Documents in Maiden name & Married name for ILR

Yesterday I had my FLR(M) approved!  Yippee! 

Now, on to ILR.  Still a ways off, I know, but best to start planning now for the documents we'll need to collect. 

Right now, my passport and BRP (once it arrives in the next few days) are in my maiden name.

I have a bank account in my married name.

I'm on our council tax under my maiden name.

DH will put me on the other bills once we decided what name to use....

We're considering waiting until just before applying for ILR to change my name on my passport (less than 3 months before applying for ILR to avoid the £1,000 fine.... and hopefully avoiding getting a BRP replacement card which is taking 3-6 months now).

If we do wait, my passport will be in my maiden name for most of the next two years and my BRP will remain unchanged until I am issued a new one for ILR.

If all goes as proposed (if anyone really thinks this won't work, please do say!), when we got for an in-person interview for ILR, I'll have my passport in my married name but my BRP will be in my maiden name.

It makes sense to have all the documents (bank account, bills, etc) in ONE name.  But does it matter if that is:

• my maiden name (matching my passport and BRP now but not matching my passport at our ILR appointment)
• or my married name (not matching my passport until I change it just before applying and not matching my BRP at my appointment, but matching the name my BRP will be issued as)

Thanks! 

There is no issue with keeping your passport and BRP in your maiden name and having everything else in your married name. Many people do this and it's not a problem - your marriage certificate with your married name on it will be used to show that you are the same person who has been receiving all the mail.

The only reason for there to be an issue is if you change your name in your passport, but you don't change your name on your BRP - that is what the £1,000 fine would be for, because it would mean that your passport and BRP don't match and therefore the BRP will be showing false, incorrect data. So, as long as your passport stays in your maiden name, there's no problem.

If you wait to change your name in your passport, until just before you apply for ILR (i.e. less than 3 months before you apply for ILR), it will just be a case of your new visa (BRP) being issued in your married name and therefore it will save you having to change your name on your BRP and then being issued with a new one as well for ILR.

Great!  Thanks, ksand!   

That's how we interpreted what the case worker said, but since people here on UK Yankee seem to know the rules better than the case worker did (he tried to process our visa under the new rules even though we applied mid June). 

The only reason for there to be an issue is if you change your name in your passport, but you don't change your name on your BRP - that is what the £1,000 fine would be for, because it would mean that your passport and BRP don't match and therefore the BRP will be showing false, incorrect data. So, as long as your passport stays in your maiden name, there's no problem.

If you wait to change your name in your passport, until just before you apply for ILR (i.e. less than 3 months before you apply for ILR), it will just be a case of your new visa (BRP) being issued in your married name and therefore it will save you having to change your name on your BRP and then being issued with a new one as well for ILR.

We'd definitely do it within three month and are very aware of the £1,000 fine if there was more than three months between changing my name on my passport and having our ILR in-person appointment (or sending it in by post as a last resort).    And we won't plan on travelling in that time either, since my passport and BRP won't match. 

I couldn't find any posts on here from someone doing the passport name change that close to a visa application, so while it seems to work in my head, I would hope the UKBA wouldn't have some unwritten rule that would apply to us and cause problems with our application.