Guidance

Hungary: notarial and documentary services

How someone in Hungary can get documents witnessed or certified, have an oath, affirmation or affidavit administered and obtain informative notes.

Overview

The British embassy can provide a range of notarial and documentary services for British nationals in Hungary.

Where local notaries can provide services, the British Embassy will not provide them. In many cases, local notaries or lawyers can provide services more cheaply, quickly and conveniently.

You must make an appointment for each service that requires your personal attendance. Please use the links after each service to make an appointment.

Before booking, make sure you have selected the correct service and that the document will be accepted by the relevant authority. This could be the local town hall, registry office, tax authorities, immigration office or another authority either in Hungary, the UK or a third country.

Services we provide in Hungary

Consular staff in Hungary can:

  • administer an oath, affirmation or affidavit
  • witness a signature
  • make a certified copy of a British passport

For information about documents relating to marriage, such as a certificate of no impediment (CNI) and affirmations or affidavits of marital status, please see getting married abroad and the information below.

If you can’t find the service you are looking for on this page, please see other services provided by the British Embassy in Hungary.

What to bring to your appointment

See the individual services below for details of supporting documents to bring. Make sure you have acceptable proof of address and identity, and payment for any fees. See the full list of consular fees.

Payment

The Consular Section accepts credit card payments made by Visa, Visa Electron, MasterCard cards on the day of the appointment for notarial services. The Consular fees are shown in the list of consular fees for Hungary.

Proof of address and identity

For all appointments for notarial services you will need to bring acceptable proof of your identity and address.

We accept passports or national identity cards as proof of identity.

We accept Hungarian residency cards as proof of your address.

Administer an oath, affirmation or affidavit

This service is for people who need to swear an oath, make an affirmation or make an affidavit in front of a consular officer. The Embassy will not draft documents for you. First check with the Embassy what format they need and then have the document drawn up or checked by a professional.

What you will need to bring with you:

Book an appointment for an oath, affirmation or affidavit in Budapest

Witness a signature

This service is for customers who need to sign a document and have their signature witnessed by a consular officer. The document must be prepared before your appointment as we will not draft documents for you. We do not handle wills or probate, or witness deed polls.

Please do not sign the document before your appointment.

What you will need to bring with you:

Book an appointment for witnessing a signature in Budapest

Make a certified copy of a British passport

This service is for customers who need a certified copy of a British passport.

What you will need to bring with you:

Book an appointment to make a certified copy of your passport at Budapest

Getting married in Hungary

For information on getting married in Hungary, please visit the Getting married abroad website.

Information notes

We have produced the following information notes (also known as standard letters) that you can download free of charge to present to local authorities:

The above informative note was sent to the Hungarian Authorities regarding the UK’s policy on naming children. We suggest customers show the document to the local authorities for the purpose of registering English names to their children. The form may be requested to be translated. Please note that the British Embassy is unable to issue a certificate confirming the name choice and its acceptance under UK law.

Services provided elsewhere

All visa enquiries are now provided by an external commercial partner.

Visa applications to travel to the UK must be made in advance online through the TLS Contact website.

Should you need to contact UK Visas & Immigration (including status updates, supporting documents and guidance) please visit the UKVI website.

We no longer provide life certificates for British nationals claiming a British pension abroad. Please refer to the list of people working in a recognised profession who can do this for you.

Data protection

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office holds and uses data for purposes notified to the Information Commissioner under the Data Protection Act 1998. Such personal data may be disclosed to other UK government departments and public authorities.

Disclaimer

This information is provided as a general guide and is based upon information provided to the Embassy by the relevant authorities and may be subject to change at any time with little or no notice. Accordingly the FCDO and the British Embassy will not be liable for any inaccuracies in this information.

For all notarial and legalisation services it is the responsibility of the customer to ascertain the precise requirements of the person requesting the notarial or legalisation service and to satisfy themselves that the service provided by the Embassy will be accepted.

Published 17 April 2013
Last updated 23 February 2024 + show all updates
  1. Service provider link has changed (lawyers).

  2. New informative note added.

  3. First published.