What is a Birth Certificate?
In the UK, the details of a birth are entered into the register book of the Superintendent Registrar of the district in which the birth takes place. These details are retained here permanently. In addition, details of each entry are sent to the General Register Office (GRO). The UK GRO is a department of the United Kingdom HM Passport Office, responsible for the registration of births, deaths, adoptions, marriages and other official activities. It is the sole authority to issue a copy of the birth certificate.
You can either register online on the GRO website to get a copy of a birth certificate or get it through one of the local register offices that act on behalf of the GRO. There are two versions of the UK birth certificate, a short version and an unabridged version. The short version includes the individual’s name, place and date of birth, whilst the unabridged version mentions all these details, along with the names of the parents.
The birth certificate is an important document that serves as proof of a person’s birth, age and nationality. Thus, it is often required for official purposes, such as passport applications, registration and admission in schools and colleges, applying for a driver’s license or marriage license, opening of bank accounts, applying for loans or for a job. Since it acts as a vital proof of identity document, it is also required for some official purposes abroad.
For instance, if you wish to apply for a foreign visa of any type, participate in legal matters in a foreign court, take part in an international adoption or marriage, apply for a birth certificate for your child abroad, seek employment in a foreign company and more; you will need to submit your UK-issued birth certificate as proof of your identity. In such cases, the legalisation of the birth certificate document is essential.
Legalisation is the process of having an apostille certificate issued to the birth certificate by the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO). Birth Certificate document apostille legalisation confirms the authenticity of the signature, seal or stamp of the issuing authority in the UK. As the UK is a member of the 1961 Hague Convention, public documents carrying the FCO apostille stamp are accepted across all signatory nations of the convention, without the need for consular legalisation. However, if the destination country does not belong to the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention, the birth certificate will need to be legalised by the respective Embassy in London, after the FCO attaches the apostille stamp.
The UK FCO does not issue apostille certificates without verification and attestation by a UK notary public or solicitor. However, certain documents, such as birth certificates, death certificates or marriage certificates, which are issued by the Registrar’s office, do not require such attestation.
The FCO will attach an apostille certificate to the original birth certificate, which was issued at the time of birth registration. You can also submit an official certified copy or a replacement copy from the GRO office. Photocopies of the document will not be acceptable, even if certified by a UK notary public or solicitor. We would recommend you to submit the unabridged version of the birth certificate document for legalisation.
Please see the process as below that we follow:
STEP 1
Send Us the
Original Document
STEP 2
We quality check
documents internally
STEP 3
The document is
solicitor certified and then
Apostilled 24 hours.
STEP 4
If required, we take the
document to the required
embassy for legalisation
STEP 5
Documents Returned
Back to you Domestically
or Internationally
Birth Certificate
Legalisation
Processing Time: Please see pricing page
Pricing: Please see pricing page
Please use the dropdown menu’s for your document requirement. The pricing and document type will be generated after pressing the button below. Please note that to complete your order you will need to use the dropdown menus per document order. After the pricing table, you will then be taken to our order page. Following this you will be sent to our upload page to upload the documents which you can also complete later.
Service Inclusions:
- Solicitor Stamp
- FCO Submission and Collection
- Embassy Legalisations
- Precheck of documents
- Free Resubmissions
- Same Day Send Out
Start Legalisation Order
The button above will redirect you to our legalisation order form via our main RLS website. You will be able to select your service, your return address and method and make payment via it.
After making your order, we advise you contact our legalisation consultants by emailing your requirement to: applications@rapid-visas.co.uk.
Conclusion
The UK birth certificate serves as a proof of identification document for UK citizens to conduct official matters abroad. It is a document required in practically every kind of visa application, business dealings, drafting of legal contracts for use in foreign courts, purchase of properties abroad and other such purposes. UK-issued birth certificates need document legalisation from the FCO in London. This apostille certificate guarantees that the seal and signatures on the document have been issued by a recognised UK official body, UK legal practitioner or a representative of a UK government body. This stamp is recognised by all the member nations of the 1961 Hague Convention.
If the destination country is not a member of the 1961 Hague Convention, the document will first require apostille certification by the FCO, followed by legalisation by the nation’s representative diplomatic mission in London.
Legalisations.or.uk has wide experience in legalisation of documents to be used for various purposes. Through the years, we have built strong relationships with government and consular officials, which allows us to complete the entire process quickly and seamlessly.
