To apply for a Consular Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA) for your child, you must schedule an appointmen to visit the embassy with your child and submit all the documentation as listed below. Please ensure that you include both parents’ names in the “Name of non-applicant who will be appearing for this appointment” section of your child’s appointment. The application process may take as much as two hours to complete. If you are registering multiple children, additional time may be required.
During the CRBA appointment, you will apply for the CRBA, U.S. passport and social security number for your child at the same time. Your child and both parents must be present at the Embassy appointment. If the non-U.S. citizen parent is unable to attend, they can submit their notarized consent for the issuance of the child’s U.S. passport as detailed in point number 5 on the child’s passport renewal webpage.
All applications for Consular Reports of Birth Abroad must be completed in full, including passport and social security forms. Please also review the specific transmission requirements to ensure that you have the ability to transmit citizenship to your child. If you arrive for an appointment with incomplete applications, your appointment will be cancelled and rescheduled for another day. We ask that you carefully review all of the following information in full and please submit any queries to ACSDublin@state.gov.
Please bring the following documentation to your appointment:
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Proof of Physical Presence in the United States: – The U.S. citizen parent must bring documentary evidence of their physical presence in the U.S. prior to the birth of the child and how they obtained U.S. citizenship prior to the birth of the child. Examples of physical presence can include; school transcripts, employment records, tax forms, previous passports, etc. Please bring original documents and more than the minimum documentary evidence required. After review of the documentary evidence, the consular officer may request additional information if insufficient evidence. Please review the following link: Transmission of Citizenship.
- DS-2029 Application for Consular Report of Birth Abroad: (PDF 104KB) please complete, print, and bring this form to your appointment. Forms must be printed one sided, do not use correction fluid as this invalidates the application. Please pay particular attention to section 24 and 25 where the U.S. citizen parent(s) list the dates spent in the U.S. prior to the child’s birth.
- DS-11 Passport application form: fill the form out electronically via the link, then print and bring it to your appointment. Do not sign form until the Consular Officer instructs you to do so at your appointment. This form cannot be submitted online. Alternatively, a printable PDF version is available here (101KB), which you can print and fill out by hand. Forms must be printed one sided, do not use correction fluid as this invalidates the application. Please disregard the instructions on the form as they are for U.S. citizens applying to renew a passport within the United States. Please only follow the instructions on this website.
- SS-5 application form: (132KB) Social Security application, signed by one U.S. citizen parent. Please complete, print, and bring this form to your appointment.
- Pre-paid, self-addressed A4 envelope for the return of your child’s CRBA and passport: Please affix a €10.00 stamp to the envelope for the trackable return of your passport by Express Post. Envelope must be size A4 (to fit the CRBA). If you are applying for more than one family member’s passport at the same time, we can return up to two passports in one envelope (restricted to two passports due to weight).
- One 2″x 2″ U.S. passport size photo: photo must have clear white background, no shadows, no eyeglasses to be worn. Irish passport sized photos not accepted; the U.S. sized photos are a larger size – 2 inches x 2 inches. You can find all passport photo requirements here.
- Fees: Consular Report of Birth Abroad fee is $100 U.S. dollars, the passport fee will depend on the age of your child. Please see the Passport/Citizenship Fee Page for the correct fee.
- Original Birth certificate: must show parents’ names and translations if necessary. If the parent(s)’ and/or guardian(s)’ name(s) is/are different to those listed on these documents, evidence of legal name change is required.
- Marriage/Divorce Certificates (if applicable): original certificates issued by local, state, or national government authorities. If your certificates are in a language other than English, a certified translation must be provided.
- Evidence of Parents’ Citizenship and Identity: To qualify to transmit citizenship to a child, the U.S. citizen parent must have held U.S. citizenship prior to the birth of the child. Please bring evidence of citizenship prior to the birth of your child. Additionally, a current, valid U.S. (or foreign) passports/government issued I.D. is required at time of application.
- If you have previously obtained a CRBA for your other children, please also bring this certificate to your appointment.
Security at the Embassy
DO NOT BRING ELECTRONICS TO YOUR U.S. EMBASSY APPOINTMENT. Please note that you cannot enter Embassy property with any electronics. This includes laptops, tablets, memory cards, flash drives, or other peripherals. If you have any of these items in your possession, you will be asked find a place to store them away from the Embassy or to return on another day. The Embassy has small lockers which can accommodate a cell phone. No other electronics may be placed in these lockers.
Adopted Children
For adopted children, the process of obtaining citizenship is not completed by the U.S. Department of State. Please see the following procedures from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service: http://travel.state.gov/content/adoptionsabroad/en/us-visa-for-your-child/acquiring-us-citizenship-for-your-child.html