Guidance

Jersey: Knowledge Base profile

Published 18 September 2025

About: Jersey

This document contains useful information about Jersey which will assist His Majesty’s Passport Office staff process passport applications.

The Bailiwick of Jersey is one of three Crown Dependencies of the United Kingdom (UK).

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 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 Guidance team.

Publication

Below is information on when this version of the document was published:

• version 1.0
• published for Home Office staff on 6 May 2025

Changes from last version of this document

This is a new document.

Jersey: names

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about names in Jersey.

Change of Name

For a person resident in Jersey, any change of name by Deed Poll must be registered in the Royal Court for it to be legally recognised.

UK deed polls, affidavits or unwitnessed statutory declarations are not acceptable for change of name purposes for a person who is resident in Jersey.

A statutory declaration can be used to change a name, and must be:

• drawn up by a lawyer
• witnessed by a notary public or lawyer
• not be written by the customer

Names can be changed to align with a change of gender.

Jersey: nationality

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about nationality in Jersey.

Dual nationality is recognised in Jersey.

Jersey: legitimacy and parental responsibility

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about legitimacy and parental responsibility in Jersey.

Legitimacy

Jersey recognises a difference between illegitimate and legitimate births.

A child will be considered legitimate, if:

• the parents are married at the time of birth
• the parents subsequently marry and the father acknowledges the child as his own
• conceived during the marriage

A child will be considered illegitimate, if:

• the parents never marry

Parental responsibility

Before 2 December 2016, both parents hold joint parental responsibility if the:

• parents were married at the time of the child’s birth. The father must also be registered on the child’s birth certificate
• Family Court grants them a:
  • parental responsibility order
  • residence order
• parents complete a custody declaration to confirm they want to care for the child jointly

The mother will have sole parental responsibility if the parents are not married.

From 2 December 2016, an unmarried father will have parental responsibility if the:

• father is registered (named) as the father on the child’s birth certificate, at the time of the child’s birth
• courts grant the father a parental responsibility order
• father enters into a parental responsibility agreement with the child’s mother
• birth is re-registered with the father’s name added to the child’s birth certificate
• father subsequently marries the mother of the child and re-registers the birth to add father’s name to the child’s birth certificate

If the parents are married and hold joint parental responsibility, they do not lose their parental responsibility, if they separate or divorce at a later date.

If a child is not looked after by their parents (for example, because they are both deceased), they are assigned a legal guardian, by the Family Court, who will have parental responsibility.

Jersey: adoption

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about adoption in Jersey.

Adoption is legal in Jersey.

Jersey: surrogacy

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about surrogacy in Jersey.

Surrogacy is legal in Jersey.

Jersey: gender recognition

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about gender recognition in Jersey.

Transgender citizens are recognised in Jersey.

Jersey: civil partnerships and marriage

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff about civil partnerships and marriage in Jersey.

Civil partnerships are legal for same sex and opposite sex couples in Jersey.

Same sex marriage is legal in Jersey.

Jersey: documents

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about documents from Jersey.

Birth certificates

Births must be registered in Jersey within 21 days from date of birth.

Birth certificates issued by the Jersey authorities do not show the parent’s place of birth.

Births in Jersey can be re-registered for these reasons:

• within the first year following the birth, parents can apply to change or add any names to the child’s registration
• re-registration following the marriage of the parents. If re-registering the child’s surname after marriage parents can also ask to add or remove forenames
• where a birth was originally registered without the father’s details, the birth can be re-registered to add the father’s details
• late registration

Death certificates

Deaths occurring in Jersey should be registered within 5 days of the date of death.

Identity documents

Customers living in the Bailiwick of Jersey 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.