It is important to start this process as soon as possible after your child is born. In the case of urgent, unexpected travel, your child will need a passport. In addition, you may need to secure a visa for your child, which also requires a passport. Hong Kong local law requires that your child be registered locally within 42 days of birth (see Births and Deaths Registration – Immigration Services, the Government of the Hong Kong SAR). Once this is done, the only U.S. deadline for completing this process is before your child’s 18th birthday.

Once we have everything we need, processing time is normally about 20 days. However, because computers break and typhoons happen, please don’t make any unchangeable travel plans until you have the new passport in hand. We’ll mail the completed passport and Report of Birth to you. Your child’s Social Security card will be sent to you directly by the Social Security Administration. Please allow three to six months for the card to arrive.

All birth, adoption, marriage, death or divorce certificates must bear the original seal, stamp or signature of the Official Custodian of the document. Notarized copies, church records and uncertified photocopies are not official documents and may be invalid as primary evidence. All documents must be originals please. We will return the original documents to you the same day. All documents not in English must be translated; you may do the translation yourself.

Make an appointment. All services are provided by appointment only. Appointments are made online. Make Appointment!

Your child, even a newborn, must appear in person at our office at the time you make the application. There are no exceptions possible for this requirement, sorry.

Please present your child’s Hong Kong birth registration or Macau birth registration.

You obtain the Hong Kong birth registration from the Government of Hong Kong. Please see Births and Deaths Registration for details and the office nearest you.

You obtain the Macau birth registration from the Civil Registry (Conservatória do Registo Civil) in Macau. Please see Legal Affairs Bureau (Direccao dos Servicos de Assuntos de Justica) for contact information.

Hospital birth certificates or other documents are not acceptable; please obtain the Hong Kong birth registration or Macau birth registration.

The American Citizen parent must present his/her original U.S. passport. Copies, or Hong Kong ID cards are not acceptable.

You’ll need to bring along your official marriage certificate; again, originals only please. We will return the original document to you the same day. All documents not in English must be translated; you may do the translation yourself.

If your child was born out-of-wedlock, or within six months of your marriage, please see Acquisition of American Citizenship for some additional requirements.

Please bring along official divorce or death certificates, originals only please. We will return the original document to you the same day. All documents not in English must be translated; you may do the translation yourself.

In some situations, how long one or both American parents lived in the U.S. can affect your child’s acquisition of citizenship (see Acquisition of American Citizenship to learn why). Please be prepared to submit evidence such as military records, school transcripts, or tax records (including W-2s) to demonstrate the parent’s period of physical presence in the U.S. (see What Do We Mean by Physical Presence?)

In some situations, such as if your child was conceived out-of-wedlock, we may ask for evidence of the biological parents’ physical presence at the time of conception. Such evidence might include passports, military travel orders, leases, etc. In some complex cases, we may need to request a blood or DNA test.

You can download form DS-2029 (PDF 103 KB) to print out and complete by hand.

The law on acquisition of American Citizenship varies if one or both biological parents are also Americans, and if the child is born in or out of wedlock. See Acquisition of American Citizenship to learn more information.

To apply for a Social Security Card on behalf of your child, please submit the completed social security number application form to the Consulate along with your child’s Consular Report of Birth application.

You can download form SS-5-FS (PDF 121 KB) to print out and complete by hand.

Please submit one copy of Form DS-11:

• To type the form on your computer (recommended), please complete online and print.
• To print a blank form, and fill it out yourself, please download the blank Form DS-11. (PDF 101 KB)

Bring the completed form to your appointment. Though the instructions for world-wide use say only 8.5″ x 11″ paper is acceptable, we can accept A4 sized copies if you print it out at home. Please ignore the part of the form that instructs you to mail the form to the U.S.

All applicants under the age of 16 must meet the requirements listed in the Law on Passport Applications for Minors. In most instances this means that both parents must sign your child’s passport application, even if one parent is not an American.

Parents can consent in one of two ways:

Both parents, even if one is not an American, can come to the Consulate with their passports and sign together, in person, or…

One parent may sign in person and the other parent give his/her consent through a written affidavit (One parent signs and submits second parent’s signed consent; download the affidavit form (PDF 52 KB). The form must be notarized). Note the parent who signs in person will need to still have a copy of the non-present parent’s passport with him/her. We need to see the original passport of at least one American Citizen parent in these first-time, Report of Birth cases.

Hong Kong-done notarials are acceptable. All notarized statements must be in English and in original form.

The photo must be 2″ X 2″ (5 cm X 5 cm) with a white background. Glasses may not be worn. For details about the photo requirements, please see Photo Requirements.

The fees are U.S. $100.00 or HK $800 for the Consular Report of Birth and U.S. $115.00 or HK $920 for the passport, for a total of U.S. $215.00 or HK $1,720.

Payment options are as follows:

We can only accept Hong Kong dollars for cash payments. All other payments must be in U.S. dollars.

• U.S. or local currency in cash;
• Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express or Diners Club
• Check (certified or cashier’s) made payable to “USDO Symbol 8768”. Personal checks are not acceptable;
• Bank draft made payable to “USDO Symbol 8768”;
• Money order (U.S. Postal, commercial; international, currency exchange) made payable to “USDO Symbol 8768”;
• Checks, bank drafts and money orders must be drawn in U.S. dollars on a bank in the United States and must have been issued within the last five months. You are able to purchase this kind of draft, check, or money order at most large local banks. Please take these instructions and the following sample check to the bank for reference. (PDF 201 KB)
• Please note that the Consulate cannot accept Hong Kong currency in denominations larger than 500 HKD bills (i.e., we do not accept 1000 HKD bills or greater).
• Please also note that we regret that US $100 banknote series 1990 and also series 1914-1990 are no longer accepted.

  Note: The Consulate is not authorized to accept credit card payments by mail. We will not accept cash by mail/courier nor overpayment. If you cannot make payment by one of the above methods, please make an appointment online.

The Consulate has both a nursing room and changing facilities for babies.

Additional copies of the Report of Birth are available from the Department of State only; no records are kept at the Consulate in Hong Kong

As of December 31, 2010 the Department of State no longer issues Certificates of Report of Birth (DS-1350). All previously issued DS-1350s are still valid as proof of identity, citizenship and for other legal purposes. You may now request multiple copies of a Consular Report of Birth (FS-240).

If your child was born abroad you will need to complete the Report of Birth process abroad; it can’t be done in the U.S.

If your child was born in Hong Kong then the processing must be done in Hong Kong. While you can file the documents at another U.S. Embassy or Consulate abroad, that office is required to send them to us in Hong Kong for processing. This will delay things, so it is best to complete this whole procedure while you are still in Hong Kong.