Told by UKBA IO I had to use my married name

I flew back from Italy last week through Heathrow. I was able to go through immigration with DH just fine but when the IO saw my (US) passport, she asked if I was known by any other names.

My passport (and BRP of course) is in my maiden name and I use that name for work but most everything else in the UK (bank statements, doctor, driving licence) is in my married name.

When I said I was known by both my maiden and married names in the UK, she said I had  to change my passport to my married name!

Now I'm pretty sure she's wrong (I didn't want to question her and kick up a fuss as she can't really tell me what I need to do with my US passport anyway! ) and she let me through fine without any questions besides the name issue, but I just wanted to double check.

My passport matches my BRP. That's all that matters. It doesn't matter that it's in my maiden name as long as they match and there's no problem with me using both my maiden and married names in the UK, right?

I've heard of tons of women leaving their passports and everything left in their maiden names until they get their ILR or just till later on because of the time it takes to have their names changed in their passports and visas and everything after marriage or simply because they just choose not to change their names and not have any problems with it... I don't know why that IO would say that... But I've noticed that IO at Heathrow always seem to have a stick up their you know what's all the time... I would just play nice and ignore what they say, because it's really none of their concern when or if you choose to change the name in your passport so long as it matches your other travel documents and your visa or BRP


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Well, anecdotes aren't evidence, but I use my married name on everything in the UK right down to the naturalisation certificate, but have kept my US passport in my maiden name and don't intend to change it until it's time to renew in 2018. It's never been an issue. I think you probably just got an especially officious IO.

Thanks ladies. 

That's exactly what DH and I thought but it's always nice to have it confirmed. 

Sorry to spam, but can I ask what DH and all the abbreviations stand for?

Dearest husband?

Sorry to spam, but can I ask what DH and all the abbreviations stand for?

Dearest husband?

Yeah...I wondered when I first joined too...and then found this thread http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=10959.0 which was super helpful

Sorry to spam, but can I ask what DH and all the abbreviations stand for?

Dearest husband?

Some may use it as "Damn Husband" if being angry! 
I frequent a forum that changes "DH" to "*He has a name*" and  DW" to "*She has a name*"   - It reminds us there are real people behind those acronyms  

The link above is for general web abbreviations ... Reading through all the posts when I first came here I found this thread ... It has all the immigration abbreviations listed .... Hope it helps ...

 http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=db99dc49dffc5f4854fdb4ff4d24d62c&topic=36015.msg478060#msg478060


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