Q1. What records are held for Overseas births, marriages and deaths?
Q2. Are all births, marriages and deaths, involving British nationals held in the UK?
Q3. I have a British passport, does this mean that my birth is registered or recorded in the UK, even though I was born abroad?
Q4. I am doing my family tree and there are some overseas connections, where do I start?
Q5. What certificates of overseas births, marriages and deaths can I order?
Q6. What will I see on an overseas certificate?
Q7. How much does an overseas certificate cost online?
Q8. How long will it take to obtain an overseas certificate?
Q9. What happens if I don't know the year of registration of an overseas birth, marriage or death?
Q10. What happens if I don't know where the overseas birth, marriage or death occurred?
Check Order online in general as these FAQs might answer your question.
Q1. What records are held for overseas births, marriages and deaths?
- Births, marriages and deaths registered by the British Forces and the British Consul or High Commission in the country where they took place, from 1849.
- Deaths that occurred in the Boer War and both World Wars.
- British Army Regimental records of births, baptisms and marriages dating back to 1761.
- Marine Births and Deaths, from 1837, which took place on British registered vessels.
- Aircraft Births and Deaths, from 1948, which took place on British registered aircraft.
Q2. Are all overseas births, marriages and deaths, involving British nationals held in the UK?
No. Registering with the British authorities is not compulsory. It is not a service which everyone takes up.
No. Having a British passport does not mean that your birth was automatically registered in the UK. Your birth may have been registered, by your parents, with the British authorities in the country of birth, but registering is not compulsory.
Q4. I am doing my family tree and there are some overseas connections, where do I start?
A complete set of GRO Indexes including recent overseas events are available to view in microfiche format at Birmingham Central Library, Bridgend Reference and Information Library, The British Library, City of Westminster Archives Centre, Manchester City Library, Plymouth Central Library and Newcastle City Library (available from 14th November 2011). The indexes are available for searching by the public but the records themselves are not available for scrutiny. There is no charge for searching the indexes.
Q5. What certificates of overseas births, marriages and deaths can I order?
You may place an order online for a full certificate of an overseas birth (which will include parent's details) a death certificate or a marriage certificate.
Q6. What will I see on an overseas certificate?
Due to the variety in format of overseas records, it depends on the type of record the certificate is produced from.
Normally the format of a birth certificate will include a date and place of birth, the child's name and the parent's names and surnames.
Marriage certificates, if the marriage took place in a British Consul or was registered by the British Forces the certificate will take a usual format of date and place of marriage and the names and surnames of the bride and groom. If however the marriage was one where a certificate was deposited with our records then it will be a certified copy of the original documents i.e. the certificate issued by the foreign country plus a translation, if applicable.
Death certificates will normally include date and place of death (in respect of war deaths this may just state the country), name and surname of the deceased and often the age at death or date of birth.
Q7. How much does an overseas certificate cost online?
Standard service
| Full certificate with GRO index reference supplied | £9.25 |
| Full certificate without GRO index reference supplied | £9.25 |
| Additional full certificate issued at same time | £9.25 |
Priority service
24 hour service excluding weekends and Bank Holidays
| Full certificate with GRO index reference supplied | £23.40 |
| Full certificate without GRO index reference supplied | £23.40 |
| Additional full certificate issued at same time | £23.40 |
Q8. How long will it take to obtain an overseas certificate?
- Standard service with GRO reference supplied: order will be despatched within four working days (not including weekends or bank holidays) from receipt.
- Standard service without GRO reference supplied: order will be despatched within 15 working days (not including weekends or bank holidays) from receipt.
- Priority service: order will be despatched the next working day following receipt of your application, if ordered before 4.00 pm.
e.g. applications made after 4pm Monday to Thursday will be treated as the next day's business. This includes the priority service. Applications may be made on a Saturday, but will not be processed until the following Monday.
The date of despatch will be displayed on the basket summary for each order.
Q9. What happens if I don't know the year of registration of an overseas birth, marriage or death?
Don't worry, insert the year that the event may have taken place, more than one year will be searched.
Q10. What happens if I don't know where the overseas birth, marriage or death occurred?
When you get to the place of birth, marriage or death, type 'unknown'; a search will then be made throughout the overseas indexes. Unfortunately if you do not know the place of event, we may not be able to narrow down the search to just one entry.
