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Write to the archives in their language
Fill in what you know. The letter is written in French, Italian, German, Polish, Swedish, Norwegian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Greek, Danish or Ukrainian for the right office, with an English translation so you know exactly what you are asking.
Italy. Write to the Ufficio di Stato Civile of the comune. Ask for an estratto (extract with the parents' names): the full copy (copia integrale) is issued only to the person concerned. Many comuni issue it free, but practice varies. Records over 100 years old may already be online free on Portale Antenati: check there first. Read the Italy guide
France. Asking a mairie for a birth, marriage or death record is free: ignore websites that charge for it. Registers over about 100 years old are usually already online on the website of the département's archives: check there first. As a descendant you may get a full copy (copie intégrale) at any time. Small communes (under 2,000 inhabitants) must deposit registers over 120 years old with the departmental archives, so the mairie may send you there. Read the France guide
Germany. The Standesamt keeps births for 110 years, marriages for 80 and deaths for 30. Older registers are usually in the town or state archive, which issues copies for a fee. Many offices merged in the 1970s: check which one covers the village today. Read the Germany guide
Ireland. Births to 1925, marriages to 1950 and deaths to 1975 are free on irishgenealogy.ie: check there first. Copies from the GRO Research Room in Dublin cost €5; certified copies come from GRO Roscommon. Read the Ireland guide
Poland. The registry office (Urząd Stanu Cywilnego) keeps births for 100 years and marriages and deaths for 80; older books are at the State Archives, where many are already free online on szukajwarchiwach.gov.pl. A full copy (odpis zupełny) costs 33 PLN in stamp duty; descendants may ask for one. Read the Poland guide
Sweden. Church books are free to view online at the National Archives: check there first. The archive has order forms in English; copies start at SEK 5 a page, and staff research costs SEK 1,000 for up to one hour. Name the parish to keep the cost down. Read the Sweden guide
Norway. Parish registers are free to view on Digitalarkivet: check there first. Registers are closed until they are 60 years old (sometimes 80 or 100). The National Archives can send a transcript; for books not yet deposited, ask the local parish office. Read the Norway guide
Mexico. Civil registration is run by each state. A birth certificate already in the national database can be printed at gob.mx/ActaNacimiento; for older entries, write to the civil registry office of the municipio. Mexico City, for example, lists MXN 98 for a certified copy. Read the Mexico guide
Spain. Registro Civil certificates are free. For family history, ask for a certificación literal, a word-for-word copy of the entry. The quickest route is the Ministry of Justice's online form: without a Spanish login the certificate is sent to you by post. As a third party, give your relationship and explain the reason, the need and who the certificate is for, or the request is refused. Parish books more than 100 years old are usually in the diocesan archive, not the parish. Read the Spain guide
Portugal. Records under 100 years old are at the Conservatória do Registo Civil of the concelho; older parish and civil registers are generally at the district archive, and many can be read free on Digitarq: check there first. Anyone may ask for a certificate: ask for a certidão de cópia integral, the full copy with its marginal notes. A paper birth certificate costs 20 €, an online one 10 € through Civil Online. Archives take requests through their online counter, CRAV. Read the Portugal guide
Netherlands. Civil records become public after 100 years (births), 75 years (marriages) and 50 years (deaths). Public records are at the regional or municipal archive and many are indexed free on WieWasWie and the archives' websites, so search there before you write; archives such as Gelders Archief and BHIC scan records on request free of charge. For a more recent record, write to the gemeente where it was drawn up and ask for a full copy (afschrift): an extract (uittreksel) does not show the parents, and a full copy is given only to someone with a legitimate interest, so say how you descend from the person and ask which proof and fee they need. For a relative who died from 1939 onwards, the CBG sells copies of personal cards. Read the Netherlands guide
Czech Republic. Parish registers were the civil records until the end of 1949. Births more than 100 years old and marriages and deaths more than 75 are usually in the regional state archive, and most can be read free on its portal: read them yourself first, because archives such as Brno's and Litoměřice's do not search for private family history. For newer records, write to the registry office (matriční úřad) whose district covers the municipality and ask for a doslovný výpis, a word-for-word extract: 30 CZK for the first page. Family members down to great-grandchildren may ask; once a birth entry is more than 100 years old (75 for marriages, 30 for deaths), anyone may. Read the Czech Republic guide
