Use an accepted birth certificate to verify N26 for under 18s

Currently, only a parent whose name appears on the child’s birth certificate can create a child’s Space.

As part of the verification process:

• We’ll check that the N26 account holder’s name matches one of the parents listed on the birth certificate.
• If your name doesn't appear on the certificate, you won’t be able to open a Space for your child at this time.

We plan to support additional guardians and caregivers in the future.

We currently accept original birth certificates (not copies or translations) that meet the following criteria:

• Written in the Latin alphabet.
• Issued in one of these countries: Germany, Brazil, Austria, Albania, India, Turkey, United States, Spain, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Israel, Netherlands, Poland, United Kingdom.

If your certificate meets these criteria, you can upload it directly in the app during the N26 for under 18s Space setup process.

We’re unable to accept the following documents for now:

• Birth certificates written in non-Latin scripts (e.g. Cyrillic, Arabic, Chinese, etc.)
• Translated or notarized translations of birth certificates
• Scans, photocopies, or photos of translated documents

We’re actively working on expanding support for more countries and document types — stay tuned!

When you apply to open a Space for your child, we collect some personal data from the child and request an official document (such as a birth certificate) to verify their identity.

N26 uses an AI-based system to:

• Automatically verify the child’s identity.
• Confirm your parental responsibility.

This process automatically compares the information provided about the minor (first name, last name, date of birth, and place of birth) with the details shown on the uploaded official document (e.g. birth certificate), and also validates the document’s authenticity.

Yes. If you want to contest the automated decision or ask for a human review, you can contact us. You can also share your point of view and request more information about how the process works.

We treat your child’s birth certificate as a highly sensitive document. 

• It’s stored in an encrypted form and only accessible to specially authorized N26 teams who need it to verify the Space or review a rejected application.
• We keep the document only for as long as necessary to complete verification and to meet our legal and regulatory obligations. After this period, it is deleted.

In some cases, it may be possible to download the most recently uploaded birth certificate directly from your N26 app, for example, if a previous attempt was rejected.

• Downloads are only available to you as the N26 account holder when you’re logged in to your account.
• The file is available for a limited time and only for the most recent upload; older versions can't be downloaded again.
• Access to and downloads of birth certificates are logged for security and audit purposes.
• We store both accepted and rejected birth certificates only for as long as required to complete the verification and to meet our legal and regulatory obligations. After this, they are deleted or irreversibly anonymized.

For security reasons, we can only discuss account-related matters if you contact us from the email address registered to your N26 account or through Messages from N26 in your app.

For comprehensive information about N26 for under 18s, please refer to our dedicated article for this feature.