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From 9 June 2014, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office is changing the way that it registers the births & deaths of British Citizens overseas. 

The process of registering the births and deaths of British Citizens overseas will gradually be withdrawn from British Consulates during 2014. Thereafter registrations will be carried out in a central registration unit in the UK. The transfer of services will begin on 9 June 2014.

There are no changes to the entitlement to register a birth or death. The processing time will remain the same but you will need to allow extra time for documents to be sent to and from the UK.

The transfer of this work will start on 9 June and will affect all applications from the following countries or territories:

Andorra Belgium France French Guiana French Polynesia Germany Greece Guadeloupe Holy See Italy Liechtenstein Luxembourg Martinique Mayotte Monaco Netherlands New Caledonia Portugal Reunion San Marino Spain St Pierre and Miquelon Switzerland Wallis and Fortuna USA UAE

We will transfer all remaining countries in two further phases before the end of 2014.

Customers will find information here on how to apply for a consular birth ordeath registration

Further information

Consular birth registration is an optional service and is only available to those born overseas who have an automatic entitlement to British Nationality at birth. There is no legal requirement for a consular birth registration and a local birth certificate with a certified translation if necessary should be sufficient for all purposes in the UK including applying for a passport. Similarly there is no requirement for a consular death certificate – the local certificate should be sufficient for winding up the affairs and obtaining probate in the UK.

Centralisation of consular birth and death registration into a single-purpose unit in the UK will allow the FCO to provide a common online application procedure with credit card payment facility, which will be more efficient and convenient for customers. Centralisation will also help FCO staff overseas give greater focus to their primary function of assisting British nationals in distress.