The Consular Fees Order 2011

Made: 16th March 2011

Coming into force: 6th April 2011

At the Court at Buckingham Palace, the 16th day of March 2011Present,The Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty in Council

Her Majesty, in exercise of the powers conferred on Her by section 1(1) of the Consular Fees Act 1980[^f00001] is pleased, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, to order, and it is ordered, as follows:

1

This Order may be cited as the Consular Fees Order 2011 and comes into force on 6th April 2011.

2

In this Order—

• “British overseas territory” means a territory as defined in section 50(1) of the British Nationality Act 1981[^f00002] and includes the territories listed in Schedule 6 to that Act;

• “Commonwealth country” means a country listed in Schedule 3 to the British Nationality Act 1981;

• “Crown Dependencies” means the Bailiwick of Jersey, the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Isle of Man;

• “consular officer” means any person authorised by the Secretary of State to exercise consular functions, or functions in the United Kingdom which correspond with consular functions (including persons who are not, as well as persons who are, consular officers);

• “consular employee” means any person in the administrative or technical service of the consular post or diplomatic mission;

• “consular premises” means the building or parts of buildings used for the purposes of the consular post or diplomatic mission;

• “direct costs” means expenses that are incidental to the performance of a service, such as the cost of posting documents to a customer’s home address or travel costs;

• “entry clearance” means a visa, entry certificate, entry permit or other document which, in accordance with the applicable immigration laws or rules, is to be taken as evidence of a person’s eligibility for entry into the United Kingdom, a Crown Dependency, a British overseas territory, a Commonwealth country or any other country or territory, as the case may be (but does not include a work permit);

• “fast-track service” means an application made in person, either by the applicant or another person acting on behalf of the applicant, which is to be processed within seven days of that application having been made;

• “fast-track collect service” means an application made in person, either by the applicant or by another person acting on behalf of the applicant, which is to be processed within seven days of that application having been made, and which permits the applicant or another person acting on behalf of the applicant to collect the passport in person;

• “overseas service” in relation to legalisation means the service for the processing by consular officers at consular posts of applications made in person;

• “premium service” in relation to legalisation means the same day service for the processing by a London legalisation office dedicated for companies, solicitors and notaries of applications made in person;

• “premium service” in relation to passport applications means an application made in person, either by the applicant or another person acting on behalf of the applicant, which is to be processed within twenty-four hours of that application having been made;

• “standard service” in relation to legalisation means the 24 hours service for the processing by the main legalisation office at Milton Keynes, of applications made in person at that office and the processing by that office of postal applications within a reasonable time period.

• “the appropriate Registrar General” for the purpose of fee 15 means the Registrar General for England and Wales, the Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriages for Scotland, or the Registrar General in Northern Ireland, as the case may be, under the Foreign Marriage Order 1970[^f00003] or the Civil Partnership (Registration Abroad and Certificates) Order 2005[^f00004].

3

The fees set forth in the table in Parts 1 and 2 of Schedule 1 to this Order are prescribed to be levied by consular officers and by marriage officers under the Foreign Marriage Act 1892[^f00005] and the Marriage with Foreigners Act 1906[^f00006] in the execution of each of their functions specified in those tables.

4

The fees set forth in the table in Part 3 of Schedule 1 to this Order are prescribed to be levied by consular officers and by marriage officers under the Foreign Marriage Act 1892[^f00007] and the Marriage with Foreigners Act 1906[^f00008] in the execution of each of their functions specified in that table for which no fee is imposed under section 51 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006[^f00009].

5

The statutory instruments listed in Schedule 2 to this Order are revoked by this Order.

SCHEDULE 1

PART 1 — TABLE OF GENERAL CONSULAR FEES

PART 2 — TABLE OF CONSULAR FEES RELATING TO PASSPORT SERVICES

PART 3 — TABLE OF CONSULAR FEES RELATING TO ENTRY CLEARANCE

SCHEDULE 2

Signed

Judith Simpson — Clerk of the Privy Council

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Order)

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This Order revokes and replaces the Consular Fees Order 2010 as amended by the Consular Fees (Amendment) Order 2010.

The Order sets out fees to be charged for consular services.

The Order amends the fees in Part 1 of Schedule I as follows:

i. the fee for the standard legalisation service increases from £28.80 to £30.00;

ii. the fee for the premium legalisation service increases from £71.00 to £75.00;

iii. the fee for the overseas legalisation service decreases from £38.00 to £30.00;

iv. the fee for preparing any certificate, declaration or document not listed elsewhere in the Table of General Consular Fees in English decreases from £46.30 to £45.00;

v. the fee for preparing any certificate, declaration or document not listed elsewhere in the Table of General Consular Fees in any other language decreases from £73.00 to £70.00;

vi. the fee for preparing and/or signing a declaration of existence (except if required by a department of Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom) decreases from £17.40 to £15.00;

vii. the fee for administering an oath, marking of exhibits or making a declaration or affirmation increases from £54.50 to £55.00;

