Coronavirus: Important information
Further to the Prime Minister's announcement, registration services will be affected as follows from 21 June 2021:
- Marriage and Civil Partnerships. The number of people who can attend weddings in a COVID-Secure venue will be determined by how many people a venue can safely accommodate with social distancing measures in place, including guests of all ages and anyone working at the event. For more detailed information please visit marriage and civil partnership ceremonies during the coronavirus outbreak.
- Notice of marriage and civil partnership will continue to be carried out by face-to-face appointments at Guildford, Leatherhead and Weybridge Register Offices for couples that have a ceremony booked in the next three months.
- Death registrations will continue to be carried out by telephone appointment.
- Birth registrations will continue to be carried out by face-to-face appointments at Guildford Register Office (appointments available from 9 September), Leatherhead Register Office (appointments available from 27 August) and Weybridge Register Office (appointments available from 3 September).
- Citizenship ceremonies will be held face to face in socially distanced group ceremonies or in private ceremonies (additional fees apply). Due to the restrictions on capacity due to social distancing, it will not be possible for guests to attend the group citizenship ceremonies.
- Registration system: Changes implemented to the Government registration system used to register births, deaths, marriage and civil partnerships has introduced system instability. This means that your appointment may take longer than usual or the registrar may need to complete a manual registration; unfortunately in some cases we may be unable to issue a certificate at the time of registration. You may also have to wait longer than usual for an appointment due to appointments having to be extended to cope with the system instability.
We are sorry for any inconvenience or distress that this may cause, the General Register Office is currently unable to provide a timescale for when the system will be restored to a reliable and stable state.