Last Name Change

Hi Everyone,
What’s the best time to change your last name?
My wife’s ILR is coming up and we will do the citizenship application after (but there’s some travel in between).

Should she do it before the ILR or after? Before the citizenship application or after? Does it matter either way?

How do you go about actually doing it? Presumably the ILR/citizenship applications have to match the name in your passport? So that probably means we need to update the passport first before the applications

I’m looking for the easiest option here. There’s no rush.

Thank you!

The best (quickest, easiest and cheapest) time to do it is in the 3 months before she applies for ILR.

The name in her passport and BRP must always match, so if she changes her name on her passport, she MUST change her name on her BRP within 3 months, or she can be fined £1000 and have her visa curtailed.

But  if she does the passport name change within the 3 months before applying for ILR, she can simply apply for ILR in the new name without having to change her current BRP.

[If however, she waited and changed the passport name after applying for ILR, she would have to go through a whole application process to update the BRP (including biometrics with UKVCAS), which costs about £180 and takes about 2 months to be processed.]

UK citizenship can ONLY be issued in the name on her foreign passport, so if she wants to be able to use her new name for citizenship she needs to change her passport first.. and as above, the best time to do this is before applying for ILR, so that both her passport and BRP are issued in the same name.

Thanks @ksand24 !! Life saver.

Is there anything special you’ve to do when changing your name on the US passport?

I’m getting the sense that it’s just a “routine renewal” by mail (her passport has been issued more than a year) but reading the instructions here https://uk.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/u-s-passports/renew-an-adult-passport/ I’m a little confused about this:

Evidence of Change of Name – e.g. Marriage Certificate, Change of Name Deed, Statutory Declaration or Court Order

Do they expect the Marriage Certificate to already contain her new last name? Surely not?

Thanks @ksand24 !! Life saver.

Is there anything special you’ve to do when changing your name on the US passport?

I’m getting the sense that it’s just a “routine renewal” by mail (her passport has been issued more than a year) but reading the instructions here https://uk.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/u-s-passports/renew-an-adult-passport/ I’m a little confused about this:

Do they expect the Marriage Certificate to already contain her new last name? Surely not?

Yeah, it should just be a routine renewal, but she provides the marriage certificate - I don't think it has to contain her new name, it just has to show that she is legally married to you, and now wishes to take your name on her passport.

Coming back to this thread

We are thinking of doing the in-person process at Croydon this time. So what constitutes the 3 months before the application date? Is it the date you fill out the stuff online or the date you get an appointment? Must be the former right?