Paper certificate
A paper birth certificate for ordinary purposes costs €20 under the official fee schedule.
Paper requests can be made through Portuguese civil-registry services. The official guidance also allows paper requests abroad through a Portuguese consulate and by post to a civil-registry office.
3. International model
The Portuguese Justice guidance states that a birth certificate in international model is not requested through the ordinary online certificate route. A paper-route request is required.
Do not confuse the Portuguese international model with the EU multilingual standard form. They are different instruments.
EU multilingual standard form and use inside the EU
For public documents covered by Regulation (EU) 2016/1191 and presented to an authority in another EU Member State, apostille is not required.
In eligible cases, a multilingual standard form can accompany the public document as a translation aid. It has no independent legal value and does not replace the Portuguese birth certificate.
The receiving authority determines whether the form contains enough information for the procedure.
Do you need an apostille?
Not automatically.
For covered birth-related public documents moving between EU Member States under Regulation (EU) 2016/1191, apostille is not required.
For countries outside that framework, or for procedures with their own document rules, follow the instructions of the receiving authority. The authority may ask for apostille, certified translation, paper format or a recently issued certificate.
Portugal Papers can arrange the apostille when it is required.
Older birth records and family history
An ordinary Civil Registry request is not always the correct route for an older family record.
Portuguese archive guidance states that civil and parish books under 100 years old are generally still held by Civil Registry offices, while older records are normally deposited in District Archives. In Lisbon, the relevant archive function is integrated into Torre do Tombo.
For family-history research, records from before the Civil Registry Code of 18 February 1911 are often found in parish collections rather than as modern civil birth certificates. The 1911 Code officially instituted the civil-registry system and made registration compulsory for the facts subject to civil registration.
If you have only approximate names, dates or locations, start with a record search instead of ordering a standard certificate.
Portugal Papers can handle the complete document route
The official self-service route is available and the government fee is low. Portugal Papers is for clients who want the request managed remotely or need help identifying the right record, format or preparation for use abroad.
We can coordinate:
- Portuguese birth certificate request
- Record identification where the details are sufficient
- Paper certificate when required
- Apostille when required
- Certified translation from €49 per document
- International delivery when a physical document is needed
A private Portugal Papers service, handled by our document team in Lisbon.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. The Portuguese system provides an online route, and paper requests can also be made through the routes published by the Portuguese authorities, including Portuguese consulates abroad.
The official online fee is €10. A paper birth certificate for ordinary purposes is €20. Portugal Papers' private service fee is separate and starts from €99.
Six months from issuance.
For the Portuguese official service, presenting the online access code has the same effect as presenting the paper birth certificate. A foreign receiving authority can still specify the format it requires.
Generally yes, but the official service identifies restricted cases involving records of adopted persons and persons who changed sex and first name.
No. The requirement depends on the destination and receiving authority. Covered public documents used between EU Member States under Regulation (EU) 2016/1191 do not require apostille.
That may be a record-search case rather than an ordinary certificate request. Send the information you have and Portugal Papers can assess the likely route.
Older records are generally transferred to the archive system, but the exact custodian depends on the place and record. A search may be required before a certificate or archival copy can be obtained.