Guernsey, Alderney and Sark: Knowledge Base profile
Published 18 September 2025
© Crown copyright 2025
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About: Guernsey, Alderney and Sark
This document contains useful information about Guernsey, Alderney and Sark which will assist His Majesty’s Passport Office staff process passport applications.
The Bailiwick of Guernsey, and islands of Alderney and Sark are one of three Crown Dependencies of the United Kingdom.
The Crown Dependencies are not part of the UK but are self-governing dependencies of the Crown. This means they have their own directly elected parliament, government and courts of law.
Most rules and regulations are the same as the UK.
Contacts
If you have any questions about the document and your line manager or senior caseworker cannot help you or you think that the document has factual errors then email the Guidance team.
If you notice any formatting errors in this document (broken links, spelling mistakes and so on) or have any comments about the layout or navigability of the document then you can email the Guidance team.
Publication
Below is information on when this version of the document was published:
- version 1.0
- published for Home Office staff on 5 May 2025
Changes from last version of this document
This is a new document.
Guernsey, Alderney and Sark: names
This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about names in Guernsey, Alderney and Sark.
Change of name
Guernsey, Alderney and Sark allow individuals to change their name.
Guernsey, Alderney and Sark: nationality
This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about nationality in Guernsey, Alderney and Sark.
Dual nationality is recognised in Guernsey, Alderney and Sark.
Guernsey, Alderney and Sark: legitimacy and parental responsibility
This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about legitimacy and parental responsibility in Guernsey, Alderney and Sark.
Legitimacy
United Kingdom laws apply to legitimacy in Guernsey, Alderney and Sark.
Parental responsibility
Married parents (whether married at the time of the child’s birth, or they subsequently marry) will have parental responsibility (PR). Parents who separate or divorce continue to have PR.
Unmarried fathers will not have PR but can get it, if:
- they marry the child’s mother
- the birth was registered after 4 January 2010 and they are named on the birth certificate (when the Children (Guernsey and Alderney) Law 2008 came into effect)
- they enter into a parental responsibility agreement with the mother
- the court makes a parental responsibility or residence order to the father
Guernsey, Alderney and Sark: adoption
This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about adoption in Guernsey, Alderney and Sark.
Adoption is legal in Guernsey, Alderney and Sark.
Guernsey, Alderney and Sark: surrogacy
This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about surrogacy in Guernsey, Alderney and Sark.
Surrogacy is legal in Guernsey, Alderney and Sark.
Guernsey, Alderney and Sark: gender recognition
This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about gender recognition in Guernsey.
Transgender citizens are recognised in Guernsey, Alderney and Sark.
Guernsey, Alderney and Sark: civil partnerships and marriage
This section tells HM Passport Office operational staff about civil partnerships and marriage in Guernsey, Alderney and Sark.
Same sex marriage is legal in all parts of the Bailiwick of Guernsey.
Same sex marriage has been legal since 2 May 2017 in Guernsey, and since 14 June 2018 in Alderney.
The legalisation of same sex marriage in Sark was given royal assent on 11 March 2020.
Guernsey, Alderney and Sark: documents
This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about documents from Guernsey, Alderney and Sark.
Birth certificates
Births must be registered in Guernsey within 30 days from date of birth.
Death certificates
Every death that occurs in Guernsey must be registered within 5 working days of the death.
Identity documents
Customers living in the Bailiwick of Guernsey will hold a Crown Dependency variant British passport if they applied for their passport in the place they live.
Customers may hold a non-variant British passport if they apply directly to HM Passport Office.
Naturalisation certificates
Naturalisation certificates issued by the Bailiwick of Guernsey do not show the customer’s nationality status.