Is a destination wedding on the horizon? Looking to tie the knot with a loved one on sunnier shores than the UK can offer? Read on for our guide on legalising UK documents for use overseas.
Which documents need to be legalised?
Depending on which country you intend to be married in, your documents will require different kinds of legalisation such as notarisation, apostille of the Hague and embassy attestation.
Legalising UK documents usually occurs in that order, notarisation before an apostille and finally, any necessary embassy attestation. Which document legalisation processes you’ll need will vary country to country. Most countries require notarisation and then a Hague apostille. A more in-depth explanation of notarisation and other document legalisation services is detailed towards the end of this article.
The documents you need to have legalised will also vary from country to country, however, the following are generally required:
Statutory Declaration / Affidavit of Singlehood
- This document is also known as a Statutory Declaration of Civil Status. It’s called a variety of names, but what it boils down to is a formal legal document wherein a signatory swears they are single, with no blood relation to their spouse-to-be and as applicable, that they are either divorced, widowed or have a dissolved partnership.
- Notarisation – This document will need to signed in front of a notary public. It will need to be notarised before any necessary further legalisation can take place.
Unfortunately, we can’t draft this document for you but if you get in contact with our enquiries team, we can refer you to solicitors that offer document drafting services.
Certificate of No Impediment (CNI)*
*Countries usually require either a Statutory Declaration/Affidavit of Singlehood or a Certificate of No Impediment, it’s rare that they would ask for both documents.
- A Certificate of No Impediment or CNI, is a certificate from your local registry office which confirms you have no known barriers to marriage. You need to apply in order to have one issued as they are unique to you and your partner.
- The certificate will show information regarding you and your partner, such as a residential address, civil status (which is to say divorced, married, widowed or single), occupation and the district and country in which you are to be married.
- Apostille – This document is issued bearing the wet-ink signature of a Registrar and therefore does not require prior notarisation. It can simply be directly apostilled before any other necessary document legalisation processes.
Birth Certificate and Death Certificate or Divorce Certificate (Decree Absolute), as applicable
- In the case that you have been divorced or widowed, your decree absolute or your ex-spouse’s death certificate will be required in addition to your birth certificate.
- You can order birth and death certificates from the General Register Office website.
- Decree Absolutes are issued by the Family Court. These days, they tend to be issued electronically without a wet-ink signature or seal of a UK official and therefore require prior notarisation before any other necessary document legalisation processes such as a Hague apostille or embassy attestation.
- Apostille – Birth and death certificates are issued by the UK General Register Office and can be directly apostilled before any other necessary document legalisation processes. They do not require prior notarisation.
- Apostille – Decree Absolutes that are originals bearing a wet-ink signature or wet-ink seal of the Family Court do not require notarisation and can directly be apostilled before any other necessary document legalisation processes.
- Notarisation – Decree Absolutes that are issued electronically require notarisation before any other necessary document legalisation processes.
Additional documents that are not always required:
Marriage application forms
- These are occasionally required by some countries. They ask for information such as each partner’s occupation, nationality and any barriers to marriage in a similar vein to a statutory declaration/affidavit of singlehood.
- Notarisation – The forms usually need to be signed in the presence of a notary. Sometimes a marriage registrar official will witness your signature overseas instead. Other document legalisation processes may be necessary.
Passport copies
- Some countries are content with your passports being shown at the marriage registration office or for you to self-attest your passport copies but occasionally certified copies of your passports are requested.
- Self-attesting your passport copies means to sign and date printed scans of your passport, adding a statement near your signature that ‘this is a true copy of the original’.
- Notarisation – Passport copies will usually need to be notarised by a notary public before any other necessary document legalisation processes.
Deed poll of change of name
- This is only applicable if a name change has occurred for you or your partner prior to your marriage.
- You or your partner can change your name to match your spouse post-marriage without requiring a deed poll; you merely need to send a certified copy of your marriage certificate to the necessary record holder, such as the Land Registry or the passport office. More on this at the end of our walkthrough!
This is a non-exhaustive list of documents you may require – your receiving party may alert you to other requirements that are unique to that country. If you’re ever in doubt, please contact your receiving party to ask for their advice.
Your receiving party may be the foreign marriage registry office of the country you intend to be married in or the marriage company you hire to facilitate this process.
So, we’ve covered the general documents you’ll require in order to be married abroad. Now, let’s look at the steps to legalising UK documents.
