Consular Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA) Apostille
A Consular Report of Birth Abroad apostille authenticates Form FS-240, the federal record of a U.S. citizen child born outside the United States. Foreign governments, schools, and civil registries in countries that belong to the Hague Apostille Convention will generally accept a CRBA only after it carries an apostille — a standardized certificate confirming that the document and its issuing authority are genuine. Because the CRBA is issued under the authority of the U.S. Department of State rather than by any state government, the apostille must come from the federal level. This page explains what the CRBA is, how it differs from a state birth certificate, and what the federal apostille process involves.
What is a Consular Report of Birth Abroad?
A Consular Report of Birth Abroad, formally Form FS-240, is the official U.S. government record that a child born outside the United States acquired U.S. citizenship at birth through a U.S. citizen parent. It is issued by the U.S. embassy or consulate serving the country where the child was born, acting under the authority of the U.S. Department of State. Parents typically apply while the child is still a minor, and the consular officer reviews evidence of the parent's citizenship, physical presence in the United States, and the child's birth before issuing the document. Once issued, the FS-240 serves as primary proof of U.S. citizenship for the rest of the person's life. For most legal purposes — passports, school enrollment, Social Security, inheritance — it functions the same way a birth certificate does for someone born in the United States.
How to get a birth abroad certificate
If your child was born abroad and has not yet been documented, you request a CRBA through the U.S. embassy or consulate with jurisdiction over the place of birth, generally before the child's 18th birthday. The application requires evidence of the child's birth (such as the local foreign birth certificate), proof of the parent's U.S. citizenship, evidence of the parent's physical presence or residence in the United States before the birth, and proof of the parents' identity and relationship to the child. The embassy or consulate schedules an appointment, reviews the documents, and — if citizenship was acquired at birth — issues Form FS-240. If you already hold a CRBA and simply need another copy, you do not go back to the embassy; certified replacement copies are requested from the Department of State in the United States, as described below.
What "certification of birth abroad" means
"Certification of birth abroad" usually refers to one of two Department of State documents. The current document is the Consular Report of Birth Abroad (FS-240) itself. The older one is the Certification of Report of Birth (Form DS-1350), a summary document the Department of State issued as an alternative copy of the birth record until it was discontinued at the end of 2010. Previously issued DS-1350s remain valid proof of citizenship, but no new ones are produced; anyone needing a fresh copy of their birth record today receives a replacement FS-240 instead. For apostille purposes both are federal documents, and both are authenticated the same way — through the U.S. Department of State rather than a state office. If a foreign authority has asked you for a "certification of birth abroad with apostille," an apostilled FS-240 is what satisfies that request.
FS-240 vs. a state-issued birth certificate
The key distinction is the issuing authority. A state-issued birth certificate documents a birth that occurred inside a U.S. state and is issued by that state's vital records office; its apostille comes from that state's Secretary of State (or equivalent). An FS-240 documents a birth that occurred outside the United States and is issued by a U.S. embassy or consulate under Department of State authority; it is a federal document, and only the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. can apostille it. This matters in practice because sending a CRBA to a state Secretary of State is a common and costly mistake — the state office will reject it, since it has no authority over federal records. Both documents carry equal weight as proof of the facts of birth and citizenship, but they travel entirely different authentication paths.
Replacing a lost CRBA
If your original FS-240 has been lost, damaged, or was never in your possession, you can request a certified replacement copy through the U.S. Department of State's CRBA replacement process — not through the embassy that originally issued it. The request is made in writing to the Department of State in the United States, with proof of identity and the applicable government fee, and the Department issues a new certified FS-240 drawn from its records. A replacement copy issued this way is fully valid for apostille purposes. If you plan to use the document abroad, it is often simplest to request the replacement and the apostille as one project, since the apostille must be placed on the physical certified document you hold.
Using a CRBA for dual citizenship
Many people born abroad to a U.S. citizen parent hold two nationalities from birth: U.S. citizenship documented by the CRBA, and the citizenship of the country where they were born, documented by that country's birth certificate. The CRBA is the standard evidence of the U.S. side of that equation. Foreign civil registries, immigration authorities, and courts commonly ask dual citizens for an apostilled FS-240 when registering a marriage, claiming residency rights, settling an estate, or confirming nationality for a foreign passport application. The foreign birth certificate covers the local record of the birth itself; the apostilled CRBA proves the U.S. citizenship that flows from it. If the receiving country is a Hague Apostille Convention member, the apostille is what makes the CRBA legally usable there without further embassy legalization.
How to Apostille a CRBA Yourself
Because the FS-240 is a federal document, the apostille is issued by the U.S. Department of State's Office of Authentications in Washington, D.C. — but CRBA apostilles work differently from most other federal documents here: the Department of State currently requires them to be submitted by mail, with no in-person filing or expedited option available. That means turnaround runs roughly 8–12 weeks no matter who files it. Federal Apostille™ is not currently processing CRBA apostilles directly, so this is a document you'll need to mail in yourself: request a certified copy of your CRBA from the Department of State if you don't already have one, then submit it by mail to the Office of Authentications with the apostille request form, the applicable fee, and a prepaid return envelope. If your order also includes other federal or state documents — an FBI background check, a birth certificate, a diploma — Federal Apostille™ can handle those for you in the same order, often with the faster in-person timeline those documents allow; we'll just point you to these mail-in steps for the CRBA piece.
Frequently asked questions
Can my state's Secretary of State apostille a Consular Report of Birth Abroad?+
No. State authorities can only apostille documents issued within their own state. The FS-240 is issued under U.S. Department of State authority, so only the Department of State's Office of Authentications in Washington, D.C. can apostille it. A state office that receives one will return it unprocessed.
Can a CRBA apostille be expedited or filed in person?+
Not currently. Most other federal documents can be filed in person in Washington, D.C. for a roughly 10-business-day turnaround, but the Department of State requires CRBA apostille requests to be mailed in, with no walk-in or expedited option available. Plan on roughly 8–12 weeks.
I have the older DS-1350 "Certification of Report of Birth." Can that be apostilled instead?+
A previously issued DS-1350 remains valid proof of citizenship and, as a federal document, follows the same federal apostille path. However, some foreign authorities specifically request the FS-240. If your DS-1350 is your only copy or the receiving country insists on the current form, requesting a replacement FS-240 from the Department of State before apostilling is often the safer route.
Does Federal Apostille™ file CRBA apostilles for customers?+
Not currently — CRBA is the one federal document type we're not processing directly right now. If it's part of a mixed order, we'll still handle every other document in your order and give you clear mail-in steps for the CRBA. If you're CRBA-only, the steps above cover the full process.
Federal Apostille™ is a private, independent courier and document-processing service. We are not affiliated with the U.S. Department of State or any government agency.