Passport refused - uncancelled passport in maiden name

Mashec wrote:
Yes, Russian. I can't change my documents via embassy. If I could I wd have done it 3 years ago. The whole problem lies in the fact that I have to go to Russia to change my internal passport and then come bk and change external passport via embassy. Embassy refused to give me letter to prove it, they said Passport Office needs to make official request to them then they will give them information. I told it to Passport Office but they said no, they won't do any requests. So its like a circle.
p.s. it wasn't foolish because rules say to do so 5 days since you get certificate or you pay fine 1 000£. Foolish was to listen to the guy from Nationality checking Service who advised which name to write on my application for citizenship

Russian Embassy never will say that they can't change name in your passport because they can and they do it.
You do not need to change name in your internal passport if you do not have registration in Russia. If you do have registration in Russia, you can cancel your registration through embassy, although you may not wish do do this. I know many people would like to keep their registration for various of reasons.
Next step after you cancel your registration is to apply for name change by certificate of name change. You would need to show evidence (documents) of name change whenever in your life (marriage, divorce, etc) including your birth certificate.
And then you apply to change your external passport in your new name.
If you would like ever to change your external passport, you could do it in Russia in any FMS by showing your certificate of name change and external passport.
All together it will take approximately 6 months minimum. During this time you probably won't be able to go abroad, as you don't have ILR anymore or british passport yet.
This really stressful, but don't waste too much time on arguments with HMPO as this is useless. Good luck!

ouflak1 wrote:Is there a such thing as class action lawsuits in the UK? Because if there is, you women have an iron-clad case against the UK for violation UDHR Section 13. I don't know what hope the UK government would have of defending itself.

I don't know about it but I am sooo angry that I wouldn't mind to make a collective case and take them all to a court! It's absolutely unnecessary problem which has been created on empty place. I don't understand why they take my biometric enrolment every time then??? I don't believe it's very hard to track name of a married woman. Plus, to be fair I will use Russian passport only to go to Russia. And I will need to show two passports at the boarder anyway. I really don't see how this can affect security of the UK?!


To be honest I don't even care about meaning behind all this but I don't understand why they can't provide clear rules and guidelines to apply for citizenship?! The sad thing is that I actually paid money to a professional person to check my application before sending it to Home Office and I followed his advice! Why then Nationality Checking Service is not aware of this rule?! Is it a profesional incompetence of one individual officer or do they just deliberately want to put people in this situation?! This is a question for me......

Mashec wrote:

JohnnyZee wrote:Mashec - what is your aim here?

1) are you trying to amend your certificate of naturalisation (near to impossible) OR
2) Are you trying to get a UK passport in your maiden name?

If only 2, why do you really care about amending certificate? Just make your own deed poll, use 2 witnesses and send to HMPO. Write a cover letter what you are trying to do. Also print out gov.UK website which says you need a deed poll when certificate has different name:

https://www.gov.uk/changing-passport-in ... -documents

I don't think Scotland rules are different unless you are looking to enroll your deed poll in gazette. Besides, I assume you are not born in Scotland so that probably wouldn't apply. So best to use your own deed poll.

This way, you don't need to do anything to your foreign passport! It stays the same. Happy days

OMG! If it is true than it is absolutely amazing! But I don't understand why passport office has never told me about it???? The guy from the hotline told me I need to change certificate of naturalization if I want British Passport on my maiden name and never mentioned deed poll Same women who called me asking to get letter from the embassy! That's why I was looking for how to amend certificate.....

and who can be my witnesses? Anyone? Is there any requirements?

JohnnyZee, thank you for your advice but it won't work

I called Passport Office hot line, I asked them if I can use statutory declaration of changing my name. A guy on the phone said I can but I still need to make Home Office aware about it. So, in a way I see the situation right now I still need to send documents to Home Office. They might not change it on the certificate but I don't even need them to do it. All I need them to do is send me a letter or make an endorsement that they officially have accepted changing of my name. This statement will be enough for Passport Office to leave me alone.

