Birth certificate, translation and apostille

The civil-status record of your birth. If you were born outside France it is issued by that country's authorities, not by a French town hall.

Often. Family, PACS and marriage files ask for it, and a document written in a foreign language has to come with a French translation.

Order it well before the procedure that needs it, since translation and any legalisation add time.

From the civil registry of your country of birth. The translation is made by a translator on a French court of appeal's list of experts.

• Certain public documents issued in an EU country, a birth certificate among them, can be presented in France with no authentication formality at all.
• Whether your country needs an apostille, full legalisation or nothing is set out country by country by the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.