Certified Copies for UK Visa Applications: Complete Guide
Many UK visa and citizenship applications require certified copies of your documents. Getting this wrong can delay your application or lead to a request for more evidence. This guide explains who can certify copies, what the certification must include, and how to avoid common mistakes.
- Section
- Costs, English & General
- Reading time
- 8 min
- Last checked
- 3 February 2026
- Source
- The published Immigration Rules and GOV.UK guidance, linked throughout this guide.
- Rowan does not
- Look at your own case, tell you which route to choose, or say what the Home Office will decide. This guide shows the published rules and where to read them.
In short
- GOV.UK's named list: bank or building society official, councillor, minister of religion, dentist, chartered accountant, solicitor or notary, teacher or lecturer.
- The certifier must not be related to you, living at the same address, or in a relationship with you.
- The exact wording GOV.UK gives is 'Certified to be a true copy of the original seen by me'.
- Plus: signature, date, printed name, occupation, address and telephone number.
- No fee is published or regulated. GOV.UK says only that the person may charge one.
- GOV.UK says to check with the organisation that needs the copy, because it may have its own rules on who can certify.
A certified copy is a photocopy that a suitable person has checked against the original and endorsed. GOV.UK names who may do it, gives the exact wording — 'Certified to be a true copy of the original seen by me' — and lists what else has to go on the copy: signature, date, printed name, occupation, address and telephone number. The certifier must not be related to you, living with you, or in a relationship with you. No fee is published; GOV.UK says only that the person may charge one.
What Is a Certified Copy
A certified copy is a photocopy of an original document that has been checked against the original and stamped or signed by a suitable person to confirm it is a true and accurate copy. The certification gives the Home Office confidence that the copy is genuine without requiring you to surrender your original documents.
Certified copies are commonly required for:
- Spouse visa applications
- Citizenship applications
- ILR applications
- Passport applications
- Supporting evidence for any immigration application
Who Can Certify Copies
GOV.UK: the document “must be certified by a professional person or someone well-respected in your community (‘of good standing’)”. The people it names, in its own order, are:
- bank or building society official
- councillor
- minister of religion
- dentist
- chartered accountant
- solicitor or notary
- teacher or lecturer
It adds that they may not all offer the service, so ask first.
Who must not certify. GOV.UK: the person you ask should not be related to you, living at the same address, or in a relationship with you.
There is no general rule that the certifier must have known you for 2 years. That is the rule for countersigning a passport application, which is a different process with a different set of requirements. Applying it to certification is a common mistake.
GOV.UK also says: “Check with the organisation that needs the certified copy - they may have specific rules for who can certify a document.” That is the operative instruction. The guidance on the particular application you are making beats the general list. Our entry on advisers covers when to get help with an application generally.
What the Certification Must Include
GOV.UK gives the steps precisely. Take the photocopy and the original and ask the person to certify the copy by:
- writing “Certified to be a true copy of the original seen by me” on the document
- signing and dating it
- printing their name under the signature
- adding their occupation, address and telephone number
The wording matters because it says what the person is attesting to: that they saw the original. That is why the original has to be with you when the copy is certified.
GOV.UK does not publish rules on stamps, or on how to handle a multi-page document. Where it is silent, this entry does not invent a rule — ask the organisation that needs the copy.
Costs
No fee is published or regulated. GOV.UK says one thing about it: “The person certifying the document may charge you a fee.” Whether they do, and how much, is up to them. Any price range you find quoted online — including the ranges this entry used to carry — is a guess, and this entry now gives none. Ask before they start, and ask whether the charge is per document or per page.
The costs that are published are the Home Office fees, in our visa fees entry and our budgeting entry.
Common Mistakes
- Missing information: Forgetting to include the certifier's contact details or the date is a common error.
- Wrong person certifying: Someone not on the list, or — the one people miss — someone who is related to you, lives at your address, or is in a relationship with you.
- Certifying without the original present: The wording GOV.UK gives is “the original seen by me”. The original has to be there.
- Poor copy quality: If the photocopy is unclear or illegible, the certification is worthless. Use a good quality copier.
- Sending originals when copies were requested: This risks losing irreplaceable documents.
- Not checking if originals are required: Some applications require original documents. Check the guidance before sending copies.
Translated Documents
Certifying a copy and certifying a translation are two different things, done by two different people, and a document that is not in English or Welsh may need both. On the translation, GOV.UK says to ask the translator to confirm in writing on it:
- that it is a “true and accurate translation of the original document”
- the date of the translation
- their full name and contact details
Appendix FM-SE of the Immigration Rules adds requirements for family applications, including the translator's signature and — for an application for leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain — certification by a qualified translator with their credentials. Our translation entry sets that out. Both the original-language document and the translation are submitted. See the GOV.UK guidance on certifying documents for more details.
Related guides:
Questions and answers
Who can certify copies of documents for UK immigration?
GOV.UK says the document must be certified by a professional person or someone well-respected in your community ('of good standing'), and names: a bank or building society official, a councillor, a minister of religion, a dentist, a chartered accountant, a solicitor or notary, or a teacher or lecturer. The person must not be related to you, living at the same address, or in a relationship with you. There is no general 'known you for 2 years' rule — that requirement belongs to countersigning a passport application, which is a different thing.
What does a certified copy need to include?
GOV.UK sets out the exact steps: take the photocopy and the original to the person, and ask them to write 'Certified to be a true copy of the original seen by me' on the copy, sign and date it, print their name under the signature, and add their occupation, address and telephone number.
How much does it cost to get documents certified?
No fee is published or regulated. GOV.UK says only that 'the person certifying the document may charge you a fee'. Any price range you see quoted is someone's estimate rather than an official figure, so this entry gives none — ask the person before they start.
Do I need to send original documents or will certified copies work?
It depends on the application, and GOV.UK's general certifying page says so in terms: 'Check with the organisation that needs the certified copy - they may have specific rules for who can certify a document.' Most immigration applications are now made online, with documents uploaded or scanned at an appointment, so read the guidance for the specific application rather than assuming either way.
This guide is general information about published immigration rules. It is not advice about an individual application under s.82 Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, and Rowan is not regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority. Immigration rules change several times a year. For advice on a particular situation, contact an adviser authorised by the Immigration Advice Authority or an immigration solicitor. Always check GOV.UK for the authoritative current rules.