viii. the fee for witnessing a signature decreases from £21.60 to £20.00;

ix. the fee for making or verifying a copy of a document (including certifying when necessary), increases from £25.50 to £30.00;

x. the fee for uniting documents and sealing the fastening decreases from £21.60 to £20.00;

xi. the fee for fixing a photograph to a document and, if necessary, certifying it as a true likeness decreases from £21.60 to £20.00;

xii. the fee for supplying certified copies of documents which form part of the records of a court, for each page increases from £64.80 to £65.00;

xiii. the fee for forwarding an application for registration, naturalisation or renunciation to the Home Office increases from £64.80 to £65.00;

xiv. the fee for administering an oath of British Citizenship under the British Nationality Act 1981 increases from £82.30 to £85.00;

xv. the fee for receiving notice of an intended marriage, civil partnership or overseas relationship, including an application for a Nulla Osta increases from £64.80 to £65.00;

xvi. the fee for issuing a certificate (either in English or in the local language spoken at the place of the consular post or diplomatic mission) that no impediment to an intended marriage or civil partnership has been shown to exist, or issuing a Nulla Osta or “certificate de coutume” for an intended marriage or overseas relationship in accordance with local law increases from £64.80 to £65.00;

xvii. the fee for solemnising a marriage, administering oaths to the parties and registering the marriage; or registering a civil partnership increases from £137.80 to £140.00;

xviii. the fee for forwarding to the appropriate Registrar General a record of a marriage under the local law or an overseas relationship, together with any necessary certification decreases from £37.00 to £35.00;

xix. the fee for administering an application for the registration for a birth or a death increases from £100.80 to £105.00;

xx. the fee for making an addition to or correction in the consular register as necessary decreases from £37.00 to £35.00;

xxi. the fee for issuing a certified copy of an entry in the consular register increases from £64.80 to £65.00;

xxii. the fee for providing the services of a consular officer or a consular employee to affect or try to affect service of a document in relation to civil proceedings or proceedings in which State Immunity is in issue, for each hour or part hour increases from £131.70 to £140.00;

xxiii. the fee for providing evidence of service or attempted service of a document decreases from £131.70 to £130.00;

xxiv. the fee for forwarding a request to a local authority for the taking of evidence or the service of a document and, where necessary, certifying the accuracy of an accompany translation decreases from £131.70 to £130.00;

xxv. the fee for providing or administering a service not otherwise covered in this Schedule in relation to shipping, seamen and related matters is a new fee of £130 per hour which replaces the fees for individual services listed in Part XIII of the Consular Fees Order 2010[^f00016];

xxvi. the fee for administering an application for (and, if successful, providing) an Emergency Travel Document increases from £91.50 to £95.00;

xxvii. the fee for administering an application for (and, if successful, providing) an Emergency Passport on an exceptional basis when it is not possible to provide an Emergency Travel Document increases from £71.00 to £75.00; and

xxviii. the fees for arranging, exceptionally, for currency to be made available against the deposit for funds change to £10.00 (for deposits from £0.01 to £99.99), £30.00 (for deposits from £100.00 to £499.99) and £80.00 (for deposits of £500 or more).

The fee for providing the services of a consular officer or a consular employee in relation to any other service which the consular post or diplomatic mission has agreed to undertake, for each hour or part hour (to include travel time if performed away from the consular premises) and in addition to direct costs, if any, remains flat at £130.00.

Where increases to fees have been calculated on the basis of a percentage, the new fee has been adjusted so that it is divisible by five. On average, the increases to the fees in Part 1 of Schedule 1 to this Order do not exceed 3.85%.

The Order does not increase the fees in Parts 2 and 3 of Schedule I beyond the changes introduced in respect of those fees by the Consular Fees (Amendment) Order 2010[^f00017].

Article 4 specifies that fees covered by the table specified in Part 3 of Schedule 1 are prescribed to be levied for functions for which no fee is imposed under section 51 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006. To the extent that subordinate legislation under section 51 of that Act comes to cause such fees to be imposed, article 4 and the table in question will accordingly fall to be considered for revocation.

A full regulatory impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no impact on the private or voluntary sectors is foreseen.

Footnotes

[^f00001]: 1980 c.23.

[^f00002]: 1981 c.61.

[^f00003]: S.I. 1970/1539

[^f00004]: S.I. 2005/2761

[^f00005]: 1892 c.23.

[^f00006]: 1906 c.40.

[^f00007]: 1892 c.23.

[^f00008]: 1906 c.40.

[^f00009]: 2006 c.13.

[^f00010]: 1890 c.37.

[^f00011]: 1913 c.16.

[^f00012]: 1981 c.61.

[^f00013]: 1892 c.23.

[^f00014]: 1947 c.33.

[^f00015]: S.I. 2005/2761

[^f00016]: S.I. 2010/238

[^f00017]: S.I. 2010/2681