Register a birth, marriage or death that took place abroad

LEGAL BASIS

Vital Records Law Act of 28 November 2014 (Journal of Laws 2020, item 463, as amended)

Below you will find general information only – if you want to know more about how your application is processed, ask the head of the civil registry office for this information.

There are three ways to ‘register’ births, marriages and deaths which occurred abroad:

I. TRANSFER OF FOREIGN VITAL RECORDS (TRANSCRIPTION)

Transfer of foreign vital records, i.e. transcription.

If a birth, marriage or death has taken place abroad and a vital record has been drawn up to confirm these events, you can apply for this document to be transferred to the registry of vital records. As a result, a Polish vital record will be drawn up.

Important! Transfer (transcription) of foreign vital records is required if:a Polish citizen to whom the foreign vital record relates is in possession of a vital record previously drawn up in Poland (confirming the previous event) and has requested that registration activities for vital records be carried out or is applying for a Polish identity document or a personal identification number (PESEL).

CONDITIONS FOR TRANSCRIPTION

If a birth, marriage or death event has taken place abroad and the applicant has a foreign vital record that confirms that the event has actually occurred.

WHO CAN APPLY

the person concerned,
another person who has demonstrated that they have a legal or legitimate interest (in transcribing the proof of death).

WHERE TO APPLY

You can submit your application to any head of the civil registry office in Poland. You will find the addresses of all civil registry offices at the following website address.

You can apply in person at the office, by mail or electronically (as specified for electronic submissions) through the Polish consul.

WHAT TO PREPARE

application for transcription

Important! If you are a Polish citizen and you are already in possession of a vital record drawn up in Poland, you can also seek to bring the information contained in a foreign document into line with the rules governing Polish spelling.

If you are transcribing a foreign proof of your marriage that does not state the surnames of spouses after the marriage or the surnames of children born from this marriage, you and your spouse can make such statements in your application for transcription or at any time after transcription – in the presence of the head of the civil registry office who transcribed the document (if you are submitting an application for transcription to the consul, you and your spouse can include the statements regarding the surname after the marriage and those regarding the surnames of children born from this marriage in the above-mentioned application or attached to the report in the presence of the consul when submitting the request. The acceptance report for these statements is attached by the consul to the application for transfer of the document).

the original of the foreign vital record you want to transcribe along with its official translation into Polish (or possibly together with a multilingual standard form attached to the above foreign official document, issued under Regulation (EU) 2016/1191 of the European Parliament and of the Council – this applies to documents from EU Member States),
proof of payment of stamp duty (e.g. confirmation of bank transfer or a receipt in respect of stamp duty payment that you can obtain at the cash desk in the office).

Important! If other documents are needed to process your application, the head of the civil registry office will inform you about it.

HOW MUCH YOU WILL PAY

The fee for an unabridged certified copy of the vital record issued after transcription is PLN 50.

For example, you can pay by bank transfer to the account of the office where you submit your application.

HOW YOUR CASE WILL BE DECIDED

positive assessment – a Polish vital record is drawn up and an unabridged certified copy of the vital record is issued
negative assessment – an administrative decision is issued; you can appeal against the decision to the competent province governor.

II. REPRODUCTION OF FOREIGN VITAL RECORDS

CONDITIONS FOR REPRODUCTION

if a birth, marriage or death event has taken place abroad and a foreign vital record has been drawn up, but
you don’t have a certified copy of that record and are unable to obtain it or seriously hindered in doing so.

WHO CAN APPLY

the person to which the document confirming the event relates,
another person who has demonstrated that they has a legal or factual interest (in reproducing the proof of death).

WHERE TO APPLY

You can submit your application to any head of the civil registry office in Poland. You will find the addresses of all civil registry offices at the following website address.

You can apply in person at the office, by mail or electronically (as specified for electronic submissions) through the Polish consul.

WHAT TO PREPARE

application for reproduction of foreign vital records

If you are reproducing a foreign proof of your marriage which does not state the surnames of spouses after the marriage or the surnames of children born from this marriage, you and your spouse can make such statements in your application for reproduction of the vital record or at a later time – in the presence of the head of the civil registry office who reproduced the document (if you are submitting an application for reproduction to the consul, you and your spouse can include the statements regarding the surname after the marriage and those regarding the surnames of children born from this marriage in the above-mentioned application or attach them to the report in the presence of the consul when submitting the application for reproduction. The acceptance report for these statements is attached by the consul to the application for reproduction).

document confirming the event taking place abroad or a certified copy thereof along with a an official translation into Polish (or possibly together with a multilingual standard form attached to the above foreign official document, issued under Regulation (EU) 2016/1191 of the European Parliament and of the Council – this applies to documents from EU Member States),
proof of payment of stamp duty (e.g. confirmation of bank transfer or a receipt in respect of stamp duty payment that you can obtain at the cash desk in the office).

Important! If other documents are needed to process your application, the head of the civil registry office will inform you about it.

HOW MUCH YOU WILL PAY

The fee for an unabridged certified copy of the vital record issued after reproduction is PLN 39.

For example, you can pay by bank transfer to the account of the office where you submit your application.

HOW YOUR CASE WILL BE DECIDED

positive assessment – a Polish vital record is drawn up and an unabridged certified copy of the vital record is issued,
negative assessment – an administrative decision is issued; you can appeal against the decision to the competent province governor.

III. REGISTRATION OF A BIRTH OR DEATH THAT OCCURRED ABROAD WITHOUT REGISTRATION AND REGISTRATION OF A BIRTH, MARRIAGE OR DEATH THAT OCCURRED ABROAD IN A COUNTRY WITH NO REGISTRY OF VITAL RECORDS

Births and deaths that occurred abroad, even where not registered in the country in which they occurred, can be registered in Poland. Likewise, births, marriages or deaths that took place in a country with no registry of vital records can be registered in Poland.

CONDITIONS FOR REGISTRATION

the birth or death took place abroad without registration,
the birth, marriage or death occurred in the country with no registry of vital records.

WHO CAN APPLY

the person concerned or their legal representative (e.g. a parent of the child).
another person who has demonstrated that they have a legal or legitimate interest (in registering the death).

WHERE TO APPLY

You can submit your application to any head of the civil registry office in Poland. You will find the addresses of all civil registry offices at the following website address.

You can apply in person at the office, by mail or electronically (as specified for electronic submissions). If the birth and death event relate to a Polish citizen, a written application for registration of the event may be submitted to the Polish consul.

WHAT TO PREPARE

application for registration of the event.

the original document confirming the event abroad issued by a competent foreign entity together, along with an official translation into Polish (or possibly together with a multilingual standard form attached to the above foreign official document, issued under Regulation (EU) 2016/1191 of the European Parliament and of the Council – applies to documents from EU Member States),
proof of payment of stamp duty (e.g. confirmation of bank transfer or a receipt in respect of stamp duty payment that you can obtain at the cash desk in the office).

Important! If other documents are needed to process your application, the head of the civil registry office will inform you about it.

HOW MUCH YOU WILL PAY

The fee for an unabridged certified copy of the vital record issued after registration is PLN 39.

For example, you can pay by bank transfer to the account of the office where you submit your application.

HOW YOUR CASE WILL BE DECIDED

positive assessment – a Polish vital record is drawn up and an unabridged certified copy of the vital record is issued
negative assessment – an administrative decision is issued; you can appeal against the decision to the competent province governor.