Passport Help!

[torthecatlady]

I got married a few years ago but thought I wouldn't bother changing my name until it expired as there were a few years left on it.

Fast forward to now and my passport is due to expire in May and I'm travelling in June (already booked flights in married name).

I need to change my picture, name and apply for a new passport.

I'm confused which section of the form to tick in section 1 ... renewal or changes or do I tick both?

I also need to get the pictures signed and include my marriage certificate.

Renewal should be ok catlady.

I would have thought the fact that you are enclosing marriage certificate etc. would easily explain the name change. 😊

I would send off ASAP as these are the busy months for the Passport Office.

No, you are changing something - it is irrelevant that your old passport has expired. Renewal is leaving everything the same. You do know it is cheaper to fill in the form and pay online though, don't you? Then you print off the counter-signatory docs, if necessary, and send them off (with your marriage cert in your case)

The post office will do a passport check for you if you take the form and everything else in.

It's changes you select. I had this when I married a few years back. It will renew automatically with the changes you make so you don't need to select renew.

Brilliant. Thanks for all of the replies.

Thanks for the tip about renewing online. I did notice that it's about £10 cheaper, however I already had some spare relatively nice passport style photos that need using up. If I do it online I need to ask dh to take my photo and I have bad acne at the moment and I just know I will end up looking like Shrek

So, I'll tick changes, ask my teacher friend to sign the form and photos, send off form, cheque, photos and marriage certificate!

They don't ask for much do they?

Oh and I need to remember to send back my old passport too!

When i renewed my dd's passport last week we used paper photos - it wasn't digital. I would have thought that if they need countersigning then the signatory needs something to sign! And I renewed it online. Obviously then you can't use check and send, so you need to be careful that the info you input is correct, but that's not hard!

New passport turned up today, so thanks for all the help! It only took a week from posting!

You shouldn't have needed a countersignatory unless your appearance had changed significantly.

I'm just about to do the same, OP. Did you have to send your actual marriages certificate? I'm loathe to do so in case it goes missing or gets damaged.

OP, did you get your old passport returned to you? I need to renew mine and want to keep my old one. TIA.

Nairobiblue yes, you get your old passport back - the corner of the cover is clipped to show it is no longer current, but all your visas etc are still there.

Yes you get the old one back with the corners clipped as pp said. I have all our old ones. It's funny to see how the kids have changed over the years!

Yes I got my old passport back.

And I sent a copy of our marriage certificate (so not the handwritten copy, another copy which cost £3 which got sent back with the old passport.

That's good to know - thanks - I have a typed official copy too which is what I hope to be able to use