You can register the death with the nearest British Consulate if you live overseas or our Consular services department in London, if you live in the UK. Our Coping with Death Abroad page also has practical advice about how we can help if a relative or friend dies abroad.

Consular death registration is not a legal requirement but there are some benefits:

• an entry will be made in the death register by the British Consulate in the country concerned
• you’ll be able to obtain a British style death certificate
• a record of the death will be held by the General Register Office in the UK

You’ll need to register the death with the foreign civil authorities and obtain a full foreign death certificate before you can apply for consular death registration. The consular death certificate won’t include a cause of death as many foreign death certificates don’t include this detail. If you are resident overseas you can apply for a consular death certificate from your nearest British embassy or consulate. You can find your local embassy using the search facility to the right.

Check the local embassy’s website for processing times and other information.

Countries we don’t register deaths for

Please note that we can’t register deaths which occurred in these countries:

• Australia
• Canada
• New Zealand
• Republic of Ireland
• South Africa
• UK Overseas Territories

The standard of registration in these countries is similar to that of the UK.

Registering a death at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in London

If you are resident in the UK you can apply for the registration through the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. All applications are dealt with by post because we can’t accept personal callers. We recommend you send your application by special delivery and include two self addressed pre-paid special delivery envelope so we can return your documents and certificate safely to you.

We’ll send you an acknowledgement letter and return your documents to you within or just after 20 working days. It’ll take approximately 6 weeks from us receiving a complete application for you receive the consular death certificate. We may have to contact you for further evidence that the person who has died was British.

First you'll need to download and complete the registration form.

Fees to register a death

The current fee for registering the death is £98.00, plus £63.00 for each certificate requested e.g. one certificate = £98.00 + £63.00 = £161.00, two certificates = £224.00 etc.

It will cost you £63.00 for each additional copy of the certificate obtained from us. After March of the year following the registration copies can be obtained from the General Register Office.

Please note: we do not accept personal cheques. We can only accept bank drafts or postal orders. The fees are closely regulated by Parliament and are set to cover administration costs.