If your child is born outside the UK you can register the birth either at the British Embassy in Tokyo or the British Consulate-General in Osaka. You don’t have to do this, but if you do your child will be given a British style birth certificate and the birth will be registered at the General Registry Office in the UK as well as in the consular district where the birth occurred. We recommend consular birth registration because it means you will be able to get extra copies of the certificate from the General Register Office in the future. 

Please fill out the application form , then send, or take in person, your application to the appropriate office, together with the fee. These fees are subject to exchange rate fluctuations and may change at short notice. If you send cash through the post, please use cash registered mail (in Japanese, "genkin kakitome").

If at the same time you wish to apply for a passport for your child, you will need to complete a passport application form. 

Please note that passport applications are only accepted by the Embassy in Tokyo, even if the birth registration itself is to the Consulate-General in Osaka. If you would like to register your child's birth and apply for a passport, the two applications should be sent separately.  Passport applications for children are payable in Japanese Yen. We accept cash, visa and mastercards.

If you wish to have the documents and/or passport sent to you by post, please enclose postal stamps to the value of 700 for return postage.

We aim to process your birth registration application in 5 working days. Please note that we can only start to process your application once all the necessary documents have been provided.

Documents required for (British) Birth Registration and Child Passport Applications:

Consular Officers need to see the following original documents (not photocopies): 

1. Child's hospital birth certificate
2. Child's Ward Office birth certificate (please see number 5 regarding Birth Registration with the Japanese Authorities). In Japanese, this is "shussei todoke juri shomeisho";
3. Parents' marriage certificate and, if appropriate, evidence of the termination of any previous marriage of either parent;
4. Long-form UK birth certificate(s)* showing parents' details or British Adoption Certificate(s) for the British parent(s) or, if born outside the UK, documentary evidence of claim to British nationality, e.g. naturalisation or registration certificate;
5. If one parent is Japanese, a photocopy of the family register ("koseki tohon"). [If the child's birth is already shown on the family register, you do not need to provide the ward office birth certificate under item 2 as well. However, in this case you must send us an original certified copy of the family register bearing the ward office's stamp - a photocopy is not acceptable];
6. Both parents' passports (except for Japanese nationals).  

*We need the long form version of the birth certificate to obtain information on the place of birth and occupation of the child's grandparents. If you do not already have this kind of birth certificate, you may obtain it from the General Register Office.

British/Japanese Children Dual National

Please note that if your child is a dual British/Japanese national, Japanese Immigration requires that s/he must leave and enter Japan on the Japanese passport.

Since 1st January 1985 Japanese women have been able to pass their Japanese nationality to their children (Japanese men were always able to do so.) For some people, a problem has arisen over which surname is shown in the family register ("koseki tohon"). Women can apply at the ward/city office within six months of marriage to have a new family register in their married name. If the marriage has existed for more than 6 months, application for approval to change the name has to be made through the Family Court. If upon marriage the wife did not change the name in her family register, the baby's Japanese birth certificate will show the mother's maiden surname and not the father's surname.

If upon marriage the wife did not change the name in her family register, the baby's Japanese birth certificate will show the mother's maiden surname and not the father's surname.

The British birth registration made at the Embassy or Consulate-General in Osaka can show the surname to be that of the father, and can include middle names not shown on the family register, providing that we receive a Child's name confirmation form signed by both parents.

Under Japanese Nationality Law at the age of 20, but before the age of 22, dual Japanese/British children are required to choose which nationality they wish to retain. If they wish to retain Japanese nationality they may be asked to renounce British nationality by the Japanese authorities. This is done by formal act through the Home Office in London, or at any Embassy/High Commission and some Consulates overseas. Please note that the UK recognises dual nationality and does not require an individual to make a choice of which nationality s/he wishes to keep. You can find more information about Japanese Nationality Law through the Ministry of Justice's website.

If you and your partner are not married:

If you are a British man and your child’s mother is foreign you can apply for Consular birth registration only if the child was born on or after 1 July 2006. If you are an unmarried woman who has had a child abroad whose father’s name is not on the local birth certificate and you would like the father’s details recorded on the British certificate, you will need to swear the declarations in front of a consular officer from our offices in Tokyo or Osaka.

Birth Registration with the Japanese Authorities

Please note that notification of the child's birth must be given to the Residents' Register Section of the ward/city office or one of its branch offices within 14 days of the birth.

The documents required for this are:

1. the birth certificate issued by the hospital;
2. the Certificate of Alien Registration of the parent filing the notification; and
3. the Alien Registration Certificate Number of the other parent, if not a Japanese national.

You should ask for three copies of the "Certificate of Acceptance of Birth Notification," one of which is for Consulate use and another for submission to the Immigration Bureau. The third copy is for registering the child with the Alien Registration Section of the ward/city office. You only have to do this if neither parent is Japanese. This has to be done within 60 days of the birth.

Please note that you will have to go to the main ward/city office as there is no alien registration section at branch offices.
If neither parent is a Japanese National, you must file an application to acquire status of residence with the Immigration Bureau within 30 days of the child's birth.

The documents required are:

1. The Certificate of Acceptance of Birth Notification issued by the ward/city office;
2. The parents' passports;
3. The Alien Registration Certificate of the parent filing the application; and
4. The babies' passport

There is no obligation for the birth of a British citizen abroad to be recorded with the British Embassy or Consulate. However there are advantages that a British form of birth certificate is then available and that a record of the birth is afterwards held will be kept at the General Register Office in the UK.