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United Kingdom birth certificates are certified copies of birth issued from the official records of the UK, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

When an adoptee reaches the age of eighteen, they are entitled to have access to their original birth certificate if it was issued in the United Kingdom. Access to your birth record details is obtained via request to the Registrar General of the relevant Register Office (GRO, GROS, or GRONI).

Counselling may be a requirement prior to accessing the records.

The United Kingdom is part of the Hague Convention. For countries that have signed to this convention, documents are no longer required to be legalised by the consular of a country, and instead use an apostille.

The United Kingdom is also part of the United States' Visa Waiver Program, along with Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland

UK consular officers can register or help assist to register a birth. British children should register so that the birth is registered both in the place and country of birth, but also at the relevant General Register Office in the United Kingdom. Birth certificates will be available to be issued at the British Embassy overseas, or at the GRO in the UK.

A official publication relating relevant United Kingdom registration is "General Register Office Abstract of Arrangement Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths in the United Kingdom and Other Countries of the British Commonwealth of Nations, and in the Irish Republic".

If birth certificates are required for any official application, a long form certificate should be ordered, which holds all relevant information. Short birth certificates do not include the parents' details.

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