General Register Office for Northern Ireland

Oxford House
49-55 Chichester Street
Belfast
BT1 4HL

Tel: 028 9025 2000
Web: www.groni.gov.uk
Best time to telephone: 9am - 5pm

The General Register Office, contained within the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA), is primarily concerned with administering the registration of births, deaths, civil partnerships, and marriages. The main records held are the statutory registers of births, deaths, marriages, still-births and adoptions. The registers themselves are not open to inspection, but information from them is supplied in the form of certificates. The office does not itself engage in genealogical research although the records can contain valuable information for anyone compiling a family tree. To apply for birth, death, civil partnership or marriage certificates standard application forms must be completed.

The Adoption Contact Register was introduced in 1996 to provide for adopted people and their birth relatives to register their interest in contacting one another. Fees are payable to the Registrar General for registration. The Register is in two parts: Part I for adopted people and Part II for their birth relatives. A link is made when a registration on Part I coincides with a registration on Part II. More information is available in leaflet ACR 5.

For further information about certificates, access to Birth Records or the Adoption Contact Register please write to the above address or telephone.