If you want to report a child’s birth online, you need a trusted profile (eGo). It allows you to confirm your identity. This is to ensure that no one can impersonate you. To accept your report, the office must receive the child’s birth card. It is submitted to the office by an authorised person who attended the birth, such as a doctor or midwife.
When should you report a child’s birth?
Within 21 days of the birth card being issued. The birth card is issued by an authorised person who attended the birth, such as a doctor or midwife. They will submit it to the USC no later than 3 days after it is issued.
If you do not report the child’s birth to the office within 21 days, the head of the USC will choose a name for your child and register the birth themselves. They will do so on the basis of the birth card.
Who can report a child’s birth?
The child’s mother or father who has full legal capacity.
How do you choose a child’s name?
There is no formal list of names that you may give your child, but bear the following restrictions in mind:
- you may not give your child more than 2 names
- the name may not be ridiculing or indecent
- the name may not be a diminutive form.
You may choose a foreign name or names—for example, Mercedes or Andrea—regardless of the child’s parents’ citizenship or nationality. It may be a name that does not clearly indicate gender but is commonly assigned to a particular gender.
The head of the USC may refuse to accept the names you have chosen for the child. This may happen if they decide that the names do not meet the requirements listed above. In such a situation, the head of the USC will choose the child’s name ex officio. This allows the birth to be registered immediately.
You will then receive an administrative decision. If the head of the USC issues such a decision, you have 14 days to appeal it to the voivode. Submit the appeal to the head of the USC who issued the decision.
How is a child’s birth registered at the USC?
The head of the USC:
- will draw up a birth certificate on the basis of your report and the birth card
- will provide you with the following documents:
- one free abridged copy of the birth certificate
- notification of the PESEL number being assigned (if the child has received a PESEL number)
- a certificate of the child’s registered address (if the child has been registered).
You choose how to receive the documents in your report. You have 3 collection options:
- to your ePUAP inbox
- by regular mail
- in person at the office.
How much does it cost?
The service is free of charge.
How long will you wait?
The head of the USC draws up the birth certificate on the next working day after the birth is reported—provided that they have received the child’s birth card.
What do you need to remember?
The method you choose for receiving the documents from the office will affect the waiting time; the head of the USC may need additional information from you. Provide your email address and telephone number in the report—this may speed up the processing of the matter.
What if the child was stillborn?
If the child was stillborn, report the birth within 3 days of the stillbirth card being issued.
The stillbirth card is issued by an authorised person who attended the birth—for example, a doctor or midwife—and submitted to the USC within 1 day of being issued.
The child’s stillbirth card will be submitted to the USC if the doctor determines the child’s sex. Only then can the birth be registered at the USC. In such a situation, the head of the USC will draw up the child’s birth certificate with a note that the child was stillborn. A death certificate is not drawn up.
If the child’s sex has not been determined, the stillbirth card is not submitted to the USC. If you are a person entitled to arrange the burial, such as the child’s parent, the doctor may issue a death card at your request. This card will allow you to bury the child without registering the death at the USC.
More information is available on the website of the Ministry of Digital Affairs.