Marriage Certificate

The marriage certificate must go through the legalisation process to be considered legally valid and recognized in other countries. There are several features of the procedure:

• Your UK marriage certificate  can be legalised but only in the format of your original UK marriage certificate or a certified copy from either the General Register Office (GRO) or the local register office.
• The original or an official registrar copy of the UK marriage certificate will have the apostille certificate attached.

You may have heard that two different apostille kinds exist:

• Paper-based – you must mail your paperwork (or present them in person while registering the business)
• “E-Apostille” – You can upload documents as PDF files that a UK notary or solicitor has digitally signed to obtain an electronic apostille.

But notice that UK marriage certificates issued by the General Register Office are not eligible for an e-Apostille.

Also, note that legalisation of a marriage certificate is possible with an apostille because the UK is a signatory to The Convention of 1961 that abolished the requirement of legalisation for foreign public documents.

But specific requirements for legalising a UK marriage certificate may vary depending on the destination country and its legal and administrative procedures. Our advice is to consult with the authorities or embassy of the country where you will use the birth certificate to determine their specific requirements for legalisation.