The UK, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales issue United Kingdom Birth Certificates which are certified copies of birth certificates.
For any official applications, long form United Kingdom Birth Certificates should be used as this holds a lot more relevant information. A short birth certificate only gives the child’s full name, sex, date and place of birth. It does not give the name and particulars of the mother or father.
A stamp or seal indicates that United Kingdom Birth Certificates are suitable for official purposes. Certificates are issued on high grade paper, which contains a watermark, which is visible when the certificate is held up to light. For English and Welsh certificates, this watermark usually consists of a crown with the letters G.R.O.
Up to 1984, the birth indexes were organised by Quarter:
January, February and March is the March Quarter.
April, May and June is the June Quarter.
July, August and September is the September Quarter.
October, November and December is the December Quarter.
As long as the United Kingdom Birth Certificates are issued in the United Kingdom, adoptees are entitled to have access to their original birth certificate when they are 18. To obtain information of details on your birth record, a request needs to be made to the Registrar General of the relevant Register Office (General Register Office (GRO), General Register Office of Scotland (GROS), or General Register Office of Northern Ireland (GRONI)).
Due to the nature of adoption, counselling may be a good suggestion, before accessing the records.
When a couple decide to marry abroad, the tour operators will require their birth certificates. The certificates may also need to be legalised or apostilled. Many countries will ask you to provide this documentation, such as Antigua, Australia, Bahamas, Bali, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Fiji, Florida, Jamaica, Mauritius, Mexico, Seychelles, Spain, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
Please confirm this information with your tour operator or relevant embassy, as requirements can change.
You will receive full or long form certificates which are certified legal copies, unabridged, suitable for official purposes such as Passports, Pensions, Visas, Driving Licences, Work pre-checks including those conducted by the Criminal Records Bureau, or for Housing Applications, Social Security and Immigration.
UK Document Services provide a safe and secure online ordering system for replacement certificates. All private data sent between your browser and our servers is protected using industry standard encryption protocols.
If you do not know all the details for your certificate, this is not a problem. We will do our best with the information you have to locate the record and will confirm the details with you if we are unsure. If you decide not to proceed, we will issue you a full refund.
If you need a certificate for applications such as Passports, Pensions, Visas, Driving Licences, Work pre-checks including Criminal Records Bureau checks, Housing Applications, Social Security and Immigration or are conducting Family History Research, we are here to help.
