What documents do we need to be able to give notice?  

You will need to provide evidence of:

Your nationality:

Please bring ONE of the following:

• Valid passport; or
• Valid British travel document; or  
• British birth certificates
  • If you are British and born before 1 January 1983, we will need to see either your full or short British birth certificate.
  • If you are British and born on or after 1 January 1983, we will need to see your full British birth certificate, which includes your parents' details, PLUS either your mother or father's British birth certificate if your parents were married when you were born.  If your parents were unmarried when you were born, only your mother's birth certificate can be accepted.  If your parents were born outside the UK, then you must provide evidence of British nationality at the time of your birth.
  • If your parents were born on or after 1 January 1983, we will also need to see evidence of their parent's nationality.  As this can be quite complex please contact us on 01908 372101 if further clarification is required.

If both parties to the marriage or civil partnership are British, Irish or EEA citizens with EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) status granted or applied for before 30 June 2021 please refer to the documents listed on the “Documents required where both parties are British, Irish or EEA citizens with EUSS" page as the required documents are slightly different.

If one party to the marriage or civil partnership has EUSS status granted, or applied for, before 30 June 2021 they must obtain a unique code, prior to your appointment, to allow the Registrar to view and prove your immigration status.  The code is valid for a period of 30 days so please ensure that it is valid on the day of your appointment.  When generating the code, select the "for another reason" option as this will generate the correct code for the purpose of giving notice.  

If an application has been submitted for EUSS, but this is still under consideration, or showing as pre-settled, the certificate of application letter from the Home Office will also be required to prove that the application was made prior to 30 June 2021.   

Your address:

Please bring ONE of the following:

• Valid driving licence in the name of the person giving notice of marriage or civil partnership; or 
• Council tax bill dated no more than one year prior to the date of the appointment; or 
• Bank or building society statement or passbook dated no more than one month prior to the date of the appointment; or 
• Utility bill (gas, electric or water) dated no more than three months prior to the date of the appointment; or
• Mortgage statement from the last 12 months; or
• Current residential tenancy agreement; or
• Letter from the owner or proprietor of the address which is the person's place of residence, proof will be required that the person is the tenant or householder e.g. current tenancy agreement / mortgage statement.  
  • This letter must include:
    • the name, address, date and signature of the owner / proprietor;
    • confirmation that this person is the owner / proprietor; and
    • confirmation of the name of the person giving Notice and that they have been resident at the address for at least the 8 days immediately prior to the Notice appointment.

Proof of your immigration status: 

Please also bring a share code, which can be obtained from the view and prove immigration status page, which will allow us to check your immigration status as this needs to be entered onto the notice.  When selecting the reason for generating a code, please select "other". 

If you have ILR or a marriage visa a Home Office referral will not be required. Any other visa will result in an automatic referral to Home Office immigration. 

Evidence of your age: 

We will need to see proof that you are over the age of 18 - your valid passport is sufficient evidence for your proof of age.

Photos: 

Both parties need to provide a colour, passport size / style photograph.

Any name changes: 

Evidence of any name change (marriage certificate; deed poll etc).

If you have been divorced or widowed:

If you have been married or in a civil partnership before, we will need to see:

• Decree absolute or final order*
  • if your divorce was granted in England or Wales and you have been issued with a paper version of your decree absolute or final order from the court we will need to see this and the cover sheet which accompanied it.
  • if your divorce was granted in England or Wales and you have been issued with an electronic version of the decree absolute or final order, we will need to see this and the covering email.
  • if your divorce was granted outside England and Wales, we will need to see the final divorce documents issued along with a full translation into English if the document was written in any other language. 
    Please note that a fee is chargeable for clearance of any divorces granted in countries outside England and Wales and that these may have to be referred to the General Register Office for the Registrar General to confirm the document is acceptable under British law.  It is not possible to specify how long it may take for approval to come through.  A marriage schedule cannot be issued until this approval is received, so please do take this into account when considering a marriage date as there may be a significant delay before a ceremony can take place. 

* if the name you are now using differs from the name on your decree absolute, for example you have reverted back to your maiden name, then we would need to see a link between the names, for example a name change deed or a marriage certificate.

• The death certificate of the spouse / civil partner – if the surviving partner is not mentioned on the death certificate then you must also provide a certified copy of the marriage or civil partnership certificate.
• The presumed death certificate of the spouse.

Please note:

If you do not bring all the required, original, valid, documentation we will not be able to complete your notice and a further appointment will have to be booked and paid for.  All documents must be originals.  We are unable to accept digital documents shown on a mobile device.

If none of the above are available then please contact the General Register Office on 0300 123 1837 for guidance.

Some of my documents are not in English, what should I bring?  

If any of your documents are in any language other than English, you will need to bring the original document plus a full translation, into English, certified at the bottom of the document by the translator stating “I certify this to be a true translation of the document”.  The name, address, telephone number and signature of the person who translated the document(s) must be included.

Some of my documents are electronic, do I need paper copies for the appointment?

Yes, all documents must be original and valid at the time of your appointment, we are unable to accept documents brought on mobile devices.

Home Office guidance for couples subject to immigration controls  

Registration officials will be required to refer all marriage and civil partnership notices to the Home Office if one or both of the parties are EEA nationals without EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) status granted or applied for before 30 June 2021 or non-EEA nationals who do not provide specified evidence that they have (a) settled status in the UK (Indefinite Leave to Enter or Remain), (b) an EU law right of permanent residence in the UK, (c) a marriage or civil partnership visa, or (d) exemption from immigration control (e.g. with the right of abode in the UK). 

The Home Office may decide to extend the 28 clear day notice period to 70 days where a sham marriage or civil partnership is suspected.  The Home Office will inform both parties, in writing, if this is the case. 

The Home Office will then make a decision whether the marriage or civil partnership schedule can be issued allowing a legal ceremony to take place. If the registration official is content to do so, and all paperwork has been cleared, for example any foreign divorce documents, then the relevant paperwork can be issued after the notice period has expired and the couple can proceed with their marriage or civil partnership. 

If your notice period is extended to 70 days, you will be required to comply with a Home Office investigation. If you do not comply with the investigation, you will be unable to marry or enter into a civil partnership on the basis of that notice.

What will happen during the appointment?  

The registrar will need to see you individually and will ask prescribed questions in English.  If one, or both, of the parties does not have, or only has limited, English language skills then they will need to bring a translator along with them.  A translator can be a family member, friend or community leader but cannot be the partner in the marriage.  If you and the registrar cannot understand each other, the appointment will have to be cancelled and rebooked incurring another booking fee.

Please note:  We are unable to take bookings for clients where a divorce is still in progress and you are waiting for your divorce to be made final.