Special Consular Services

Serving Legal Papers and Process

U.S. consular officers are prohibited by Federal regulations from serving legal process upon foreign nationals or companies, and are not allowed to appoint others to make such service.

We are required to serve certain forms of legal process, such as subpoenas and show-cause orders issued by Federal courts, upon U.S. citizens or permanent residents of the United States who are temporarily abroad, but we may do so only in the limited circumstances indicated by 28 USC 1783 and 1784 (see also Rule 45(e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure).

Service of legal process in England & Wales may be accomplished in one of the following ways:

• Service by registered mail
• Service by an agent such as a solicitor or process server (see below)
• Service in accordance with the Hague Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil and Commercial Matters.

Service under the Hague Convention

The requesting attorney should obtain, IN DUPLICATE, the Hague Convention Request for Service forms from any U.S. Marshal's office. Both copies must be signed by either a court official or attorney. The full name and address of the person or corporation upon whom service is to be made must be entered on the forms. The address of the receiving authority is: The Senior Master, Queen's Bench Division, Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London WC2A 2LL.

If the application forms have been completed by a court official, they should be forwarded, in duplicate, directly to the Senior Master, together with two copies of the documents to be served. If the application forms have been completed and signed by the requesting attorney, they should be forwarded to the U.S. Embassy, American Citizen Services, 24 Grosvenor Square, London W1A 2LQ, for onward transmission to the Senior Master's office. The Senior Master will not accept requests for service directly from an attorney in the United States.

On completion of the service, the executed request will be returned to the requesting attorney by the Senior Master's office. There is no charge for service under the Hague Convention.

List of Process Servers

This list is provided as a service to the public and does not constitute a recommendation by the U.S. Embassy. The Embassy cannot accept any responsibility for the professional ability or integrity of the persons whose names appear below. Fees are entirely a matter for agreement between the individual and the firm.

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