Guidance

Notarial and documentary services in Kuwait

Documents, certificates, letters and notes available at the British Embassy Kuwait.

From:
Foreign & Commonwealth Office and Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Published
4 April 2013
Last updated
1 July 2021 — See all updates

Overview

The British Embassy provides limited notarial and documentary services for British nationals in Kuwait.

Where local lawyers can provide services, the British Embassy will not provide them. In many cases local 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 ministry, registry office, tax authorities, immigration office or another authority either in Kuwait, the UK or a third country.

Services we provide in Kuwait

Consular staff in Kuwait can:

  • prepare a document in English or the local language

  • provide informative notes

For information relating to marriage, see getting married abroad.

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

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

Fees for consular certificates and documents are paid at the embassy on the day of the appointment and can be paid by credit card (in GBP) or cash (in KWD).

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 as proof of identity
  • Kuwaiti civil ID as proof of your address

Prepare a document in English or the local language

This service is for customers who require a signed and stamped version of one of our standard letters.

In a limited number of cases consular staff can write a statement of fact (‘preparing a certificate’) to help British nationals with various local authorities. The wording must be cleared with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office in London, which means these documents will take longer to prepare.

We can only provide this service if we have proof that the wording/content you require is correct and unambiguous. This service is provided at the discretion of consular staff and we can refuse to provide it. Please find below the most common letters we provide. For more details, please send an enquiry using our contact form.

Administrative letters in case of death of a British National in Kuwait

For administrative letters in case of a death of a British national in Kuwait, you will need to bring with you:

Police clearance certificate request letter

The British Embassy no longer issues the “police clearance certificate request letter”. British Nationals residing in Kuwait (holding a valid residence permit) should print the Information Note and proceed directly to the General Department of Criminal Evidence in Farwaniya/Dhajeej presenting their British passport, Kuwaiti Civil ID, and any other supporting documents required (e.g. photo, etc.) to apply for their police clearance certificate. Please be aware that if you are working on a visit/tourist visa, you will not be able to apply for a police clearance certificate. It is also illegal to work on a visit/tourist visa in Kuwait.

British nationals who have resided in Kuwait in the past and would like to apply for a police clearance certificate can either refer to the Kuwaiti embassy in the country they are in currently, or ask a former friend/colleague/sponsor/ in Kuwait to apply for them on their behalf following the above mentioned procedure.

If you are not a British national but require a police clearance request letter for travel/work to the UK, please refer to the embassy of your nationality. You can request the letter for admin purposes and explain to your embassy that regardless of the destination of travel, you should receive the police clearance request letter from the embassy of your nationality.

Informative notes

  1. For a letter explaining a name change in the UK , please present this information note on change of name in the UK to the requesting authorities.

  2. No objection letter for transferring a Kuwaiti residency to/from British passport: We no longer issue this letter. British nationals should print the information note and proceed to the Immigration and Passport Directorate along with their passports and any required supporting documents to apply for transferring a residency to/from a British passport.

  3. No objection letter to sponsor family for Kuwait visit or residency visa: We no longer issue this letter. British Nationals should print the information note and proceed to the Immigration and Passport Directorate along with any required supporting documents to apply for sponsoring their family member.

  4. For a letter confirming your passport details, please present this information note along with your original British passport and any other required supporting documents to the requesting authorities.

  5. If local authorities request an attestation stamp from the British Embassy Kuwait on UK issued documents please present them with this Information note on legalising UK documents (ODT, 471 KB).

  6. Employment letter: the UK Government does not issue letters or No Objection Certificates for employment. Please see the Information Note.

Services provided elsewhere (including information on legalising/attesting a document, certified copies, etc.)

Administer an oath, declaration, or affirmation

This service is for people who need to swear an oath, make a declaration, or an affirmation. Please seek assistance via local lawyers, they can provide services more cheaply, quickly and conveniently.

If you want to get married in Kuwait, contact the relevant local authorities (Ministry of Justice) to find out about local marriage laws, including what documents you’ll need. For getting married in Kuwait, see getting married abroad to find out what you need to do.

Witness a life certificate

We no longer witness 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.

Legalise a document

Legalisation is the official confirmation that a signature, seal or stamp on an official public document is genuine. It does not certify the authenticity of a document or give approval of its content. UK public documents such as birth, death, marriage and divorce certificates can be legalised by the UK government in the UK. This is also known as an apostille.

For a United Kingdom document

There are three steps you need to follow to have your United Kingdom document legalised for use in Kuwait:

• Step 1: Contact the Legalisation Office, Milton Keynes, UK

To check if the document can be legalised and to apply online for this service please visit https://www.gov.uk/get-document-legalised. Please note that in order to get your document legalised you may need to get a copy certified, signed and dated by a UK public notary or solicitor. The Embassy does not provide this service. You can locate a UK notary at: http://www.facultyoffice.org.uk/notary/find-a-notary/.

• Step 2: Have the document legalised by the Kuwaiti Embassy in London

(Embassy of Kuwait 2 Albert Gate London SW1X 7JU. Telephone: +44 (0) 207 590 3400 Fax: +44 (0) 207 823 1712 ).

Please contact the Kuwaiti embassy for up-to-date information, such as the current fees. If sending by courier, check that the Kuwaiti Embassy is aware of this and that they understand you are using a courier to collect the documents.

If the documents are in Kuwait and you need to send them back to the UK for the above steps, there are organisations that can arrange legalisations for you; while we do not recommend one over another, you may be able to find one by searching online for legalisation services.

Important note for Kuwait: if you are sending documents overseas, we recommend using a courier service.

• Step 3: For use in Kuwait the document(s) must be stamped by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kuwait

Before undertaking these steps, you are encouraged to contact the local authorities for confirmation on what is required.

There is no requirement for the British Embassy in Kuwait to view or stamp these documents once these steps are complete. Please view the Information note on legalising UK documents (ODT, 471 KB).

For Kuwaiti and other foreign documents

These should be legalised/attested at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kuwait.

For English/Arabic Translations of documents: The Embassy is not permitted to translate documents or certify to the correctness of translations, or authenticate translators’ signatures. Below are the steps you must take for getting an attestation on a translated document. Click here for a list of translators.

  1. Take the translation to the Ministry of Justice for an attestation.

  2. Once the Ministry of Justice has attested the translation, you will then need to take it to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to be stamped. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will only attest the translations if the originals are attested by them as well.

  3. If asked to get a stamp from the British Embassy please present this information note alongside your documents to the requesting authorities.

Witnessing signatures and certified copies

Please note that the Embassy will no longer witness signatures or produce certified copies of UK documents, including British passports.

Please seek assistance via the list of lawyers.

Other websites of interest

The British Embassy and Consulates no longer handle applications for naturalisation or registration as a British Citizen, or renunciation of British Citizenship. All applications are now handled by the Home Office.

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 4 April 2013
Last updated 1 July 2021 + show all updates

  1. Information about the employment letters has been added.

  2. The British Embassy no longer issues the police clearance certificate request letter. See 'Police clearance certificate request letter' section for more information.

  3. update document with information note on legalising UK issued documents for use in Kuwait

  4. Adding a paragraph in the notarial and documentary services in Kuwait page

  5. First published.

Contents

Related content