To be honest I don't think Home Office has a right to refuse to do that. As a British Citizen I have a right to call myself any name I want so if I provide enough evidence that I use my maiden name only they sort of will have to accept it. However, after what happened I can't be sure in anything anymore

Marii wrote:

Mashec wrote:
Yes, Russian. I can't change my documents via embassy. If I could I wd have done it 3 years ago. The whole problem lies in the fact that I have to go to Russia to change my internal passport and then come bk and change external passport via embassy. Embassy refused to give me letter to prove it, they said Passport Office needs to make official request to them then they will give them information. I told it to Passport Office but they said no, they won't do any requests. So its like a circle.
p.s. it wasn't foolish because rules say to do so 5 days since you get certificate or you pay fine 1 000£. Foolish was to listen to the guy from Nationality checking Service who advised which name to write on my application for citizenship

Russian Embassy never will say that they can't change name in your passport because they can and they do it.
You do not need to change name in your internal passport if you do not have registration in Russia. If you do have registration in Russia, you can cancel your registration through embassy, although you may not wish do do this. I know many people would like to keep their registration for various of reasons.
Next step after you cancel your registration is to apply for name change by certificate of name change. You would need to show evidence (documents) of name change whenever in your life (marriage, divorce, etc) including your birth certificate.
And then you apply to change your external passport in your new name.
If you would like ever to change your external passport, you could do it in Russia in any FMS by showing your certificate of name change and external passport.
All together it will take approximately 6 months minimum. During this time you probably won't be able to go abroad, as you don't have ILR anymore or british passport yet.
This really stressful, but don't waste too much time on arguments with HMPO as this is useless. Good luck!

Yes, you are correct. It's not impossible to change your name but it's very difficult, and I explained it to Passport Office. I also explained embassy my situation and asked them to send me letter where they just describe the procedure but they refused to do it unless they will receive an official request from Passport Office. They also mentioned that Passport Office doesn't will to communicate with them properly which says to me that they had issues with each other before.

Yes, I do have registration in Russia and I'm not willing to change it. However, as far as I remember when I spoke to embassy in 2013 I've been told they don't have any rights to do anything with internal passports anymore. They can change my external passport not a problem and this does take up to 6 months. But if I want to change my name I need to change it in internal passport first In Russia and I can't do it with my marriage certificate. Scottish certificate doesn't have info saying what names spouses keep after a marriage so in Russian passport office its not a legal base to change name due to a marriage. If this information was there I would change my name not a problem as it doesn't take long. But in my case if I want to change my name I need to do it like I'm willing to change my name as my own wish. So I need to do it via registrar office with my birth certificate and this is very looong process. When I've been in Russia in 2013 and I faced this problem I made a decision that I won't do it. Usually you can make a power of attorney and someone can deal with paper work for you but in the case of birth certificates and passports you can't do power of attorney you are the only one who can send and receive documents.

So, as you see all together it's one big hassle. I'm not going to fight for the justice with Passport Office and Home Office (however, I'm so angry now that I wouldn't mind to take them to a court after all) but its easier for me (and faster) to change my name in British documents and send them to Home Office then to change my name in Russian documents. At the end of the day both countries gave me a right to choose my name, so I don't need to use my marriage name if I don#t want to. And this is what makes me angry, British Passport Office didn''t give me a choice: change your name in your Russian passport or change it in your certificate of naturalization. They were pushing me on the phone to change my Russian passport and I told them very strictly I'm not willing to do that because its too complicated. Only thanks to a guy from this forum and a guy from Passport Office hotline I actually found out about option 2.

I believe this information should be clearly provided as a guidelines to a application for a citizenship and all officers of Nationality Checking Service MUST be aware of it, so people can sort out their documents before they get certificate of naturalization with a "wrong" name on it.

Mashec wrote:....

To be honest I don't even care about meaning behind all this but I don't understand why they can't provide clear rules and guidelines to apply for citizenship?! The sad thing is that I actually paid money to a professional person to check my application before sending it to Home Office and I followed his advice! Why then Nationality Checking Service is not aware of this rule?! Is it a profesional incompetence of one individual officer or do they just deliberately want to put people in this situation?! This is a question for me......

Although AN application & passport forms have been updated over the past year (since this first came up and caught out my wife), it seems the training and knowledge transfer has still not made its way out to various helplines, to NCS and to Post Offfice Check&Send clerks.

Part of the problem seems to be that although citizenship is regulated by legislation, the issue of passports is by Royal Prerogative (a gift of the Queen if you will).
So this is down to more than the usual left-hand versus right hand type of problem that is typical in government departments.

