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Birth registration

The parents of a child are responsible for registering their birth.

You must register the birth within 6 months of birth.

You can apply for a birth certificate when you register the birth or later on.

Registering a birth as part of the Newborn Enrolment Trial

The ACT is part of the Services Australia Newborn Enrolment Trial. This service makes it easier for you to register your baby with government agencies.

If you're part of the trial:

  • your baby will be enrolled with Medicare and Centrelink
  • you can register the birth through your MyGov account.

To be part of the trial, you must:

  • have your baby at either the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children or the North Canberra Hospital
  • complete a consent form at the hospital when your baby is born.

If you did not complete the consent form at the hospital, you can still register your baby's birth through Access Canberra.

Privacy Impact Assessment

We undertake privacy impact assessments (PIA) to make sure personal information is protected. The PIA for the Birth of a Child Pilot Project found that the project has some privacy risks but also gave recommendations to address these risks.

Register a birth through Access Canberra

You can register:

You can only use these forms to register a birth that happened in the ACT. If your baby was born outside the ACT, you need to register the birth with the authority in that state or territory.

Register a birth in the ACT

Apply for a birth certificate

Birth certificates are one of the most important identity documents that help a person access school, employment, licences, and government support.

You can order an official birth certificate, a commemorative certificate, or both.

You cannot use commemorative birth certificates for legal purposes or as identification.

Read about birth certificates.

What you'll need

When you apply you need to prove your identity with 3 forms of identification:

  • at least one Primary proof of identity document
  • one or 2 Secondary proof of identity documents.

View the acceptable forms of identification.

You’ll also need to pay a fee.

Turnaround times

Registration and issuing a birth certificate usually takes 15 business days.

If your application is incomplete or Access Canberra needs more information, we will contact you.

Changing details on the register

Once a birth is registered you can still make changes to the record.

Changing names or sex

If you want to change the child’s name or the child’s sex, there are separate processes.

Read more about name changes.

Read more about changing the sex on the birth register.

Making a correction

A correction is for a mistake on the register, such as fixing a misspelling of the place of birth for the child’s father.

You can’t make changes such as to a child’s name or sex using this process.

If you want to fix a mistake on the register:

  1. Complete an Application to correct a register [PDF 180KB] [DOCX 176KB]
  2. Provide 3 forms of proof of identity, with at least one being Primary proof of identity.
  3. Provide evidence to support the correction.
  4. Submit it:

If there are 2 parents on the child’s birth registration then both parents must apply.

If one parent is deceased, you’ll need to provide their death certificate with your application.

There are no fees unless you apply for an updated certificate.

Adding a parent

A parent is anyone presumed to be a parent under the Parentage Act 2004.

If you want to add a parent to a birth that’s already been registered:

  1. Complete an Application to add details of parentage after registration of a birth [PDF 200KB] [DOCX 181KB]
  2. Provide 3 forms of proof of identity, with at least one being Primary proof of identity.
  3. Submit it:

There are no fees unless you apply for an updated birth certificate.

Adding a parent does not change the child’s registered name.

Adding relationship details

If you want to change the parents’ relationship details, for example to include your marriage or civil partnership or union details:

  1. Complete an Application to note relationship details [PDF 175KB] [DOCX 161KB]
  2. Provide 3 forms of proof of identity, with at least one being Primary proof of identity.
  3. Submit it either:

There are no fees unless you apply for an updated birth certificate.

Updating these details does not change the child’s registered name.

Altering parent details

The parents of a child born in the ACT can apply to alter the following details on their child’s birth certificate:

  • the name of a parent whose name has changed
  • the word used to describe a parent’s relationship with the child

Parent names can only be altered to a name the parent has registered in the ACT or Australian state or territory.

The parent relationship descriptors that can be registered in the ACT are Mother, Father, Birth Parent or Parent.

Alteration of parent details requires the consent of parents listed in the birth register and the child if they are at least 14 years old.

Additional conditions apply if the alteration is sought by one parent.

If you want to alter parent details:

  1. Complete an Application to alter parent details [PDF 273KB] [DOCX 142KB]
  2. Provide 3 forms of proof of identity, with at least one being Primary proof of identity.
  3. If altering parents name, provide evidence of the parent’s new registered name (e.g. Change of Name certificate or Birth Certificate with Change of Name details included).
  4. Submit it either:

There are no fees unless you apply for an updated birth certificate.

Following an alteration of parent details, a history section on the back of the certificate will note that the parent’s details have been altered and the date of the alteration. The note will not say what details were altered.

Early pregnancy loss

If you experienced the loss of a pregnancy before 20 weeks' gestation you don’t need to register a birth.

You can apply for an early pregnancy loss certificate.