Copy certificates for births, deaths, marriages and civil partnerships

Order a copy certificate

You can order a copy of a birth, death, marriage or civil partnership certificate for an event registered in Scotland. We process requests in date order, and it usually takes up to 14 days. During busy times it may take longer, so please allow time for Royal Mail delivery before contacting us.

You can apply online. If you need a birth certificate for a passport, wait until you receive it before booking your passport appointment.

What you can order

We can provide certificates for events registered in South Lanarkshire and across Scotland, unless:

• the event happened in England or Wales contact General Register Office (GRO) for England and Wales
• the event happened in Northern Ireland contact General Register Office (GRO) for Northern Ireland
• the record is in the Adopted Children’s Register contact National Records of Scotland (NRS)
• the event was registered within the last two years outside South Lanarkshire

For these, you will need to contact the relevant national office.

Costs

• £10 if you request the certificate within one month of registration
• £15 if you request it after one month (this includes a £5 non-refundable search fee)

If we cannot issue a certificate, we will confirm that we have searched the records. If you order more than one copy of the same record, the £5 search fee only applies once.

Postage

• UK: £1.80
• Outside the UK: £3.40

Apply or get help

You can order your certificate online. If you need more information, contact the Licensing and Registration office.