A very sad & frustrating state of affairs. I feel your pain.

noajthan wrote:

Mashec wrote:....

To be honest I don't even care about meaning behind all this but I don't understand why they can't provide clear rules and guidelines to apply for citizenship?! The sad thing is that I actually paid money to a professional person to check my application before sending it to Home Office and I followed his advice! Why then Nationality Checking Service is not aware of this rule?! Is it a profesional incompetence of one individual officer or do they just deliberately want to put people in this situation?! This is a question for me......

Although AN application & passport forms have been updated over the past year (since this first came up and caught out my wife), it seems the training and knowledge transfer has still not made its way out to various helplines, to NCS and to Post Offfice Check&Send clerks.

Part of the problem seems to be that although citizenship is regulated by legislation, the issue of passports is by Royal Prerogative (a gift of the Queen if you will).
So this is down to more than the usual left-hand versus right hand type of problem that is typical in government departments.

A very sad & frustrating state of affairs. I feel your pain.

This is exactly how I feel: two departments can't reach agreement whose responsibility is to track names. It seems to me that Home Office doesn't want to look at this type of problems properly as it will make time of applications process longer. So, they just issue you certificate on a name you ask and let Passport Office deal with the rest (at the end of the day their job is to check if you satisfy requirements for getting citizenship or not and nothing else). And Passport Office, in its turn, doesn't want to argue against Home Office decision (as they are more and less one organisation), so they push people to change name in their foreign passport as hard as they can. However, it's not always the best option and sometimes it's even impossible!

I also feel like it's fairly new problem because they don't have clear procedure what to do. That's why they are trying to get papers from embassies and trying to convince you that Home Office won;t change your name on a certificate of naturalisation. It's just one total mess.

Anyway, thank you for your support. I'm still waiting for my documents from Passport Office. Hopefully, everything will be sorted stress free and relatively soon.

Mashec,

You do not need to change your internal passport if you are not register in Russia. But because you have registration and do not wish to cancel it, you can't change your name via Russian Embassy.
Change name in Russia via Registry Office can be very quickly. I managed to do it within 1 working day. Anyway, as you don't have ILR how would you travel to Russia?
I didn't hear anything about letter of name change, which Home Office can write to you like a proof of name change. HMPO demand was to change Naturalisation Certificate, which is Home Office refused to do. On your place I would confirm this with your case worker, as this may not acceptable with him/her. HMPO hotline gave me various advice, which my case worker wouldn't accept. So not to lose your time, check it with case worker.
Anyway. Home Office is very slow on their reply. I sent them letter in July as request to amend my naturalisation certificate, they replied in December, saying they couldn't do this. They even didn't know that I got my UK passport by that time.
Another option, if you will write to HMPO, state you can change your Russian Passport only in Russia, but because you do not have your ILR card and can't travel abroad, ask them to put observation in your passport that you are also knowing as (your maiden name) and promise to go to Russia and change name in you Russian passport as soon as you received your UK passport. I am not sure, byt maybe it will help?

P.S. If you read Naturalisation guidance, there is a paragraph explaining very clearabout name change, which was added in July 2015. When I applied for naturalisation, these rules didn't exist. They changed them when my application were in progress. So it wasn't my fault and it wasn't Nationality Checking Service fault as well. However, HMPO and others didn't care.

Marii wrote:Mashec,

You do not need to change your internal passport if you are not register in Russia. But because you have registration and do not wish to cancel it, you can't change your name via Russian Embassy.
Change name in Russia via Registry Office can be very quickly. I managed to do it within 1 working day. Anyway, as you don't have ILR how would you travel to Russia?
I didn't hear anything about letter of name change, which Home Office can write to you like a proof of name change. HMPO demand was to change Naturalisation Certificate, which is Home Office refused to do. On your place I would confirm this with your case worker, as this may not acceptable with him/her. HMPO hotline gave me various advice, which my case worker wouldn't accept. So not to lose your time, check it with case worker.
Anyway. Home Office is very slow on their reply. I sent them letter in July as request to amend my naturalisation certificate, they replied in December, saying they couldn't do this. They even didn't know that I got my UK passport by that time.
Another option, if you will write to HMPO, state you can change your Russian Passport only in Russia, but because you do not have your ILR card and can't travel abroad, ask them to put observation in your passport that you are also knowing as (your maiden name) and promise to go to Russia and change name in you Russian passport as soon as you received your UK passport. I am not sure, byt maybe it will help?