We will ensure that all your documents are in the prescribed format, have been certified by a solicitor, where needed, and submitted to the right offices as well as retrieved safely, after they have been legalised. Our agents will make sure that your documents are returned to you safely; either personally or through courier.
Send us an email at info@legalisations.org.uk, mentioning all your requirements and we will assist you in this process. You can also call us at 0845 224 9482 for any queries.
The Most Common Documents We Legalise
Standard Personal Documents
- Birth, Marriage, Death Certificates
- HMRC letters
- ACPO, ACRO, Police Letters
- No Impediment Certificate
- Court Documents
Corporate Business Documents
- Incorporation Certificate
- Appointment Reports
- Mem & Arts
- Company Letters
- Companies House Certs
- Minutes & Resolutions
Educational Documents
- Degree, Masters, Diploma
- GCSE, CSE, O Level
- Professional Qualifications
- Training Certificates
- Transcripts & Reports
- School Letters
Frequently Asked Questions
You can submit your birth certificate to Legalisations.org.uk. Our agents will complete the entire process on your behalf, right from submitting the document at the legalisation office in London to retrieving it after apostillement. Here is the process we follow:
Step 1: Send us an email at info@legalisations.org.uk or call us at 0845 224 9482 to talk to our consultants regarding all your legalisation requirements. We will guide you through the next steps and quote the fees accordingly.
Step 2: You can send us your documents through Royal Mail or special delivery courier services. If you wish to submit them personally, you can visit our office in London.
Step 3: Our agents will submit the birth certificate document for legalisation at the FCO office in Milton Keynes, London.
Step 4: After apostille certification, the birth certificate will be retrieved by our agents from the FCO office. If the document needs consular legalisation, we will further submit the document to the respective consular office in London for embassy legalisation.
Step 5: Our agents will collect the document after all the processes are completed and return it safely to you, either personally at our office or through courier service.
The UK FCO office charges £75.00 as legalisation fee. For the standard package, our charges are £105 + VAT. In this package, we complete the legalisation process in six business days. For the express package, we charge £135 + VAT, which ensures delivery within two business days.
Our service charges are inclusive of our in-house solicitor fee. If any document needs notarisation, the solicitor can complete the process prior to submission to the UK FCO.
At Legalisations.org.uk, we have wide experience in offering document legalisation services to individual and corporate clients.
You can send us your documents via courier, such as Royal Mail or special delivery services. If you would like to submit them personally, you can visit our office in London to drop them off.
You can send us your document from anywhere in the world, and trust us to get the process completed safely. Send us your documents through UPS or DHL international delivery services, to our office address in London.
Please make sure you send us a scanned copy of the document through email, prior to sending the original document. This helps us to avoid confusion and initiate the process promptly. We will send back the documents after the entire process is completed in the shortest time possible.
We would also recommend you to check with your concerned authority abroad, whether the documents need Embassy legalisation as well. If the destination country is not a member of the 1961 Hague Convention, it can still request for an apostille certification, but will then further require legislation through their own Embassy located in London, UK.
UK birth certificates require FCO apostille certification to prove their authenticity abroad. The UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) has the sole authority to issue this certificate to your original certificate. Since the UK is one of the signatory members of the 1961 Hague Convention, public documents, such as birth certificates, are acceptable without consular legalisation for use in other signatory countries. If the destination country is not a member nation of the convention, the document will further need to be submitted to the Embassy in London for legalisation.
The UK FCO requires documents to be certified by a notary public or solicitor in the UK, before it attaches the apostille stamp. However, since a UK birth certificate is issued by the General Register Office (GRO), it does not require notarisation by a solicitor or notary public.
In the UK, an apostille certificate is an A5-sized sheet, attached at the reverse of the original document, permanently. This certificate validates the official seals and signatures on the document. This certificate consists of 10 sub-sections:
- Country: The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- Has been signed by: Solicitor or UK FCO official
- Acting in the capacity of: The official’s capacity as an authorised signatory
- Bears the seal/stamp of
- At London
- The date of issue
- By Her Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
- Number: The registration number or document identification number
- Seal/stamp: The red seal bearing the government crest is attached here
- Signature: The issuing officer will put their signature here
On the top of the document, a red seal, bearing the UK government’s crest, is attached to the certificate through an embossing mechanism. Please note that this red seal is the apostille stamp, without which the process is incomplete. Here is an image of the UK apostille certificate:
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