British consulates in California

California is the one state gov.uk splits between two consulates without drawing the line: Los Angeles takes “southern California” and San Francisco “Northern California”. There is also a UK Government Office in San Diego, which does no consular work.

Which British consulate covers California?

gov.uk gives southern California to Los Angeles and Northern California to San Francisco, and it publishes no county list for the line between them.

On this site we use the usual ten-county definition of Southern California (Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Kern and Imperial) for the Los Angeles side; that is our reading, not an FCDO rule.

British Consulate General Los Angeles
British Consulate General San Francisco

Cities in California and their British consulate

City Office By road*
Santa Monica Los Angeles 7 mi, 15 min
Oakland San Francisco 10 mi, 18 min
Berkeley San Francisco 12 mi, 23 min
Pasadena Los Angeles 21 mi, 36 min
Long Beach Los Angeles 31 mi, 44 min
Palo Alto San Francisco 34 mi, 47 min
Anaheim Los Angeles 37 mi, 53 min
Santa Ana Los Angeles 43 mi, 59 min
San Jose San Francisco 49 mi, 1 h 2 min
Irvine Los Angeles 52 mi, 1 h 5 min
Riverside Los Angeles 65 mi, 1 h 25 min
San Bernardino Los Angeles 72 mi, 1 h 33 min
Santa Cruz San Francisco 74 mi, 1 h 36 min
Stockton San Francisco 82 mi, 1 h 39 min
Sacramento San Francisco 86 mi, 1 h 46 min
Santa Barbara Los Angeles 90 mi, 1 h 52 min
Modesto San Francisco 91 mi, 1 h 50 min
Bakersfield Los Angeles 110 mi, 2 h 10 min
Monterey San Francisco 114 mi, 2 h 23 min
Palm Springs Los Angeles 120 mi, 2 h 27 min
San Diego Los Angeles 130 mi, 2 h 41 min
San Luis Obispo Los Angeles 184 mi, 3 h 47 min
Fresno San Francisco 185 mi, 3 h 40 min
Redding San Francisco 215 mi, 4 h 2 min
Eureka San Francisco 271 mi, 5 h 39 min

*Driving times are at posted speed limits and without traffic, so treat them as a minimum.

Of the 25 places listed for California, Santa Monica is the closest to its consulate, at 7 miles, and Eureka the farthest, at 271. The average is about 87 miles each way.

What you can settle without going to the consulate

Before booking anything, check this list.

  • You can order an English or Welsh birth, marriage or death certificate from the General Register Office: UK birth certificate.
  • You can register a U.S. birth with the UK authorities online, which is optional: Registering a birth.
  • You can have a UK document apostilled by the FCDO Legalisation Office by courier, or as an e-Apostille: Apostilles.

    • Call or use the contact form before making the trip, and only go with a confirmed appointment.

    This is an independent guide, not the UK government. It does not process applications or book appointments. Fees and procedures change: check anything that decides a trip on gov.uk.
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