P.S. If you read Naturalisation guidance, there is a paragraph explaining very clearabout name change, which was added in July 2015. When I applied for naturalisation, these rules didn't exist. They changed them when my application were in progress. So it wasn't my fault and it wasn't Nationality Checking Service fault as well. However, HMPO and others didn't care.

Yes, that's correct. I explained this to my case worker. I asked her does she realize that to change my name I need to quite my job, go to Russia, change it and then not to able to enter UK becasue I don't have visa? She said yes, if that's what you need to do! What else can I discuss with this person? ))))

The situation might be changed now but in 2013 my registrar office said it takes up to 1.5 months in average to change your name because they will need to send request to embassy, so it wasn't the issue of one day at all.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... icates.pdf

"UKBA will add endorsements to certificates in cases where satisfactory evidence of a change to personal details has been supplied"

"UKBA does not produce standardised endorsements, however some examples have been provided below:
Where a change of name has been officially accepted:
I HEREBY CERTIFY that this is a true extract of the Home Office record of the Certificate of Naturalisation (or Registration) issued to *SURNAME* FORENAMES (new names)"

This is what I want to get - endorsement from HO saying that they have accepted change of my name. I don't know how it looks like. it might be a letter or additional line in the certificate.

The reason why I think it should work is that I want to do statuary declaration of changing my name which is an official procedure of changing name in Scotland. Say for instance, I've never applied for passport, I've just received the cerfitificate of naturalization which is a sort of birth certificate. I have a right to change my name and be called any name I want to. So, I do statuary declaration, change all my documents and notify HO that I've changed my name. If I was born in Scotland I would need to notify registrar office about it. They won't re-roll a certificate of naturalization (as they won't change name on your birth certificate either) and write a different name on it but they have to update their system saying Mrs YYY was naturalized as "XXX", changed her name on XX XX XX for "YYY". And that's all I need from them, the statement that they accepted change of my name. I don't think there should be any issue with this at all. But yes, it can take ages. So as cancellation of my registration in Russia, registration at embassy and changing my external passport.

What I don't understand is an attitude of my case worker towards pushing me to change my foreign passport. She spent so much time trying to understand what's going in Russia instead of just explaining me that I have two options there and let me decide which way I want to go. I mean does she really care which name I will keep? Or are they trying to force all women keep married names now?

p.s. I applied for naturalization in September 2015, I asked NCS which name I should write in the application as I have my Russian passport and my ILR on my maiden name? The officer asked me which name i want to keep in my British passport, I said married name, he said then write your married name and explanation.
This is what I don't understand here. NCS knew I am not going to change my name in foreign passport. HO knew I am not going to do that. But both let me go with married name on a certificate. So, what is it? None of them knew I will have a problem with passport office? or none of them cared? Or they deliberately wanted me to go for it? Or are they still don't know what to do with different names situation?

Called Passport Office to ask where are my documents as they told me they sent it on Thursday. Shall get it tomorrow. Meanwhile I called Home Office and explained my situation. I told them I'm going to do statuary declaration about changing my name and change all my official documents. They said they will be able to change my name on the certificate of naturalisation in this case. It will take up to 10 weeks and will cost 162£. I asked them if they will change my name or they will do endorsement, they said they will change my name on it.

The guy on a phone said I need to feel application for getting dublicate of certificate of naturalisation and provide all the evidences that I've stopped to use my married name. I'm a little bit doubt that I need to feel application for getting dublicate as I'm not replacing lost or damaged certificate. I think I'll need to write explanation letter: https://www.gov.uk/get-replacement-citi ... ertificate

But the main point that it is possible to change your name on the certificate of naturalisation by using formal procedure of changing your name: https://www.gov.uk/changing-passport-in ... -documents

In my case it is statuary declaration: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... ations.pdf

brightlight wrote:hellonewhere

Hello Everybody,
Congratulation on hellonewhere and few other people who have successfully received the First British Passport in the new name.

I am in the same situation just found the article and found that i am not the only one.

