Ordering a UK birth certificate from the U.S.

UK birth certificate
A birth certificate from England or Wales is ordered online from the General Register Office for £12.50, and it can be posted to the U.S. No consulate is involved, and none can issue one.

Americans look for a UK birth certificate for a passport, a citizenship file or family history. Who issues it depends on where in the UK the birth was registered.

Which office holds the record

Registered in Order from
England or Wales General Register Office (GRO), online
Scotland National Records of Scotland
Northern Ireland General Register Office for Northern Ireland
A UK consulate abroad, before 2014 FCDO Overseas Registration Unit, by email

Ordering from the GRO

You register on the GRO website and pay by card; it takes about 10 minutes. A certificate costs £12.50 and is sent 4 days after you apply, according to gov.uk.

Who issues the certificate

Without the GRO index reference number you pay £3.50 more per search and wait 15 working days; the priority service, £38.50, sends it the next working day if you order by 4pm.

If the certificate is for a passport application, the GRO can send it straight to HM Passport Office with your application reference, which usually starts with PEX.

 Find the GRO index reference first: it saves the search fee and about two weeks. 

Births registered with the FCDO

A birth abroad that was registered with the UK authorities reaches the GRO only in the November of the following year. Before then, you email the Overseas Registration Unit with the name, registration date and reference number; gov.uk says a copy usually costs £50 plus courier.

Using the certificate outside the UK

If a U.S. authority asks for an apostille, GRO certificates can only get a paper apostille from the FCDO Legalisation Office, not the electronic one. See apostilles.

What to have ready
  • Full name at birth and date of birth
  • Place of birth and, ideally, the GRO index reference
  • Mother’s maiden name
  • A card and a delivery address in the U.S.
  • The PEX reference, if the certificate goes to HM Passport Office
    • Ordering by phone or post

    The GRO also takes orders by phone on 0300 123 1837 and by post on its application forms.

    A local register office

    You can order from the register office where the birth was registered.

    Family history

    The same GRO service is used to research a family tree with the index reference number.

    Family history searches

    The same GRO account is used to research a family tree. With the GRO index reference number, you order a certificate as a family historian would, and the price is the same. Adoption certificates are ordered through the same service.

    Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own systems: National Records of Scotland issues Scottish extracts, and the General Register Office for Northern Ireland handles births registered there. They are not ordered through the GRO service for England and Wales.

    Using it for a passport

    If you are applying for a British passport from the U.S. and HM Passport Office asks for a birth certificate, ordering it straight to HMPO with your PEX reference saves sending it twice.

    Records kept by consulates before 2014

    For a birth or death abroad that was registered at a British consulate before 2014, the FCDO says to email the Overseas Registration Unit for the record (documents for British people abroad).

    For an apostille on a GRO certificate going to a U.S. authority, budget £45 for the paper apostille plus £42 return courier to the U.S.

    The GRO phone line is open Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm UK time, and the GRO's online form handles questions about an order that is already placed.

    All the procedures
    Fees and requirements
    Go up