West­min James

The reg­is­tra­tion of births in Trinidad and To­ba­go is pro­vid­ed for in the Reg­is­tra­tion of Birth and Deaths Act Ch 44:01. The birth of every per­son in Trinidad and To­ba­go must be reg­is­tered. The Reg­is­trar Gen­er­al's De­part­ment is re­spon­si­ble for reg­is­ter­ing births and is­su­ing birth cer­tifi­cates. A birth cer­tifi­cate es­tab­lish­es who you are and af­fords ac­cess to the rights and the priv­i­leges of cit­i­zen­ship.

Who can reg­is­ter a birth

Sec­tion 16 of the Act stip­u­lates that it is the du­ty of the fa­ther and moth­er of the child to reg­is­ter the birth of a child. In de­fault of the par­ents do­ing so, it would be the du­ty of the oc­cu­pi­er of the house or build­ing in which the birth took place, each per­son present at the birth or the per­son hav­ing charge of the child to reg­is­ter the birth.

When to reg­is­ter a birth

A birth must be reg­is­tered with­in 42 days of the birth of the child, fail­ing which the Reg­is­trar Gen­er­al may re­quire any of the peo­ple en­ti­tled to reg­is­ter a birth to give the rel­e­vant in­for­ma­tion of the birth not lat­er than three months af­ter the birth. There is no cost for a reg­is­tra­tion at this time. Af­ter this three-month pe­ri­od, a re­quest for a late reg­is­tra­tion has to be made to the Reg­is­trar Gen­er­al for which there is a cost.

Where to reg­is­ter a birth

Births are reg­is­tered at the of­fices of "Dis­trict Reg­is­trars of Births and Deaths," in the area in which the birth took place. Dis­trict reg­is­trars are lo­cat­ed at the fol­low­ing pub­lic hos­pi­tals:

Port-of-Spain Gen­er­al Hos­pi­tal.

San Fer­nan­do Gen­er­al Hos­pi­tal.

Mt Hope Ma­ter­ni­ty Hos­pi­tal.

San­gre Grande Coun­ty Hos­pi­tal.

How to reg­is­ter a birth

To ef­fect reg­is­tra­tion of a birth, the fol­low­ing must be pro­duced to the dis­trict reg­is­trar:

Hos­pi­tal record/card.

Valid gov­ern­ment-is­sued form of ID.

The com­put­er gen­er­at­ed birth cer­tifi­cate(s) of the par­ent(s) of the child (if avail­able) or the adop­tion cer­tifi­cate(s).

Mar­riage cer­tifi­cate of the par­ents (if ap­plic­a­ble).

Reg­is­tra­tion of the fa­ther's name

If the par­ents are mar­ried to each oth­er, ei­ther both of them or one of them can go to the dis­trict reg­is­trar to reg­is­ter the birth and the name of the fa­ther would be record­ed by the reg­is­trar. If the par­ents are not mar­ried to each oth­er and wish to reg­is­ter the birth with the fa­ther's name, both par­ents must go to­geth­er to the dis­trict reg­is­trar. If the fa­ther's name is not record­ed at the time of reg­is­tra­tion, the par­ents can make an ap­pli­ca­tion to the Reg­is­trar's Gen­er­al De­part­ment to have it record­ed or it can be in­sert­ed as a re­sult of pa­ter­ni­ty or­der by the court.

Where to ob­tain a birth cer­tifi­cate

Cer­tifi­cates can be or­dered at the Reg­is­trar Gen­er­al's De­part­ment lo­cat­ed at:

Reg­is­tra­tion House, 72 -74 South Quay, Port-of-Spain.

32E Pro Queen Street, Ari­ma.

9 Leo­taud Street, San Fer­nan­do.

Car­o­line Build­ing No 2, 11 Hamil­ton Street, Scar­bor­ough, To­ba­go.

Cer­tifi­cates can be pre or­dered on­line at www.legalaf­fairs.gov.tt and col­lect­ed at Reg­is­tra­tion House. If res­i­dent abroad, it may be or­dered at the near­est T&T diplo­mat­ic mis­sion or from the Reg­is­trar Gen­er­al De­part­ment up­on the pay­ment of the pre­scribed fee and the rel­e­vant ship­ping charges. The first com­put­er gen­er­at­ed birth cer­tifi­cate is free and all sub­se­quent cer­tifi­cates cost TT$25 each.

Who can or­der a birth cer­tifi­cate

Up­on pro­duc­ing a valid ID and prov­ing the date and place of birth and moth­er's maid­en name, the fol­low­ing peo­ple can or­der a birth cer­tifi­cate:

the own­er of the birth record/cer­tifi­cate;

the par­ents whose names are on the birth record;

grand­par­ents or any oth­er care­giv­er who has a fam­i­ly re­la­tion­ship with the child;

chil­dren of the own­er of the birth cer­tifi­cate;

the le­gal guardian, So­cial Wel­fare of­fi­cers, chil­dren's homes, etc, and oth­ers who are look­ing af­ter the in­ter­ests of the child;

an at­tor­ney at law act­ing on be­half of his client; and

any per­son du­ly au­tho­rised by the own­er of the birth cer­tifi­cate.

The Im­por­tance of a birth cer­tifi­cate

A birth cer­tifi­cate is es­sen­tial:

when reg­is­ter­ing at ed­u­ca­tion­al in­sti­tu­tions (pri­ma­ry, sec­ondary, ter­tiary, etc);

when ap­ply­ing for var­i­ous forms of ID and per­mits (eg, Na­tion­al ID Card, dri­ver's li­cence, pass­port,visa, etc);

when ap­ply­ing for state ben­e­fits (eg, pen­sion, state hous­ing, etc);

when seek­ing em­ploy­ment op­por­tu­ni­ties;

when es­tab­lish­ing your rights to in­her­it prop­er­ty;

when get­ting mar­ried; and

when open­ing a bank ac­count.