Canberra

If you have recently had a baby in Australia or New Zealand, the birth must be entered in the Estonian Population Register. This service is free of charge and can be completed through the Embassy of the Republic of Estonia in Canberra if your place of residence in the Population Register is registered as Australia or New Zealand.

If an Estonian citizen whose registered place of residence is in Estonia wishes to register their child’s birth through an Estonian foreign mission, they must first update their residence details in the Population Register. Alternatively, the civil status documents may be submitted in Estonia to the local government of the county centre corresponding to their registered place of residence.

To enter the birth details into the Population Register, the original birth certificate issued in Australia or New Zealand must first be apostilled.
Instructions for apostilling Australian documents
Instructions for apostilling New Zealand documents

Once the document has been apostilled, please send it by registered post to the Embassy of the Republic of Estonia in Canberra together with copies of both parents’ passports. On each passport copy, write “True copy”, the date, and the passport holder’s signature. For applications submitted from Australia, please also include an unused, self-addressed Express Post envelope for the return of the original document.

In most cases, a separate application form is not required to register the birth. You may include a covering letter with the documents if you wish.

If the child’s Estonian name contains Estonian characters but the name appears on the English-language birth certificate without diacritical marks—for example, Mand instead of Mänd—the parent must decide which spelling they wish to use officially in Estonia. As the consul can enter the information into the Population Register based on the document presented, if you wish the child’s name to be recorded using the Estonian spelling with diacritical marks, a simple written statement from the parent must be included with the documents. The statement must clearly specify the spelling of the child’s name that you wish to be entered in the Estonian Population Register.

Once the birth has been registered, the child will receive an Estonian personal identification code and the submitted documents will be returned to the parent. A separate certificate confirming the registration of the birth is not issued. Parents can view their own and their child’s details through the Estonian state portal eesti.ee. Further information about applying for an Estonian passport for your child is available here.

Embassy of the Republic of Estonia in Canberra:
12 Darwin Avenue
Yarralumla ACT 2600
Australia

If you have any questions, please contact us by telephone on +61 2 6152 1420 or by email at [email protected]

 

Frequently Asked Questions

I live in Australia, but my place of residence in the Population Register is registered as Estonia. Can the Embassy assist me with updating my Population Register details and registering my child’s birth?
If an Estonian citizen’s place of residence is registered as Estonia in the Population Register but they nevertheless wish to have the birth registered through an Estonian foreign mission, they must provide a valid reason, complete the relevant application and send it to the Embassy for consideration. The Embassy can register the child’s birth only after the person’s residence details have been updated in the Population Register.

A child’s birth should be registered in the Population Register within 30 days. How is this possible in Australia or New Zealand?
Depending on the Australian state or territory, obtaining a child’s birth certificate may take several weeks or even a couple of months. Having the document apostilled may then take a similar amount of time.
We therefore recommend beginning the necessary steps to register the child’s birth as soon as possible after receiving the required documents. If the issuing and apostilling of the documents takes longer, exceeding the 30-day period may be unavoidable. In such circumstances, the Embassy recommends registering the birth in the Population Register as soon as possible.

Can I have my child’s birth certificate apostilled electronically?
An Australian or New Zealand e-apostille is not the preferred option, as an e-apostille alone may not allow the authenticity of the document to be verified in the required manner. Using an e-apostille may therefore not simplify the registration process and may result in additional procedures and costs. We recommend having the original document apostilled in paper form from the outset and submitting the apostilled original document to the Embassy of Estonia in Canberra.

One of the child’s parents is an Australian citizen and has never had a passport. What should we do?
A copy of the passport of each parent is generally required to make an entry in the Population Register. Australian or New Zealand documents may not contain all the information required for the Population Register entry, such as full birth details. If one of the child’s parents does not have a passport and has never held one, please contact the Embassy of Estonia in Canberra at [email protected].

I urgently need to register my child’s birth in the Population Register, but the waiting time for an apostille is almost two months. Can I bring the birth certificate to the Embassy in person to speed up the process?
Unfortunately, no. Without an apostille, an Australian-issued birth certificate cannot be accepted in Estonia as an official foreign document. Bringing the birth certificate to the Embassy in person does not replace the requirement for an apostille and therefore does not speed up the registration process. The document must be properly apostilled before it is submitted to the Embassy.

I am planning to travel to Estonia with my child for four months. By the time we travel, I will have been able to register my child’s birth in the Estonian Population Register, but I plan to apply for their Estonian passport while we are in Estonia. The child would travel to Estonia using an Australian passport. Is this permitted?
The travel document of an Estonian citizen is an Estonian passport. Therefore, when travelling on an Australian passport, you should not assume that the child’s Estonian citizenship alone guarantees the same conditions for crossing the European Union’s external border as those applicable to an Estonian citizen travelling on an Estonian passport.
If the child is still under one year of age at the time of travel and there is not enough time to apply for an Estonian passport before the journey, an Emergency Travel Document (ETD) must be applied for.
If the child enters the Schengen Area using an Australian passport, the entry and stay requirements applicable to Australian citizens will apply. Australian citizens may generally stay in the Schengen Area without a visa for up to 90 days in any 180-day period.
If you plan to remain in Estonia with the child for four months, the legal basis for the child’s continued stay must therefore be arranged before the 90-day visa-free period expires. One possible option may be to apply for a long-stay visa. If the child receives an Estonian passport while staying in Estonia, it may be necessary to leave the Schengen Area before the 90-day period expires and then re-enter using the Estonian passport.