On-site services will reopen on a limited basis for priority access from 26th April, in line with Scottish Government guidance [1].

The Historical Search Room will reopen on Monday 26th April. Initial access will be given to priority users only, specifically those who require access to our records to complete funded academic research or those who require urgent access to complete PhD, post-graduate or early career research.

Prior to contacting us, please take time to read our new Historical Search Room Guidance [2] (140 KB PDF) which will help to explain the changes which have been made to our service and what you can expect during your visit.

If you would like to arrange a visit please contact [email protected] [3] for further information. If you have previously contacted us with details of your access requirements, you do not have to email us again and a member of our team will be in contact next week to arrange your appointment.

To comply with COVID-19 safety measures the Historical Search Room has relocated to the ground floor of General Register House.

The Dundas Search Room in ScotlandsPeople Centre will reopen on Tuesday 4th May. Initial access will be given to those with a business need to access modern day statutory records, for example professional genealogists. Those who meet the criteria for the initial phase of access to the ScotlandsPeople Search Room, should contact [email protected] [4] for further information.

Our safe visit agreement [5] outlines the measures we have in place to ensure the safety of our customers and we will provide further information on what to expect during your visit to our search rooms, prior to your visit.

Spaces to both search rooms will be limited and available by appointment only. Appointments will be available for 4 hour slots from 10am with staggered arrivals and departures.

All records must be ordered in advance and customers must wear facemasks unless they have an exemption. Signage is in place to assist customers to move around the building safely and hand sanitiser will be provided.

NRS will continue to deliver business critical services, including providing urgent legal documents to support the property market, the probate sector and court services, and official birth, death and marriage certificates to enable citizens to obtain passports, employment and register with GPs, as well as the processing of Adoption Orders.

Our decision to reopen in a phased way has been driven by our commitment to the safety and wellbeing of customers and staff. We look forward to expanding our onsite provision to wider groups of customers, in line with Scottish Government guidance and will be providing further updates in the coming weeks and months.

Latest updates

• Certificates
• Registration Services
• Statistical publications
• NRS Learning Services
• Services to record depositors
• Contact us

Ordering a Certificate

Customers can order a certificate using Certificates and Copies [6] on our ScotlandsPeople website.

Certificate ordering will be available online Monday to Friday between 9 am and 4.30 pm.

We have removed our priority ordering channel and we will do our best to complete orders as soon as we can however this may not be within our usual timescales.

We can only process online orders and will not be able to process those received by any other contact channel.

We understand that there may be very urgent cases where certificates are required quickly. If this is the case, please order the certificate online and then use our contact form [7] on ScotlandsPeople selecting ‘Certificates and Copies’ to provide information on your urgent requirements and one of our team will respond directly.

For urgent Adoption Birth Certificates and No Trace Divorce Letters, these can be requested through the Contact Us button, on the ScotlandsPeople website at https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/contact-us [7] selecting ‘Certificates and Copies’. One of our team will then contact you.

Copies of Census Records and Old Parish Records are not available to order online at this time. Please use our contact form [7] if you have a query regarding copies of these records.

Information Regarding Registration Services

In late March, registration of births was temporarily suspended to allow registrars to focus on the registration of deaths and still-births. Since 29 June, registration offices have been reopening for high-priority activities. This includes birth registrations and processing notices of intention to marry and to enter a civil partnership.

Registration of Deaths and Still-births

NRS understands that this is a very distressing and difficult time for bereaved families. We have been working closely with the Scottish Government and local authorities to introduce a system which will allow registrars to take ‘remote’ registration of deaths, by telephone or electronic means. This system is now live and further information is available from our Registering a Death [8] page or contact your local registration office [9] (90 KB PDF) direct, to arrange an appointment.

Registration of births

Please  check the guidance for Registration of Births [10] issued by the Registrar General for Scotland on Phase 3 of the Route map through and out of the COVID-19 crisis

Registration of Marriages and Civil Partnerships

Please  check the Getting Married in Scotland [11] for guidance issued by the Registrar General for Scotland on Phase 3 of the Route map through and out of the COVID-19 crisis.

 Guidance for Registration of Civil Partnerships [12]

NRS Services

Marriages and Civil Partnerships:

If you have an urgent query about a marriage or civil partnership, please email: [email protected] [13].

Change of Name:

If you would like advice on how to have a change of name recorded, please email: [email protected] [14]. Please be aware that no change of name requests can be processed until our normal service has resumed.

