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Original poster

Passport office won’t issue my passport,help pls

369 replies

Christmaspug · 17/02/2020 07:41

I’ve never really used my first name ,always used my middle name ,.on my wedding certificate the registrar put my middle name first as that’s what everyone calls me.
Passport office want proof of a name change from first name to middle name

Obviously I’ve not got that ,lots of people use their second name when they don’t like their first name,why would I change it officially as they are both my name.
I’m about to loose my £80 fee ,as this has been has been going backwards and forwards for some time ,
I’ve simply not got the proof they want ,
What on Earth can I do
I’m 46 always lived in uk and never had a passport before

OP posts:
ChicCroissant · 17/02/2020 11:31

It's your marriage certificate that is wrong, and I can see the issue with the passport office because it doesn't match your birth certificate (eg birth certificate Anne Barbara Carter, wedding certificate says Barbara Carter). OP is trying to get a passport in the name of Barbara Dean, Dean being her surname now.

So there are no matching documents with any of the same names at the moment, which is what the passport office is asking for.

TheNoodlesIncident · 17/02/2020 11:34

You need to get your marriage certificate amended to show the correct name and make a new application using the correct certificates (birth and marriage).

Why are posters saying your surname changes on marriage? It doesn't, you have to change it subsequently. I got married abroad and flew out as the single Noodles Incident and flew back as the married Noodles Incident. I didn't have to change my name if I didn't want to but I did, so had to produce my birth and marriage certificates to update my passport and notify everyone of the change. My bank was fussy about the marriage certificate as it was in Greek and insisted on its being translated by their preferred translator. But my marriage cert showed that Miss Noodles Incident (Signed in that name) got married to Mr Frankly Marvellous on such a date, in such a place. It doesn't state that I became Mrs Noodles Marvellous because, obviously, I didn't.

I'm finding it hard to believe that a registrar wrote down a different name from that on OP's birth certificate. Yes, mistakes happen, we are all human, etc, but it seems more likely that OP has said that's the name to put down (thinking that it's OK because she's used it for 20+ years). It needs correcting to her legal name, she can change it to what she wants by deed poll in due course but her best option now is to get the marriage certificate changed and go from there, as the marriage certificate is incorrect. And will continue to be, even if she changes her name legally. Because at the time of issue, her legal name was the one on her birth certificate. It's not complicated.

FlamingoAndJohn · 17/02/2020 11:43

Why are posters saying your surname changes on marriage

I don’t think anyone is. Just that if you want to change your name then the name on your marriage certificate and you birth certificate need to match up.

LonginesPrime · 17/02/2020 11:48

Why are posters saying your surname changes on marriage? It doesn't, you have to change it subsequently

A woman might choose not to change her name on marriage, but if she does want to change it, the evidence for that name change is her marriage certificate.

Bluntness100 · 17/02/2020 11:55

Op, what were you thinking when you knowingly had the wrong maiden name put on your marriage certificate and then lied to say it was correct?

ChicCroissant · 17/02/2020 11:55

If the OP wasn't using her marriage certificate to change her surname, then she'd only need her birth certificate for the passport. It's the fact that the two don't match that is the issue.

MaybeeMaybeeNot · 17/02/2020 11:59

Marriage in England and Wales is an opportunity to legally acquire your spouses surname. It is not a requirement for women to change their names.

I would think OP is legally married (contracting vows are made) but the registration is incorrect as she gave incorrect name.

Going back to issuing register office is probably easiest where marriage registration can be corrected.

MaggieFS · 17/02/2020 12:03

Given this level of complexity, I'd get a passport in the birth certificate name. Ignore middle name and married surname and just book travel in birth names. Won't stop OP using whatever she wants for everything else.

LonginesPrime · 17/02/2020 12:12

OP, did they get the marriage register itself wrong, or just your certificate?

If the register is correct, you can probably pay for a copy of the entry and use that for your passport.

ChateauMargaux · 17/02/2020 12:19

You have my sympathies OP. I hope you find someone who can give you the advice you need to get this sorted. I found that calls to the passport helped. I didn't always get the answer I needed first time but did on the second or third call. (Problems with a childs passport, living abroad and renewal when needed for frequent travel).