My first British passport application submitted since 16 Febuary 2015, Almost 10 months now. As you imagine , i have been calling and dealing with PO every day/week. Untill now still pending waiting for the policy department to approve on my application.

The issue is that i have changed my name legally by Deedpoll. I followed all instruction very well. After i changed my name , the PO said that my new name does not match my current uncancelled passport - which is Thai passport and by law we can not change our name to what i have change in the UK.

So the PO sent my case to the policy department and i have been waiting for the solution.

Eventhough, i have called them to let them know that there are so many people who are in the same situation like me. They already got their new passport with the observation on the British passport, The PO said they still need to wait for someone in the policy department to tell them and authorizes that they could do it that way.

So i am waiting patiently , hoping to be able to get away for holiday at Christmas.

How are all of you doing ?
Any good news to update for us ?

Good Luck

Brightlight

Hello, I had posted before last year that I am in the same situation about me changing my name after my citizenship ceremony.

It became a problem which is still on pending.
At the moment my waiting time passes a year already.

I just wonder who are still waiting. Are there many people out there in the same case like me.
How long is the longest waiting time ever heard on this board.
Thank you.

brightlight wrote:

brightlight wrote:hellonewhere

Hello Everybody,
Congratulation on hellonewhere and few other people who have successfully received the First British Passport in the new name.

I am in the same situation just found the article and found that i am not the only one.

My first British passport application submitted since 16 Febuary 2015, Almost 10 months now. As you imagine , i have been calling and dealing with PO every day/week. Untill now still pending waiting for the policy department to approve on my application.

The issue is that i have changed my name legally by Deedpoll. I followed all instruction very well. After i changed my name , the PO said that my new name does not match my current uncancelled passport - which is Thai passport and by law we can not change our name to what i have change in the UK.

So the PO sent my case to the policy department and i have been waiting for the solution.

Eventhough, i have called them to let them know that there are so many people who are in the same situation like me. They already got their new passport with the observation on the British passport, The PO said they still need to wait for someone in the policy department to tell them and authorizes that they could do it that way.

So i am waiting patiently , hoping to be able to get away for holiday at Christmas.

How are all of you doing ?
Any good news to update for us ?

Good Luck

Brightlight

Hello, I had posted before last year that I am in the same situation about me changing my name after my citizenship ceremony.

It became a problem which is still on pending.
At the moment my waiting time passes a year already.

I just wonder who are still waiting. Are there many people out there in the same case like me.
How long is the longest waiting time ever heard on this board.
Thank you.

OMG! Over one year! That's terrible!
Did you change your name to married name using deed poll?

Hi guys - my deed of name change has been accepted by HMPO. I called in today and was told that interview letter is on the way. There was no need to get certificate amended with Home Office. Hope it works out for you too.

JohnnyZee wrote:Hi guys - my deed of name change has been accepted by HMPO. I called in today and was told that interview letter is on the way. There was no need to get certificate amended with Home Office. Hope it works out for you too.

That's just another example of what a mess the whole situation is! I asked this question passport hotline and they told me no, you need to change your name on the certificate as well

But anyway... Congradulations! You are almost there!!!

Mashec wrote:

JohnnyZee wrote:Hi guys - my deed of name change has been accepted by HMPO. I called in today and was told that interview letter is on the way. There was no need to get certificate amended with Home Office. Hope it works out for you too.

That's just another example of what a mess the whole situation is! I asked this question passport hotline and they told me no, you need to change your name on the certificate as well

But anyway... Congradulations! You are almost there!!!

Mashec - don't place too much importance on what people on the advice line tell you. They are just trying to answer your questions based on a script. What you need to do is to write to your HMPO case worker (send letter via post) and explain everything. Print out section of gov.uk website which says deed poll with certificate is sufficient. Make sure you state you want to keep same name as the one in foreign passport. I am sure that will work. I think trying to amend name on certificate will take very long and Home Office seem to be more incompetent/inefficient than HMPO in my experience. Find solution via HMPO. All the best.

Hi everyone,
I have been a silent reader of this topic for a while, hoping I won't have the same problem. Well, I do now!

I became a citizen in my original Bulgarian name. Send my passport application with a name change to become XXXX-YYYY where XXXX is the name of my husband followed by my birth surname YYYY.

