Change name on passport before applying for spousal visa?

As I am working to get all my ducks in a row (way ahead of time... I'm a over-preparer  ), I wondered if I will need to change my maiden name to my married name on my passport before sending it in for the visa application process?

If not, which did you guys find easiest to do? I'll have the time while waiting to hear a decision to change SS card, driver's license, etc, but was unsure what to do about my passport.

TIA!

Your visa will only be issued in the name on your passport, so it depends if you want your visa to be issued in your maiden name or your married name.

It’s much, much quicker and easier to change it in the US before applying for the visa than to do it in the UK after you have the visa... because if you change your name on your passport in the UK, you have 3 months to change your name on your visa or you can be fined £1,000 and have your visa curtailed... but to change it on your visa costs about £200 and takes up to 6 months, during which time you will be without your passport and visa!

So if there’s any chance you will want to change your name on your passport in the future, do it before you apply for the spousal visa . It’ll save a lot of hassle in the future.

Just a quick tip:
It’s easiest for us to help you and give advice if you just make one thread for your application, and just ask all your questions in that one thread... that way we can easily kept track of your application situation and what advice you have already been given, whereas if your questions are in multiple threads, we have to dig through the forum to find them all in order to remember what you have already asked and what advice we have given .


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As I am working to get all my ducks in a row (way ahead of time... I'm a over-preparer  ), I wondered if I will need to change my maiden name to my married name on my passport before sending it in for the visa application process?

If not, which did you guys find easiest to do? I'll have the time while waiting to hear a decision to change SS card, driver's license, etc, but was unsure what to do about my passport.

TIA!

Hi , we got married on the 28th and on Nov 1st I sent away for my passport name change .... I added an extra 15 dollars and change for a next day return and mailed it next day (it should have been received on sat)... i choose to change my name before applying for my Spousal Visa just to save money from doing it when i get there and also, to be able to enter with my married name now... I know it adds a bit before I can apply but, it will let me have time to make sure we have all the paperwork in order... I plan on going in the next week and change my driver's license and social security card  ...hope this can helps any... yay...good thoughts going your way

Hi , we got married on the 28th and on Nov 1st I sent away for my passport name change .... I added an extra 15 dollars and change for a next day return and mailed it next day (it should have been received on sat)... i choose to change my name before applying for my Spousal Visa just to save money from doing it when i get there and also, to be able to enter with my married name now... I know it adds a bit before I can apply but, it will let me have time to make sure we have all the paperwork in order... I plan on going in the next week and change my driver's license and social security card  ...hope this can helps any... yay...good thoughts going your way

Yay!! Congrats on your marriage!!

I haven't decided what I'm going to do about my passport yet. But my fiance would rather I wait to have my name changed for several reasons... 1. My passport doesn't expire until mid-2025, which will see me through until I need to apply for ILR (and then some)... 2. My Global Entry doesn't expire until mid-2022... 3. It would be a waste of money to re-apply so soon... and 4. He doesn't want to add on any extra time to our wait of being together again after we get married (my favorite reason LOL).

I'm only considering getting it changed before I apply for my visa because I'm not sure what hassle I may have if my passport/visa name doesn't match all my other ID's. I know I can carry my marriage certificate, but I'm still pondering it.

Good luck on your visa process! I'm watching everyone's progress closely since all the new changes have taken place. I hope it's all streamlined soon!

It’s not necessary, but if you can do it now I think it would make life easier.

I didn’t change my name on my passport, mainly because I still had 7+ years validity left on it, and I didn’t want to spend the extra $110. So I planned to go through the whole spouse visa, FLR(M), and ILR process while having my passport in my maiden name, then apply for my UK citizenship/passport in my married name. However, I’m now reading that things have changed and the final step isn’t so easy...will keep reading and find out exactly what I’m going to have to do in the next few months. Other than this possible glitch, I haven’t had any problems getting a UK drivers licence, NI number, etc. in my married name.

In retrospect, in the grand scheme of things and how much the immigration process costs, $110 isn’t that much more, so I’d probably just go ahead and change my passport if I had the time.

However, I’m now reading that things have changed and the final step isn’t so easy...will keep reading and find out exactly what I’m going to have to do in the next few months.

It used to be that you could apply for UK citizenship in any name you wanted, so you could keep your US passport and visa in your maiden name and apply for citizenship in your married name.

Not anymore though. Now you can only apply for UK citizenship in the name on your US passport.

So if your US passport is in your maiden name and you want to have everything in your married name, you would have to:
- apply for citizenship in your maiden name
- apply for your UK passport in your maiden name
- change your name in your US passport
- change your name in your UK passport
... so that means paying 3 passport application fees in the space of a few weeks

Or alternatively:
- you change your name on your US passport now, or you could do it just before applying for FLR(M) or ILR
- apply for citizenship in your married name
- apply for your UK passport in your married name

In retrospect, in the grand scheme of things and how much the immigration process costs, $110 isn’t that much more, so I’d probably just go ahead and change my passport if I had the time.

Yeah, for the immigration process, you’re looking at £10,000-12,000 over the next 5 years... so $110 (£84) is nothing in comparison.



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There's never a good time. I'm afraid.

I didn't changed my name after getting married because I didn't want to spend the extra money and the extra time apart (we got married right when the systems were changing over for travel to Mexico and Canada and there was a huge backlog even if you did expedite). When I went to do it several years later after my passport finally expired it was was a lot more money and effort to do. But significantly it was going to take A LOT of time and I needed a new passport ASAP for a work trip.

So here we are married 10 years and I still haven't changed it. I go by Mrs. XXX socially but anything legal/official I use my maiden name. Just too many other things we'd rather spend our money on!

