INTM162180 | Certificates of Residence Service During the COVID-19 Period

As at April 2020, many HMRC officers are working from home, in response to Government guidelines on the response to COVID-19. This has resulted in changes to several processes to ensure quality of service in issuing Certificates of Residence (CORs). HMRC officers will receive the vast majority of requests electronically, even where they are posted to HMRC. The necessary compliance checks will be carried out, as is usual, before COR documents are posted out centrally. As a result, most customers who request CORs will not notice any disruption or delay.

A few jurisdictions are known by HMRC to have further formatting requirements, ranging from requiring a “wet” signature, to requiring an apostille: see INTM162130. This departs from the usual digital COR process that HMRC operates, and may take up to 30 working days due to the need for officers to attend an HMRC office to process these. HMRC has reached out to some of these jurisdictions, with a view to arriving at an interim agreement to minimise any delay.

Customers should continue to request CORs in good time, as before, as HMRC is working hard to provide CORs in whatever format is necessary. You can find guidance on how to request a COR at INTM162160, and the information you will need to provide at INTM162020. This includes customers seeking both CORs and letters of confirmation: INTM162140.

(This content has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000)