The HMPO said I need to have my naturalization certificate changed, as well as surrender/start a procedure for surrendering my Bulgarian passport. The Bulgarian authorities responded that there is no such thing and you cannot surrender a valid passport. Another complication - since Bulgaria doesn't recognise same-sex marriages, there is no legal basis for me to change my name on my Bulgarian passport, hence the whole thing of having a British passport!!!

I don't know what to do know, should I change my Certificate with the Home Office, then plead with the HMPO that I can't surrender my Bulgaria passport?

euapplicant15 wrote:Hi everyone,
I have been a silent reader of this topic for a while, hoping I won't have the same problem. Well, I do now!

I became a citizen in my original Bulgarian name. Send my passport application with a name change to become XXXX-YYYY where XXXX is the name of my husband followed by my birth surname YYYY.

The HMPO said I need to have my naturalization certificate changed, as well as surrender/start a procedure for surrendering my Bulgarian passport. The Bulgarian authorities responded that there is no such thing and you cannot surrender a valid passport. Another complication - since Bulgaria doesn't recognise same-sex marriages, there is no legal basis for me to change my name on my Bulgarian passport, hence the whole thing of having a British passport!!!

I don't know what to do know, should I change my Certificate with the Home Office, then plead with the HMPO that I can't surrender my Bulgaria passport?

Hello, euapplicant15,

I don't understand why they ask you to surrender your Bulgarian passport to be honest. They usually ask to change your name on the certificate of naturalisation OR to change your name on foreign passport, not to change your name on the certificate of naturalisation AND to cancel your foreign passport.

If you have same name on the certificate of naturalisation and in your Bulgarian passport and you also use the same name on all your official documents, will it not be easier for you to withdrawal your passport application and re-apply with your YYYY name? They can hold your case max up to 6 months, so if you fix your problems during this time then you don't need to pay another fee.

Also, I've been told by one of the advisers from the passport hotline if you have your birth name on the certificate of naturalisation and your birth name in your foreign passport, you can put your husbands name or double name in observation, so they can issue you British passport with the name Mr C YYYY with a note "also known as MR C XXXX". But you better call to the hotline by yourself and ask this question or write to your case worker.

Mashec wrote:

euapplicant15 wrote:Hi everyone,
I have been a silent reader of this topic for a while, hoping I won't have the same problem. Well, I do now!

I became a citizen in my original Bulgarian name. Send my passport application with a name change to become XXXX-YYYY where XXXX is the name of my husband followed by my birth surname YYYY.

The HMPO said I need to have my naturalization certificate changed, as well as surrender/start a procedure for surrendering my Bulgarian passport. The Bulgarian authorities responded that there is no such thing and you cannot surrender a valid passport. Another complication - since Bulgaria doesn't recognise same-sex marriages, there is no legal basis for me to change my name on my Bulgarian passport, hence the whole thing of having a British passport!!!

I don't know what to do know, should I change my Certificate with the Home Office, then plead with the HMPO that I can't surrender my Bulgaria passport?

Hello, euapplicant15,

I don't understand why they ask you to surrender your Bulgarian passport to be honest. They usually ask to change your name on the certificate of naturalisation OR to change your name on foreign passport, not to change your name on the certificate of naturalisation AND to cancel your foreign passport.

If you have same name on the certificate of naturalisation and in your Bulgarian passport and you also use the same name on all your official documents, will it not be easier for you to withdrawal your passport application and re-apply with your YYYY name? They can hold your case max up to 6 months, so if you fix your problems during this time then you don't need to pay another fee.

Also, I've been told by one of the advisers from the passport hotline if you have your birth name on the certificate of naturalisation and your birth name in your foreign passport, you can put your husbands name or double name in observation, so they can issue you British passport with the name Mr C YYYY with a note "also known as MR C XXXX". But you better call to the hotline by yourself and ask this question or write to your case worker.

Thank you for the reply Mashec. I just called the helpline with more questions and this time they told me I have to surrender my Bulgarian citizenship, not just passport!!! OMG, the people working there have no idea what they are talking about I have requested for the examiner to give me a call so I can discuss next steps (one of which is having my BG name in the British passport with the observation 'also known as XXX-YYY').

