Useful Info On Births Deaths and Marriages

If you live abroad or have spent long periods of time outside the United Kingdom you may need to register a birth, death or marriage with the British Embassy or consular services in London.

If you entered into a civil union or married outside the UK you can find useful advice with the General Registry Office .

If your child was born you may be able to register the birth with the nearest consulate or with the consular office in London if you have returned to the UK. Once you have done this your child will be issued a British Birth Certificate and the birth will be registered in the United Kingdom at the General Register Office.

This process is known as Consular Birth Registration and to clarify Consular Birth Registrations are not necessarily required to register your child as a British Citizen or or to apply for a British Passport as nationality is passed from Parent to Child.

Consular Birth Registrations are recommended due to the fact that you will be able to attain extra copies of the certificate from the General Register office in the future if need be.

If you give birth to a child outside the United Kingdom, you MUST register the birth with the local civil authorities in the country of Birth. It is NOT POSSIBLE to apply for a consular birth registration without the overseas birth certificate.

Important to note that the following countries will not be able to have birth's registered:

Australia
Canada
New Zealand
Republic of Ireland
South Africa
Overseas Territories

It is not possible to register a birth if the parents were born overseas and are only British by descent or a non British Child who has been adopted by British parents.

I will be posting more useful info about Birth Registration process, costs and documentation required in the next day or two.