Re-registration of a Birth or Still-birth:

If you would like advice about the re-registration of a birth or still-birth, please email: [email protected] [15]. Please be aware that no re-registration applications will be processed until our normal service has resumed.

Gender Recognition:

If you would like general advice about the gender recognition process or how the birth registration process works in Scotland, please email: [email protected] [16].

Services which will not be available:

• Corrections to register entries
• The issue of Multilingual Translation Aids
• Letters confirming the status of someone after a check of national indexes (To Whom it May Concern Letters).

Information Regarding Services to Record Depositors

Transfer of Records to NRS

The transfer of records to NRS is currently suspended. However we continue to offer advice and guidance to our client depositors. Please contact us as follows:

• Government bodies: [email protected] [17]
• Courts and Judicial bodies: [email protected] [18]
• Private bodies and churches: [email protected] [18]

Retransmission Service

The temporary return of records to client bodies from NRS is currently suspended. We understand that there may be very urgent cases where access to records is required. If this is the case please contact as follows:

• Courts and COPFS: [email protected] [18]
• Crown Estate Scotland, Historic Environment Scotland and Scottish Government: [email protected] [17]

More Information

Which NRS services can I use during this closure?

We will continue to deliver a number of our services including:

• Statistical publications: NRS is reviewing its data gathering and release practices, and focussing efforts on priority statistics in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Users and stakeholders will be advised of any changes as soon as possible. The latest information on publication dates and further information including contact details is available on our statistics publication page [19].
• Historical and Legal documents: if you have any enquiries related to historical or legal documents held in our archives (which are not held on our ScotlandsPeople website) please contact us via email [20]. Our access to these documents is limited.
• Scottish Register of Tartans [21]: You can currently apply to register your tartan online via your account and submit enquiries via email [22]. We are registering approved tartans on our website but we are currently unable to issue tartan certificates related to recently approved registrations. We will issue these as soon as we can.
• ScotlandsPeople [23]: our online services are available as usual and our teams are currently working from home to make new records available for release. There are a number of our records [24] which you can search and view for free. ScotlandsPlaces [25] also offers a range of free resources which will help to support your research and ScottishHandwriting [26] website, offers free online tuition in palaeography for anyone who is having difficulties reading manuscript historical records written in Scotland.
• NRS Learning Services: Teachers, pupils and learners of all ages and stages can access and engage with our online resources via the Learning [27]section of the NRS website. The resources available at Services for Schools [28] and Scottish Archives for Schools [29] are designed to support the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence and National Qualifications. If you have any enquiries, contact us by email [30].
• NRS Web Continuity Service continues to operate. If you have any questions please contact [email protected] [31].
• Public Records Scotland Act (PRSA): The Records Management Plan and Progress Update Review rolling programme of assessment [32]continues as normal. We do however appreciate that many of our stakeholder authorities will themselves be experiencing disruption during this time. Please contact the team by email [33] if you have any queries or concerns.
• National Register of Archives for Scotland: Access to records held privately has necessarily been withdrawn during this period. The NRAS however continues to offer advice and guidance to owners and researchers, please contact us by email [34].
• Advice and support for the archive sector: while premises are in lockdown, it is important to ensure that archive collections remain safe and secure. The National Archives has useful webpages [35] covering collections safety, Archive Service Accreditation, and a list of useful guidance and resources from other organisations.
• Disaster or incident control advice relating to archive collections can be provided remotely by the NRS Preservation team.  Please contact [email protected] [36].
• Exhibition Loans: NRS is not accepting new external loan requests at this time. This position will be reviewed in April 2022.
• Adoptions: Our team are currently working a combination of home and office working with limited access to our records. Reduced numbers of staff are in the office on a part time basis to register new adoptions and to issue new adoption certificates. Planning work is continuing on the re-start of other services when restrictions allow. If you require information on ordering an older adoption certificate please see the Ordering a Certificate section. If you have any enquiries relating to adoptions please contact us by email [37].  

Contact Us

Your inquiry is important to us and we will do our best to get back to you as soon as possible. Due to current circumstances, we may not meet standard timescales for response and our normal access to our records may be limited, which will impact on the information and copies which we can provide at this time. To help you get to the right team as quickly as possible, we have provided a list of our direct email addresses which can be used to contact us with your enquiry.

Sorry but we are unable to answer your call today. Please contact us by email using one of the contact email addresses listed above.