Thank you for the reply Mashec. I just called the helpline with more questions and this time they told me I have to surrender my Bulgarian citizenship, not just passport!!! OMG, the people working there have no idea what they are talking about I have requested for the examiner to give me a call so I can discuss next steps (one of which is having my BG name in the British passport with the observation 'also known as XXX-YYY').[/quote]

They offered me to give up my citizenship as well I don't know where it is all coming from but I'm going to write big complain to both, Home Office & Passport Office, when this nightmare will be finished.

You might write to your examiner a letter. I asked an adviser from the hotline to ask my case worker to call me and I didn't receive any call back. But I've already withdrawled my application, so maybe that's why my examiner doesn't want to contact me.

If you have your birth name on both documents, certificate of naturalization and your Bulgarian passport, you shouldn't have any problems to get your British passport.

If it is very important for you to have double name then you will need to do deed poll. Ask you examiner if it will be enough to keep double name in your British passport. I've been told on this forum that it should be enough, however, passport office told me that deed poll is not enough and even if I do it I still need to change my name on the certificate of naturalization and in all official documents. I believe that there is no one solution here, so you definitely speak to your examiner first to reach some sort of agreement on your next steps.

I've also been told by my examiner that Home Office will not change my name on the certificate of naturalization which is not true. I spoke to Home Office and they said if you do deed poll and provide all evidences that you use your new name only they will be able to change your name on the certificate. it will take up to 10 weeks and costs 162£.

But you need to keep in your mind, even if you do all this, you probably will need to change your name in your Bulgarian passport. If you can't do it due to your marriage you probably can do it as your own wish.

If I were you, I would get British passport on your birth name now and then think about changing the name. Looks like this sort of problems appear only with first British passport.

Mashec wrote:Hello, euapplicant15,

I don't understand why they ask you to surrender your Bulgarian passport to be honest. They usually ask to change your name on the certificate of naturalisation OR to change your name on foreign passport, not to change your name on the certificate of naturalisation AND to cancel your foreign passport.

...

Cancelling a foreign passport (whether it is actually possible or not) is one of the suggestions HMPO will make.
That's what they suggested to my wife at the same time as refusing to add an observation to her new passport;
- all as documented at start of this thread.

In the end she did cancel her passport and the British passport was finally issued after approx 4 months of hassle, stress, cost and delay.
How we laugh about all those trials and tribulations now.

noajthan wrote:

Mashec wrote:Hello, euapplicant15,

I don't understand why they ask you to surrender your Bulgarian passport to be honest. They usually ask to change your name on the certificate of naturalisation OR to change your name on foreign passport, not to change your name on the certificate of naturalisation AND to cancel your foreign passport.

...

Cancelling a foreign passport (whether it is actually possible or not) is one of the suggestions HMPO will make.
That's what they suggested to my wife at the same time as refusing to add an observation to her new passport;
- all as documented at start of this thread.

In the end she did cancel her passport and the British passport was finally issued after approx 4 months of hassle, stress, cost and delay.
How we laugh about all those trials and tribulations now.

I am willing to renounce my Bulgarian citizenship however what do I do between the time I have to hand in my passport and receiving the British one?! I work for an airline and fly a lot for business, often at a short notice. Oh well, I will have to endure the looks I will get at the BG embassy of the betrayal I am about to do lol

noajthan wrote:

Mashec wrote:Hello, euapplicant15,

I don't understand why they ask you to surrender your Bulgarian passport to be honest. They usually ask to change your name on the certificate of naturalisation OR to change your name on foreign passport, not to change your name on the certificate of naturalisation AND to cancel your foreign passport.

...

Cancelling a foreign passport (whether it is actually possible or not) is one of the suggestions HMPO will make.
That's what they suggested to my wife at the same time as refusing to add an observation to her new passport;
- all as documented at start of this thread.

In the end she did cancel her passport and the British passport was finally issued after approx 4 months of hassle, stress, cost and delay.
How we laugh about all those trials and tribulations now.

They offered me it as well, but I have my married name on the certificate of naturalization and my maiden name in my foreign passport. They said if I can't change my name in my foreign passport I can cancel it. But the person here has birth name in the certificate of naturalization and same name in the foreign passport, so I don't understand why they just can't issue British passport on birth name and put in observation "also known as "...." ".

