Legalising Personal Documents For Use Overseas

Personal documents include birth, adoption, marriage and death certificates. If you have a personal document issued in one country and intend to present it for official reasons in another country, it will need to go through a series of official government checks and stamps to be made valid overseas. This process is known as legalisation or attestation.

As well as offer replacements for these certificates, we can have them legalised for use overseas for you. As individuals travel around more to marry, study, and even start families, we are seeing increasing requests for the legalisation of the official paperwork which comes along with these important life events.

We don’t only deal with those wishing to relocate however. Even if you need a certificate for domestic use, or are researching your family tree and are having trouble locating a record, we are still here to help. Check out our range of topics around personal documents below, and if you still have questions just get in touch with our specialist certificates team.

uk birth certificate change

Changing Your Name On A UK Birth Certificate

We often have customers who get in touch requesting an updated copy of their birth certificate if there have been changes to their name. Whilst changes to the original birth registration is, in some cases, possible, these are exceptional circumstances. In most situations, you don't need to make changes to it.
wedding abroad marriage certificate

Getting Married Abroad Part 2 – How to find a lost overseas marriage certificate?

Previously, we explored the requirements for getting married overseas and the various steps you need to consider to ensure your nuptials go off without a hitch! But what if you, or your family members, were married abroad a number of years ago and you require a copy of the marriage certificate? How easy is it to
birth, marriage and death certificate

UK Birth, Marriage and Death Certificates now available in the UAE

In the UAE and don’t have access to your birth certificate? Maybe you’ve just moved to a new job and want to call your spouse over, but they’re tearing their hair out looking for your Marriage Certificate! Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.

Personal Documents FAQs

  • A “full”, known officially as a “long-form” birth certificate in the UK includes additional information which does not appear on a “short-form”. The information includes the parent’s names and occupation at the time of the birth registration and is usually on A4 paper or larger. The smaller “short-form” version only holds the child’s name, gender at the time of birth and date of birth. These are now being phased out as they are not generally accepted as ID in the UK and therefore are of little use to the holder.
  • Yes, you can. A short-form version is usually issued at the time of registration for free and a long-form version, which is usually required for official purposes, is available at an additional cost. Even if the parent doesn’t request the long-form certificate at the time of registration, all of the necessary information is still archived and can be requested again should it be required to produce the full certificate at a later date.
  • In the UK, yes. Personal documents are treated as public records, therefore as long as you have the necessary information, you can request copies or anyone’s birth, marriage or death certificate. If you are requesting a birth certificate for an even within the past 50 years, additional information is required and must match the entry record exactly in order for the document to be released.
  • Essentially, no. there are no registers available which show when and where records are re-issued.

  • This is possible, but it would require a court order to be enforced. It’s not possible to simply have your records made private in the UK, unfortunately.