Hungary. State registers began on 1 October 1895; before that the churches kept the registers, with a second copy in the county archive from 1827. Archive copies of the state registers are open to anyone after 30 years (deaths), 86 (marriages) and 110 (births), and some are online: search them, and the church registers on FamilySearch, before you write, because archive staff do not research private family history. For newer records, ask the registrar (anyakönyvvezető) for a certificate (anyakönyvi kivonat): any registrar in Hungary can take the request, or a Hungarian consulate, and the Embassy in Washington says it is free. For a person who has died, enclose a copy of the death certificate and proof of your relationship. Only places in today's Hungary are covered. Read the Hungary guide
Slovakia. Church registers were the civil records until 1 October 1895, when Hungarian state registers began. Registry offices hand their books to the state archive 100 years after the last entry; many older church registers can be read free on FamilySearch, so look there first. For newer records, write to the registry office (matričný úrad) of the municipality and ask for an official extract (úradný výpis): the law counts descendants down to great-great-grandchildren as family, and a duplicate birth certificate costs 7 €. A state archive will search for an hourly fee, which you pay even if nothing is found. Read the Slovakia guide
Greece. Write to the municipality (dimos) the village belongs to today: its registry office (lixiarcheio) keeps births, marriages and deaths since the civil registry began (1925, everywhere by 1931), and its municipal register (dimotologio) and male register (mitroo arrenon) list older families. Ask the registry of the place where the event happened for a copy of the lixiarchiki praxi; copies are free, and a death record can be given to any applicant as far as it holds no data on living people. For an ancestor born before the registry, ask for an extract of the family record in the dimotologio. Check the village's present name first: about 5,000 settlements were renamed between 1831 and 2011. Read the Greece guide
Denmark. Church books up to about 1960 are scanned on Rigsarkivet's Arkivalieronline: read the entry yourself first. For an official certificate of a church event more than 110 years old, use Rigsarkivet's certificate form (614 kr.), giving the purpose, the name, date of birth, date of the event and your relationship. For an event less than 110 years ago, write to the parish church office (kirkekontor), which you can find on sogn.dk; in Sønderjylland, civil registers are kept by the municipalities. Rigsarkivet does not do genealogy for you, but searches at an hourly rate. Read the Denmark guide
Ukraine. Metrical books from before about 1920, and older civil registration books, are in the state archive of the present oblast or in the central historical archives in Kyiv (TsDIAK) and Lviv (TsDIAL). Look first on the archives' online e-resources (Archium), which show many scanned books. A genealogical request is a paid service, charged by each archive's price list: give the settlement, the province before 1918, the full name (a woman's maiden name), the year and the religion, and ask the fee and how to pay from abroad. TsDIAK does not compile family trees and does not accept e-mail from addresses such as @mail.ru or @yandex.ru. Read the Ukraine guide
Austria. Parish registers were the civil records until 1938. For a birth or death before 1939 (a marriage before 1 August 1938), first read the free scans on Matricula or Matriken Tirol Online; if the book is not online, write to the parish office (Pfarramt) or, where the books have been deposited there, the diocesan archive. For an event from 1939 on, write to the registry office (Standesamt) of the municipality: any registry office can issue a birth certificate, for 21 euros for a written application plus an 11-euro federal fee and a 2.10-euro administrative charge. The legal restrictions on access lapse 100 years after a birth was registered, 75 after a marriage and 30 after a death. For Jewish records in Vienna, write to the IKG archive, which does not do genealogical research. Read the Austria guide
Switzerland. Write to the civil registry office (Zivilstandsamt) of your ancestor's place of origin (Heimatort), the commune of citizenship, which kept the family's records from 1876, or to the office of the place of the event. Births less than 110 years old, marriages less than 80 and deaths less than 50 are protected: ask for data on your own deceased ancestors in the direct line, enclose proof of descent, and expect a fee (Bern charges 30 francs plus postage for a written confirmation). Offices give no information about living people. For parish registers before 1876, look first on the cantonal state archive's portal. Write in German to German-speaking cantons, in French to French-speaking cantons such as Vaud or Geneva, and in Italian in Ticino; our letter is in German only. Read the Switzerland guide
Belgium. Civil records from 1796 to about 1920 and the parish registers before 1796 are free online on the State Archives' Agatha site (free registration): read them there first, searching under the village's name before the 1977 commune mergers. Births become public after 100 years, and marriages and deaths after 75. For a record that is not online, write to the civil registry (état civil) of today's commune and ask for a copy (copie), which gives the original details; an extract (extrait) gives only the current ones. A record that is not yet public goes only to close family. This letter is in French, for Wallonia and Brussels: communes in Flanders work in Dutch, so use the Dutch letter, and write in German to the nine communes of the German-speaking area (Eupen, Kelmis, Lontzen, Raeren, Amel, Büllingen, Burg-Reuland, Bütgenbach, Sankt Vith). Read the Belgium guide
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