I would say it's easier, in this case, to change name in the passport application, then to be involved in the nightmare of changing all the documents.

euapplicant15 wrote:

noajthan wrote:

Mashec wrote:Hello, euapplicant15,

I don't understand why they ask you to surrender your Bulgarian passport to be honest. They usually ask to change your name on the certificate of naturalisation OR to change your name on foreign passport, not to change your name on the certificate of naturalisation AND to cancel your foreign passport.

...

Cancelling a foreign passport (whether it is actually possible or not) is one of the suggestions HMPO will make.
That's what they suggested to my wife at the same time as refusing to add an observation to her new passport;
- all as documented at start of this thread.

In the end she did cancel her passport and the British passport was finally issued after approx 4 months of hassle, stress, cost and delay.
How we laugh about all those trials and tribulations now.

I am willing to renounce my Bulgarian citizenship however what do I do between the time I have to hand in my passport and receiving the British one?! I work for an airline and fly a lot for business, often at a short notice. Oh well, I will have to endure the looks I will get at the BG embassy of the betrayal I am about to do lol

If you are willing to renounce your Bulgarian citizenship then do it, make a deed poll where you say you use your double name now, change all your docs and certificate of naturalization and get British passport with double name.

I don't know how long it will take you to renounce your citizenship but to make deed poll and change all the docs maybe around 3-4 months (including up to 10 weeks of waiting for new certificate of naturalization and up to 3 weeks to wait for your driving licence).

euapplicant15 wrote:Another complication - since Bulgaria doesn't recognise same-sex marriages, there is no legal basis for me to change my name on my Bulgarian passport, hence the whole thing of having a British passport!!!

Do you need a legal basis to change the name you use in Bulgaria? The ideal solution is to change your name in Bulgaria to the name you want, get a Bulgarian passport in that name, and then get a British passport in that name. In the UK it is not unknown for an unmarried partner to adopt their partner's surname by deed poll (or indeed just to switch to it).

Richard W wrote:

euapplicant15 wrote:Another complication - since Bulgaria doesn't recognise same-sex marriages, there is no legal basis for me to change my name on my Bulgarian passport, hence the whole thing of having a British passport!!!

Do you need a legal basis to change the name you use in Bulgaria? The ideal solution is to change your name in Bulgaria to the name you want, get a Bulgarian passport in that name, and then get a British passport in that name. In the UK it is not unknown for an unmarried partner to adopt their partner's surname by deed poll (or indeed just to switch to it).

Because Bulgaria doesn't recognise same-sex marriages (i.e. I am not a woman to take her husband's name), changing a name is not an easy thing to do, you need to hire a solicitor and it needs to go through the courts. It's also up to the judge to decide whether a name change can be granted. With me not living in Bulgaria it's going to be very difficult/expensive to go through the whole process. Bulgarian court system is notoriously slow/corrupt and I don't want to deal with it to be honest.

My case has been referred to the Policy team who are going to decide what to do. Not holding my breath though...

JohnnyZee wrote:

Mashec wrote:

JohnnyZee wrote:Hi guys - my deed of name change has been accepted by HMPO. I called in today and was told that interview letter is on the way. There was no need to get certificate amended with Home Office. Hope it works out for you too.

That's just another example of what a mess the whole situation is! I asked this question passport hotline and they told me no, you need to change your name on the certificate as well

But anyway... Congradulations! You are almost there!!!

Mashec - don't place too much importance on what people on the advice line tell you. They are just trying to answer your questions based on a script. What you need to do is to write to your HMPO case worker (send letter via post) and explain everything. Print out section of gov.uk website which says deed poll with certificate is sufficient. Make sure you state you want to keep same name as the one in foreign passport. I am sure that will work. I think trying to amend name on certificate will take very long and Home Office seem to be more incompetent/inefficient than HMPO in my experience. Find solution via HMPO. All the best.

#

Hello JohnnyZee,

I've eventually received the answer from Passport Office. I followed your advice and sent a letter to my case worker and printed out the section of gov.uk website which says deed poll with certificate is sufficient.

They told me no and provided the following explanation:
"Regarding the guidance you outline on our website, this refers to applicants who have change their name from the name shown on their birth, naturalization or registration certificate and would like the new name on their passport. Unfortunately, this information does not account for applicants with foreign passports".

So, the easy way won't work for me