Ok, I'm pretty positive I'm not the first person to go through this but I've been working about this for quite awhile. My US passport is in my maiden name and contains my settlement visa. This passport is due to expire in December 2012 but the visa not until September 2013. The US passport is also very nearly filled with stamps and so I have limited travel that I can do with it right now. I've read that it's no problem to get my new passport in my married name (which is only hyphenated with my maiden) by mail from the UK but I don't want to pay the fee to have the visa switched over to the new passport, especially when there will only be 8 months left on it. I'm just concerned that if I travel outside the UK and carry both passports, will I also have to always have my marriage certificate with me to prove the name change and that I am the same person? On the spousal visa it does state my husband's name as well but just to be careful, should I always have the certificate? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. xx K