Issues that can arise if you don't change it before ILR:

1.  You'll need to ensure you have an item of mail in your maiden name to sit the Life in the UK test (this doesn't sound like a big deal but has cause major headaches for others).

2.  If you plan to have children, you'll potentially have a different name to them depending on what you and your husband decide to do for surnames.  (I'm old fashioned and took my husbands names.  It was a big thing for me to have one family name).

3.  You have to remember to book travel in your maiden name.

Otherwise, no biggie.  I have worked for one employer who would only allow me to be known as the name on my "right to work" documentation (my maiden name at that time, I then did the long, expensive, painful process of changing my name on my visa from inside the UK),

Yay!! Congrats on your marriage!!

I haven't decided what I'm going to do about my passport yet. But my fiance would rather I wait to have my name changed for several reasons... 1. My passport doesn't expire until mid-2025, which will see me through until I need to apply for ILR (and then some)... 2. My Global Entry doesn't expire until mid-2022... 3. It would be a waste of money to re-apply so soon... and 4. He doesn't want to add on any extra time to our wait of being together again after we get married (my favorite reason LOL).

I'm only considering getting it changed before I apply for my visa because I'm not sure what hassle I may have if my passport/visa name doesn't match all my other ID's. I know I can carry my marriage certificate, but I'm still pondering it.

Good luck on your visa process! I'm watching everyone's progress closely since all the new changes have taken place. I hope it's all streamlined soon!

ahhhh...all very good reasons....    Your day is coming up soon YAY  ...Thank you, I am soooooo stressed LOL.. getting all this paperwork is a chore and second guessing myself ughhhh... but it will all be good 

Tre and I (same sex) have provisional plans to marry in early April, and then we'd like to get straight into applying for his spouse visa.  If we get one of our passport names changed first, this potentially delays our visa application.  We both actually got new passports this year so we'd like to utilise the time on them! We don't plan to have children together (e.g. adopt) any time soon, if at all, and neither of us feels strongly about the whole name change thing - we'd both be quite happy to continue with our different names possibly until after he has ILR/citizenship...

Any thoughts on our best way forward?

Tre and I (same sex) have provisional plans to marry in early April, and then we'd like to get straight into applying for his spouse visa.  If we get one of our passport names changed first, this potentially delays our visa application.  We both actually got new passports this year so we'd like to utilise the time on them! We don't plan to have children together (e.g. adopt) any time soon, if at all, and neither of us feels strongly about the whole name change thing - we'd both be quite happy to continue with our different names possibly until after he has ILR/citizenship...

Any thoughts on our best way forward?

If you renewed your passport less than 12 months ago (from the time you change your name), there is no charge. 

Oh, interesting.  I renewed mine at the end of May, and Tre got his on 12th June, and we plan to get married early April next year.  So there may be no charge, but how much will any name change delay us?
How bad would it be if we didn't change either of our names, so we both kept our birth names right through to applying for ILR?

It used to be that you could apply for UK citizenship in any name you wanted, so you could keep your US passport and visa in your maiden name and apply for citizenship in your married name.

Not anymore though. Now you can only apply for UK citizenship in the name on your US passport.

Yeah, I'm just finding out now that it's changed in the last couple years. And my beautiful plan is foiled! Ah well. That's UKVI for us!

Or alternatively:
- you change your name on your US passport now, or you could do it just before applying for FLR(M) or ILR
- apply for citizenship in your married name
- apply for your UK passport in your married name

I think I'll probably have to end up going through citizenship & UK passport with maiden name, but how would this option above work exactly? I have FLR and will be applying soon for ILR. If I made the change before applying for ILR, to change the name on my BRP it would cost £161/£771 and if I made the change after getting ILR, it would be £229/£839, I understand. If I applied for a name change "just before applying" for ILR, would I not have to change my BRP? I know there's a 3 month window after changing your passport to change the BRP or facing a hefty fine and consequences.

Oh, interesting.  I renewed mine at the end of May, and Tre got his on 12th June, and we plan to get married early April next year.  So there may be no charge, but how much will any name change delay us?

I think about 4-6 weeks, but you can pay to expedite to get it in 2-3 weeks if you have urgent travel plans.

See:
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/apply-renew-passport/change-correct.html

How bad would it be if we didn't change either of our names, so we both kept our birth names right through to applying for ILR?

It would be fine, but you'd need to make sure you booked all travel in the name on your passports.

You can always change it just before applying for either FLR(M) or ILR... as long as you do it less than 3 months before applying for the new visa, you won't need to change the name on the BRP card as well.

I think I'll probably have to end up going through citizenship & UK passport with maiden name, but how would this option above work exactly? I have FLR and will be applying soon for ILR. If I made the change before applying for ILR, to change the name on my BRP it would cost £161/£771 and if I made the change after getting ILR, it would be £229/£839, I understand. If I applied for a name change "just before applying" for ILR, would I not have to change my BRP? I know there's a 3 month window after changing your passport to change the BRP or facing a hefty fine and consequences.

As long as you change your name on your passport within the 3 months before applying for ILR, it will only cost $110 (price of a US passport), and you won't need to do anything with your BRP. This is because you have 3 months to change the BRP after changing the passport, but if you will be applying for ILR within those 3 months, you'll just get your ILR issued in your married name and your old BRP will be cancelled anyway.

For example:
- not more than 3 months before applying for ILR, you change your name on your passport ($110)
-  your ILR is issued in your married name (cost of ILR)
- you apply for your UK citizenship and passport in your married name (cost of citizenship and passport)
And that's it.