GiantKitten · 17/02/2020 12:27

They’ve obviously got a lot stricter now (understandably). National security & computer says no have caused the problems Confused

I’m 68 and the name I use isn’t on my original long form birth certificate at all - it got added later, as my THIRD name on a short form cert (family politics 🙄).

My mum went off my first name, never wanted the second name in the first place, & started calling me by my third name when I was about 18 months old.

I was still officially known as Unused-First-Name right through secondary school, but somehow managed to get both driving licence & passport issued as Third Name-First Name in the early 1970s. Marriage cert from 1976 is also Third Name-First Name. (No deed poll required. I can’t remember what the registration process was)

diddl · 17/02/2020 12:35

I'm amazed that people have managed to get a passport in any name other than what is shown on their birth certificate(without proof of namechange)

GiantKitten · 17/02/2020 12:40

Just dug out original passport, issued in 1970 as Third Name - First Name.

Except for the rubber stamps it’s all hand-written - the personal description data in my own writing, on a separate little form they stuck in on page 2. Children were added in by hand then too (no photos).

The past really is a foreign country Sad

adaline · 17/02/2020 12:49

Why are posters saying your surname changes on marriage?

They're not. They're saying if you do want to change your name, you can present your marriage certificate to do so.

But you can't get married using your middle name as your first name and then apply for a passport using a birth certificate that has your names the other way around, unless you've used a deed poll or similar.

adaline · 17/02/2020 12:54

I would think OP is legally married (contracting vows are made) but the registration is incorrect as she gave incorrect name.

But the vows were under a different name. She married as "Jane Mary" not "Mary Jane".

diddl · 17/02/2020 13:01

"She married as "Jane Mary" not "Mary Jane"."

Diana got a couple of Prince Charles' names the wrong way round.

I'm sure that they were married though-and of course that's what witnesses are also for.

But I should imagine that the paperwork had names the correct way!

adaline · 17/02/2020 13:14

But I should imagine that the paperwork had names the correct way!

But OP says they didn't, which is what I'm confused about lol. The whole thing confuses me though to be fair Grin

diddl · 17/02/2020 13:17

"But OP says they didn't, which is what I'm confused about lol."

I wasn't referring to the Op.

notchickenagain · 17/02/2020 13:18

Have the rules changed on changing your name on marriage? I thought you decided at the signing if you wanted to change your name, didn't realise (along with others it seems) that it was a separate process.

PineappleDanish · 17/02/2020 13:18

I also think there's an issue whereby the OP thinks that because she's called herself Vicky Clark for years, even though her birth certificate says Sarah Victoria Clark and because she has lots of random paperwork all saying "Vicky Clark", that it proves that's her name. Sort of a "custom and practice". Use a name for X number of years, that becomes your name.

Which obviously it doesn't.

Bluntness100 · 17/02/2020 13:20

I would think OP is legally married (contracting vows are made

Is there such a thing as a "contracting vow"? Isn't the certificate and the register entry the legal bit? She has no marriage certificate to prove she took any vows. She has no legal certificate in her name. Nor is there likely to be a register entry in her name.

At this stage she simply can't be married, her falsifying her name on her certificate is a clear issue.

LonginesPrime · 17/02/2020 13:27

I thought you decided at the signing if you wanted to change your name, didn't realise (along with others it seems) that it was a separate process

You don't have declare anything at the signing and there's no separate 'name change' process - you just use your marriage cert as evidence you're adopting your husband's surname.

But you obviously have go through the (tedious) process of informing people (bank, HMRC, DVLA, passport office, etc) using the marriage cert as proof as otherwise they wouldn't know.

ChicCroissant · 17/02/2020 13:27

You sign the marriage certificate with your maiden name notchickenagain so the registrar has no idea what you intend to call yourself from that point on. You use the marriage certificate to identify the surname if you have decided to take your husband's surname.

Nobody at all has said you have to change your name on marriage. A marriage certificate does not change your name automatically. It's just a common form of proof if you do take your husband's name.

diddl · 17/02/2020 13:28

You sign your marriage certificate in your maiden name.

If you want to change your name (bank, driving license...), then you show it to prove that you can.

sashh · 17/02/2020 13:44

OP

Go to the free deed poll site.

Enter your 'old' name EXACTLY as it is on your birth certificate, then put your 'new' name as the name you use / want on your passport.

Sign and date it today.

That makes today the 'official' date you changed your name. Send that to the passport office.

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