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Certificate of gender registration change

If you are convinced that the gender stated on your birth certificate does not match your true gender identity, you can apply to have your registered gender changed. This change is recorded in a certificate of gender registration change.

The certificate states

  • the last name, first name(s), date and place of birth,
  • and the new gender of the person concerned.

Under certain conditions, you can request a copy of or an extract from the certificate of gender registration change:

  • A copy contains the original data of the certificate and the history of the status of the person to whom the certificate relates.
  • An extract, on the contrary, only states the current details of the certificate, without stating the history of the status of the person to whom the certificate relates. Therefore, an extract only shows the current status of the data.

Conditions

Who can request a copy or an extract?

For certificates of persons who have changed their registered gender, the right to receive a copy (i.e. on which the gender registration change is visible) is limited to

  • yourself,
  • your legal representative (e.g. parent, guardian, conservator),
  • your heirs,
  • and special agents such as notaries or lawyers.

Extracts, which only state the current status, may also be requested by

  • the spouse, the surviving spouse,
  • or legally cohabiting blood relatives in the ascending or descending line (no relatives by affinity and side branches).

If the certificate is more than 100 years old, anyone is entitled to request a copy or an extract.

Procedure

You can request a copy of or an extract from a certificate of gender registration change from the municipality in which the certificate was transcribed in the registers of the register office.

If you have an electronic identity card (eID), you can request a copy of or an extract from the certificate online

Those electronic copies and extracts bear the electronic seal of the Ministry of the Interior. They have the same legal value as those delivered by the municipality. As long as the information on the certificate is correct, you can use it validly in any format (on paper or in digital format).

Since 31 March 2019, certificates from the register office are registered in digital format only. If your certificate dates from before 31 March 2019, it may not yet be available digitally. Some municipalities digitise old archives when copies of or extracts from the certificates are requested or changes are made.

Requisites

If you collect the document yourself:

  • your own identity card or residence permit.

If you are requesting the document for someone else:

  • a power of attorney from that person
  • and a copy of their identity card as well as your own identity card.