Notarisation
This is required for documents that do not bear the wet-ink signature of a UK official, such as statutory declarations or affidavits of singlehood. Those documents will need to be signed in the presence of a notary public.
Divorce certificates, such as decree absolutes, may need notarising depending on whether they bear a wet-ink signature of a family court official or the corresponding stamp. These days, they tend to be issued electronically and therefore require notarisation.
Birth and death certificates need to be originals or certified copies issued by the General Register Office. They can therefore be directly apostilled as they are issued with the wet-ink signature of a registrar or the seal of General Register Office.
Notarisation consists of the notary verifying your identity via photo identification before witnessing your signature, signing your statutory declaration/affidavit of singlehood confirming they witnessed your signature and adding their stamp and seal to the document.
The notary can also notarise a document such as a decree absolute by writing that it is a true copy of an electronically issued document.
We can have document notarisation completed for you within one working day. We can also arrange call-out notarisation appointments where a notary will come to your location in London, both within and outside of working hours, including on the weekends.
Apostille
After your documents have been notarised as necessary, depending on which country they are to be used in, they then require an apostille from the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office. (UK FCDO)
This certificate is attached to the back of your document and signed by a UK FCDO official. The apostille confirms the authenticity of the notary, solicitor or other public official’s signature.
We offer three different speeds of apostille services:
- Same day apostille service, provided the document reaches our London office before 11 am, Monday to Friday
- One-week apostille service
- One-month apostille service
Embassy Attestation
In some cases, after your documents have been notarised and apostilled, they may then require embassy attestation.
The form that embassy attestation takes varies from embassy to embassy; it’s usually either a wet-ink stamp or certificate that is attached near the apostille and signed by an embassy official.
Embassy attestation speed depends on the embassy and its workload. It can range from 1 working day to 2 – 3 weeks. A member of our enquiries team can advise you on the expected wait time for each embassy.
So how do we get the process started?
- Send us a scan of the following documents over email or via WhatsApp/WeChat!
- We’ll need a scan or PDF of the unsigned statutory declaration/affidavit of singlehood.
- We’ll need a PDF of your Decree Absolute if it was issued electronically.
- A scan of each signatory’s passport or alternate photo ID such as a driving license.
- A scan of each signatory’s proof of address, which can be a utility bill or bank statement dated within the last three months.
- Any additional instructions or information from your receiving party.
Feel free to redact any financial information, we merely need to see your name, address and the date! If you don’t have proof of address such as the above readily available, please get in touch with our enquiries team to see what alternate information you can provide.
2. We’ll review your documents with a notary and issue you a quote.
- A member of the enquiries team can give you a preliminary quote over the phone if you give them a brief description of the documents you need legalised, however, we won’t be able to confirm a quote until we’ve seen the documents in question.
3. We’ll arrange a notary appointment in-person at our London office for you to sign the statutory declaration/affidavit of singlehood.
- During the appointment, you will need to show your photo ID and sign the statutory declaration/affidavit of singlehood in the presence of the notary.
- Please bring along your other documents such as birth, death or divorce certificates.
If you’ve lost your original birth or death certificates, you can reorder them from the General Register Office and then have them delivered directly to our London office.
If you’ve lost your original divorce certificate, you can apply for a new decree absolute from either your local family court or from the Central Family Court if you cannot remember which court issued the original. Likewise, you can have that delivered directly to our London office.
In the case that you do not require a statutory declaration or affidavit of singlehood notarised, it’s likely that we can arrange a virtual notarisation appointment instead, wherein the notary will need to see you and your photo ID.
A member of the enquiries team can advise you on whether or not that is the case and will offer both in-person or virtual notarisation appointments where possible.
4. We’ll take everything from there!
- Notarisation, apostilles and embassy attestation will be arranged on our end as needed before we return the documents to you, either by post, courier or international shipping.
- You’ll receive a scan of the completed documents as soon as possible, ahead of the documents being returned to you.
A note for happy couples intending to marry abroad – you may wish to obtain several certified copies of your foreign marriage certificate before returning to the UK, as it may become troublesome to get additional copies once you have left the country.
In addition, if the marriage certificate is not issued in English, you may need to have the marriage certificate translated before it can be accepted by UK record-holders such as the Land Registry or DVLA.
Not sure exactly what services you need? Not a problem, we offer free video consultation calls so book a time to speak with a member of our enquiries team today!