portuguese birth certificate

[mariewhitbread]

Hi

My daughter was born in Portugal 23 years ago whilst we were living there and running our restaurant. We were told to register her at the british consulate in Portimao and we were given a cedular. We thought that was her birth certificate. 18 months later we went back to England and when she reached 11/12 she was able to get her own passport with the cedular.

However she annoyingly lost her cedular but had her passport so didnt worry. Now we live in America and she has met a lovely American. They are now both back in the UK trying to get their spouse visas. However the american embassy want her birth certificate. When we phoned the portimao registrar they had no records of her at all. They told us the cedular was only the first part of her birth certificate and we were supposed to register her in England to get a full blown certificate. We were very young and didnt speak fluent Portuguese.

We really need some help as to how we can obtain this birth certificate as no one has a record of her. What can we do? They will not be able to get married and come and live in Florida with us or her husband's family.

Many thanks for any help.

[Sonho]

She needs to go to the PT embassy in the UK (if that is where she is), present her passport and have them track down a copy of the cedular or a record of her birth.

But I guess I don´t really understand. She is a UK citizen as well due to her parentae. Doesn´t she already have a UK passport?

[canoeman]

From the UK end a Birth Certificate issued by Portugal should have been required for the UK Passport, seems as if someone accepted the Cedular? as a Birth Certificate, have you tried Passport Office or now the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) : Directgov - Directories as they should have record on original application

Did you register her birth with Consulate if so there should be a record at the UK General Registry Office Registering life events : Directgov - Government, citizens and rights

if not then she'll need to make further inquiries at Portimao, doubt very much that it can be handled over the phone or by e-mail.

[mariewhitbread]

We tried speaking to the consulate at Portimao and unfortunately 23 of not using Portuguese did not help. Very hard to make them understand. I do love the Portuguese though.

Thank you for your help