Documents you will need for appointment

You must be able to prove your name, age, nationality and current address. For this you will need to bring along one of the following to your appointment:

• a valid passport or
• Home Office travel document.
• If you do not have a current passport and were born on or before 31 December 1982, you will need to provide your birth certificate. If you were born on or after 1 January 1983, you will need to provide evidence of your parents' nationalities also.

If you do not have either of these, see other ways you can prove your identity 

• proof of address which can be:
  • a utility bill less than 3 months old (not a mobile phone bill)
  • a bank statement less than one month old
  • your most recent Council Tax bill or mortgage statement dated no more than one year before the date on which notice is given
  • a valid UK driving licence with your current address - original only
  • a Current residential tenancy agreement
  • a Legal Statement declaring a person lives at your address  - if recently moved to St Helens (including temporarily) with valid supporting evidence

You must bring proof that the marriage or partnership has ended. 

To prove your previous marriage or civil partnership is ended, you will need to provide one of the following.

• The original UK Decree Absolute or Dissolution
  This is the final divorce document and must be the original. You can get your Decree Absolute from GOV.UK (external link).
• Overseas divorce papers
  This must be the original and final divorce. If the divorce is not in English you will need to provide a full 3rd party translation. You or your partner cannot do the translation, but a friend or relative can. There is no need to pay for a professional translation.
• A death certificate
  This must be the original death certificate and link you to your former husband or wife. You may need to provide the original marriage certificate so we can establish a link.
• Documents confirming annulment
  If a marriage has been annulled you will need to show an original document proving this. if the document is not in English you will need to provide a 3rd party translation.
• Change of name linkage - if your decree absolute or civil partnership dissolution does not match your passport or birth certificate you will need to provide the marriage or civil partnership certificate to show the linkage from the last marriage or civil partnership.

You will also need to bring with you to your appointment:

• a passport sized photo for each of you (even if only one of you is from outside the UK)
• proof of your current immigration status (for example, your visa)
• a translation of any documents that are not in English

If you're from the EU, EEA or have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme

You will also need to bring confirmation of either:

• your settled or pre-settled status - you'll need to bring a 'share code' which you can get from the 'view and prove your immigration status' service (the code will be valid for 30 days)
• an application to the EU Settlement Scheme you made on or before 30 June 2021, which you're waiting for a decision on - you'll need to bring your certificate of application

If you have changed your name and wish to have it recorded:

Please bring evidence of the change, for example a change of name deed or deed poll document.

Please note: ID cards, including from the EU/EEA can no longer be used to give notice.

If you were born in the UK before 1 January 1983:

• You can use a valid UK birth certificate or valid UK driving licence. If using a UK driving license as an ID you cannot use it as proof of address

If you were born in the UK on or after 1 January 1983 and do not have a valid passport:

• You will need to bring your full original UK birth certificate along with evidence of your parent(s) nationality at birth. This could be their passport or their birth certificates. You can get copies of birth certificates from the Register Office where the person was born

A UK certificate of naturalisation:

• We can only accept a certificate of naturalisation if it has been issued by the United Kingdom

If you were born on or after 1 January 1983, or not born in the UK and do not hold a valid passport, UK Certificate of Naturalisation or Home Office travel document:

• You will need to obtain a passport or UK Travel Document before making an appointment