We provide a chargeable service to members of the public who are British nationals, where we approach the authorities of another country to try to obtain local documents on their behalf.

For example, if you married in Spain and you have lost your Spanish marriage certificate, or you were born in Thailand and you have lost your Thai birth certificate, you can submit an application either through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London or your nearest British Consulate and we will approach the authorities of the country concerned on your behalf to try to obtain a copy of the marriage or birth certificate.

What sort of documents?

The documents that we can search for on an applicant’s behalf are:

• birth certificates
• baptismal certificates
• adoption certificates
• marriage certificates
• decree absolutes
• registration/naturalisation certificates issued by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office only*
• death certificates
• certificates of good conduct 

We also accept requests for the following documents, but only where the matter relates to the recent death of a British national:

• autopsy reports
• medical reports
• police reports

Please note that foreign authorities may not be prepared to release these reports to us as a thrid party, and it may be better for you  to contact the relevant authority directly. Please contact the BMD enquiry line for further advice.

Fees and payment

The fee for this service is currently £128.00 (please note that Consular fees are subject to change). This covers the cost of certificates up to the value of £5.00. If the certificate costs more than £5.00 we will ask for the excess before we can send you the certificate (e.g. if a certificate costs £6.47 we will ask for £1.47)

Please note that the fee is NOT refunded if the document cannot be traced.

Payment via postal order or bank draft made payable to 'The FCO'.

Please send completed applications to:

Local Document Searches

Foreign & Commonwealth Office

Rm G.38

Old Admiralty Building

London

SW1A 2PA

This service is only available to British nationals and in order to proceed with the application you will need to provide a photocopy of your current British passport along with the completed application form.

Applications from third parties

We are unable to accept requests from a third party unless written permission from the party concerned is provided, or, in the case of a death, from the next of kin. If a third party makes the application they will need to provide a photocopy of the current British passport of the party concerned.

Multiple requests for certificates

 If you require additional copies of the same certificate, you need to pay one fee of £128.00 and the additional cost of the extra certificates once they have been obtained.

If you require different certificates you will have to pay the fee of £128.00 per certificate required.

For instance, if you wish to obtain two copies of your French birth certificate from the French authorities you would pay one fee of £128.00 and then the extra cost of the second certificate once the certificates have been obtained. If you require a copy of your French birth certificate and your French marriage certificate you will have to pay the £128.00 fee twice - £256.00.

Processing times

Our processing time in London is 20 working days. We will send you an acknowledgement letter within or just after 20 working days. We do not have the facility to fast-track applications.

There is no guarantee that a document can be found and we are entirely dependent on the co-operation of the local authorities. This process can take several months. When you do submit an application, you will receive an acknowledgement letter. Please wait for three monthgs after receiving this before contacting us about how your application is progressing. We cannot speed up the process of an application and we need to give the local authorities the opportunity to respond to our request.

If we cannot trace the document, we will write to you to confirm this.

Countries excluded from our local document search.

We are unable to obtain documents from Australia and Bangladesh. This is because the local authorities view us as a third party and will only deal with the party concerned.

Due to the current situation, we will be unable to accept new applications or to continue pursuing current applications for local document searches in Zimbabwe

To obtain certificates from these countries you will need to contact the local authorities yourself. Alternatively it may be worth contacting the relevant Embassy or High Commission of the country where you are trying to obtain the certificate from. They may provide a similar service.

How to apply

If you are resident in the UK, please download and complete the application form as fully as possible. If you are resident abroad, you should contact your nearest British Consulate. For a local document search to be successful, you need to have as much detail as possible about the document you are trying to trace. In some countries, an incomplete application form will be immediately returned to us. We will be unable to help unless you give specific details.

*Please note that the fee is £72.00 for search for Registration/Naturalisation certificates issued by the FCO not £128.00. If a record is found, we will inform you of this and ask you will be requested to pay an additional £34.00 for a letter which confirms the details.