6 December 2023

London FCDO Legalisation Office Christmas opening hours 2023

Christmas is a busy time of year at the FCDO, and with the opening hours changing, it could affect the legalisation of your documents.

Estimated reading time: < 1 minute

From 14 December 2023, the document drop-off and collection times have been altered. This is because of the Christmas period. The alteration of the opening hours could result in a delay in the processing of your documents. Because of this, we recommend that you plan your legalisation services in advance.

Members of the public are unable to enter the FCDO themselves, and therefore require the help of a registered Notary Public.

Unfortunately, the FCDO office in London will be permanently closed from 2 January 2024. This will disrupt our same-day service in 2024.

Premium services will still be available, with a document processing time of 3-5 days.

The closure of the London FCDO office means any documents submitted on 29 December must be collected on the same day. Otherwise, the document will be returned to the Milton Keynes office after the new year.

Here are the revised opening hours from the London FCDO office.

Date	Opening times
Thursday 14 December	Drop off: 09:00 – 12:30 drop off Collection: 13:30 – 15:30
Friday 15 December – Thursday 21 December	Normal business hours
Friday 22 December	Drop off until 12pm Collection: 12:00-14:00 Anything uncollected on this day will not be available to collect until 27 December
Monday 25 December	Closed
Tuesday 26 December	Closed
Wednesday 27 & Thursday 28 December	Normal business hours
Friday 29 December	Drop off: 8:30am – 12pm Collection: 12:00-14:00 All documents must be collected on this day as the office will be closing. Any uncollected documents will be forwarded to the FCDO office in Milton Keynes
Tuesday 2 January	Permanently closed