The proliferation of "remote" jobs and digital nomads makes this reality more and more widespread. And our clients are faced with the following situation: if my baby is born in Spain, what do I have to do to register its birth?

So, below, we are going to solve some of the doubts you may have in this regard:

What law governs the registration of babies in Spain?

For the registration of newborns in the civil registry the personal law is applied, also known as the Convention on the Law Applicable to Names and Surnames, Munich, 1980; which is binding for Spain since 1990.

Article 1 of this convention reads as follows: "The names and surnames of a person shall be determined by the law of the State of which that person is a national. In the event of a change of nationality, the law of the State of the new nationality shall apply."

Where do I register?

In theory, all hospitals already have the protocol for the telematic registration of births in the civil registry, which means that they will send the information to the civil registry directly from the hospital. There you will be provided with a form to fill in. The form contains the details of the baby and the parents, the date, time, place, sex of the baby and parentage.

In any case, we recommend that you confirm this at the registry office of the place where your child is born, because you may also have to go to the registry office in person.

In places where it is always necessary to go to the civil registry, you will have to bring the documentation provided by the hospital and also the NIE, DNI or Passport of the parents; the certificate of cohabitation; as well as the marriage certificate, if the parents are not married, both must go personally to the civil registry.

The next thing you will do when you have the birth certificate of your baby, will be to register him/her in the town hall of the Spanish city where you live.

If I am a foreigner, will my baby have Spanish nationality because he/she was born in Spain?

The quick answer to this would be no. And we explain why.

In Spain, the law states that "They are Spaniards of origin: [...] c) Those born in Spain of foreign parents, if both lack nationality or if the legislation of neither of them attributes a nationality to the child".

Therefore, the nationality of the parents would have to be checked to analyze whether at least one of their nationalities attributes a nationality to the child (which is usually the case) and which would automatically make the newborn a national of that country.

How do you register a baby born outside the country of its parents?

You will need to register the birth at the Embassy or Consulate of one of the parents' countries of nationality to obtain a passport for the baby. For example, here are links to the website of the U.S. Embassy in Spain, with information on nationality for children of Americans born outside the U.S.A, as well as information on the requirements for processing at a consulate in Spain.