Changes to British Consulate-General Hong Kong’s notarial services
As of 9 April 2018, the British Consulate-General Hong Kong will no longer offer notarial services where alternative providers can help.
As of 9 April 2018, the consular team in Hong Kong will only provide notarial services to British Nationals in Hong Kong and Macao where the customer can provide proof that this service must be provided by the British Consulate.
British Consul Patrick Turner said:
We understand that it is sometimes necessary for British Nationals to approach us for help with notarial or documentary services, for example where the authorities of third country or a UK court has explicitly requested a notarial act be performed by a British overseas mission. However, when we analysed why customers approached us for these services in the past year, it became apparent that many of the requests could have been fulfilled by a solicitor or a notary public.
This change to our services is part of a global plan to withdraw all but essential notarial services from the Foreign and Commonwealth’s global network. It will free up our busy consular team to spend more time on customers who need our help the most. Complex consular cases increased by 25% last year. For every notarial service we cease to provide, we save one working hour to focus on these difficult cases.
In practice, these changes mean that:
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we will not offer notarial services relating to financial transactions or property transactions or pensions in the UK, as these can be performed by a solicitor or notary public
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we will no longer offer certified copies of degree certificates for visa purposes. This is because third country visa authorities require legalised or verified copies, which the Consulate General is unable to offer. Guidance on how to legalise a degree certificate abroad can be found here
Where a customer cannot offer proof that the British Consulate-General must offer this service, we will refer you to our list of lawyers, solicitors and notaries who are able to provide these services in Hong Kong. That list can be found here.
To see our full notarial services guidance and how to make an appointment, see this link here.
Further information
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