Birth certificate for Portugal: first check whether you really need a translation
For a few weeks now, requests to translate a French birth certificate into Portuguese have been multiplying, almost all of them for the same reason: an application for Portuguese nationality. And to almost all of them our first answer is the same: check whether you really need a translation. In many cases the answer is no, and it is better to know before you pay.
One question to ask before anything else
Ask the authority that will receive your file exactly what it expects: the certificate on its own, the certificate together with its multilingual form, or a sworn translation. It alone decides what it accepts, and its answer will spare you an unnecessary expense or a returned file. What follows will help you understand what it can, and cannot, ask of you.
What European law changed
Between two European Union countries, a birth certificate travels almost freely. Two consequences follow from this.
First, the apostille cannot be required of you. The apostille is the stamp that authenticates the signature and the capacity of the authority that issued your certificate; it says nothing about its content. Between Union countries it has been abolished for civil status documents. A Portuguese authority that insisted on it for a French certificate would not be within its rights.
Second, the translation can be replaced by a form. When you request your birth certificate from the town hall, ask for the “multilingual standard form” at the same time. It is an official document, free of charge, which sets out every heading of the certificate in Portuguese. Attached to the certificate, it stands in for a translation, with no stamp and no translator.
If your situation is straightforward, a French certificate intended for a Portuguese authority, with nothing unusual about it, the form is enough in most cases.
The four cases where a sworn translation is still needed
These are precisely the files that reach us.
Your certificate does not come from a Union country. This is the most frequent case: a Brazilian, Angolan, Cape Verdean, Mozambican, Swiss or Moroccan certificate. None of the exemptions above applies. You need the apostille from the country of origin, and a sworn translation.
Your certificate carries a marginal note. Recognition, rectification, court judgment, adoption. The form translates the standard headings, not what was added by hand. If your file rests on that note, a full translation is essential.
You are asked for something other than a civil status document. The form exists only for a short list of documents: birth, marriage, death and a few others. A diploma, a contract, a notarial deed or a criminal record extract have none.
The authority tells you that it cannot work with the form. The European regulation leaves it that option if it considers that it does not understand the document. In that case, a sworn translation becomes necessary.
The other way round: a Portuguese or Brazilian certificate in France
This is our oldest request in this language, and the rule is the same, read in reverse.
A Portuguese birth certificate presented in France: no apostille can be required, and the multilingual form issued in Portugal removes the need for a translation.
A Brazilian birth certificate, on the other hand, benefits from none of these exemptions. Brazil is not a member of the Union. You need the Brazilian apostille and the sworn translation into French. This is the combination we handle most often in Portuguese, in particular for a French nationality application. Requirements vary according to the country of origin: our article on the birth certificate country by country sets them out.
The apostille, if you need one
It is always applied for in the country that issued the document, never in the country where it will be presented. For a French certificate intended for a country outside the European Union, a notary has been the one to affix it since May 2025, and the procedure carries a fee. Our article on the apostille and legalisation sets out the procedure in detail.
If your certificate has to be both apostilled and translated, we can take care of the apostille for 15 € per document, at the same time as the translation. When you order, state the number of documents and not of pages: one apostille covers an entire document.
A word on Portuguese nationality
Portugal amended its nationality law in May 2026: residence periods, conditions for descendants, language requirement. The law gave the government three months to rewrite its implementing rules, which means that the details are changing at this very moment.
So we will not tell you which exact documents make up your file: today's answer may be wrong tomorrow, and only the receiving authority knows it. What we do answer for is the format of what we deliver: a translation into Portuguese, signed and stamped by a sworn translator registered with a court of appeal.
In short
If both countries are in the Union, ask for the certificate together with its multilingual form. It is free, and often enough.
If a translation is asked of you, or if your document comes from further afield, send it to us for a quote. A birth certificate is translated at €27 per page and delivered as a signed and stamped PDF in an average time of 24 to 48 hours, with the paper copy if your file requires it. By WhatsApp or by telephone, we also answer your questions.
Administrative information verified on 24 August 2026.
