BritInParis

The GRO is your friend. You can order a new certified copy for under £10.

MarylandNed

Yes the email address is [email protected]. It's valid and is also listed on the web site:

https://www.gov.uk/government/world/...ssy-washington

British Embassy Washington
3100 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington DC 20008
USA
Email
[email protected]

Enquiries
+1 202 588 6500


I have used that email a few times. In fact, I used it just recently with some questions. I got a reply from someone with a [email protected] email address and continued the back and forth with him.

Obviously you don't want to be sending emails with personal information. It's for general questions.

hungryhorace

Regardless as to its validity, it's still a *joke* that the FCO is using @gmail.com addresses.

MarylandNed

I guess that depends on your definition of a joke. It works. They normally respond to questions within a couple of business days. Just don't send personal info via email - regardless of whether it's @gmail.com or @fco.gov.uk.

hungryhorace

I'd love to see an example of the Americans using a gmail / hotmail / yahoo address to conduct official business.

Use of a formal government email address ensures a whole manner of things including trust, validity, and retention in line with government standards.

Why is the UK consulate allowing Google (a private American company) to read their emails between UK citizens and them?

Like I said, it is a J O K E.

MarylandNed

If you use gmail, hotmail, yahoo etc to communicate with fco.gov.uk, then what's the difference? Email is not a secure form of communication unless you are encrypting it which is a pain. Most emails are plain text and travel through 3rd party routers and switches on the way to their destination. There are plenty of security vulnerabilities along the way. Don't be fooled into thinking that an @fco.gov.uk email address is secure. It might give you some comfort to know that the end user is a government employee but that's about it.

hungryhorace

1. Google, a private entity, reads this email.
2. Google, a private entity, archives this email for a potentially unlimited time.
3. Google, a private entity, has no SLA or contract in place with the FCO to provide such a service.
4. Communications between the British government and its citizens are subject to data retention laws. Those retention laws are unable to be met when using GMail.
5. The website could have been defaced for all one knows, and the corporate address replaced with an @gmail.com one to facilitate criminal activities.
6. The list could be endless, I could go on for many more items detailing why a gmail address is inappropriate to be used for formal UK government business.

That really hits home at my point: by using GMail (a free service) the Embassy has zero control over how their email is handled. If they were using their corporate GSI email this wouldn't be an issue as the government can change the configuration as required.

Security vulnerabilities aren't the issue, though again, relying on Google Mail to provide an appropriate threat assessment in email is woefully reckless. What if FCO computers were compromised as a result of a person sending a payload to their GMail address? Could Google be held responsible? Nope.

It's not entirely about 'security', it is as much about professionalism as it is about security.

The British government using a GMail address at their Embassy looks like gross incompetency, I'm positive that CESG wouldn't have approved this.

Bob

Plenty of businesses do.

As for official government business, they don't need to. The NSA does it for them :/

hungryhorace

Sure, but only very small businesses; not governments - and especially not one of the major countries of the world.

Faery

So, I got my documents apostilled and was all ready to send them off to Washington only to discover that only the day before, it was all changed and now to register a birth applications have to be sent to a centralized unit in Milton Keynes UK....ARRRGGGHHHHHH!!! So I sent it to the UK, and am still waiting for it to be sent back to me

My application arrived July 14th, it is supposed to take them 5 days to register the birth and if there is a problem they will contact you within the 5 days, I've heard nothing so am just waiting. I don't know how long it takes for everything to be sent back to you. Anyone else waiting?