Middle Initial on US Passport & BRP

Hi all.

My wife is the USC. Her passport has her middle initial instead of her full middle name. Subsequently, her BRP has her middle initial and not her full middle name. She's coming to apply for citizenship after holding ILR. The citizenship application asks for her given names. Well, her actual given names are her full first and middle names. But, in her passport and BRP, they're full first name and initialled middle name.

What do we write here? They may question why there is a different middle name. But, if we write her name down as in her passport and BRP, that's not truly her name.

Unsure what to do. Any help would be appreciated.

Ben1989 wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 21, 2021 12:10 pm

Hi all.

My wife is the USC. Her passport has her middle initial instead of her full middle name. Subsequently, her BRP has her middle initial and not her full middle name. She's coming to apply for citizenship after holding ILR. The citizenship application asks for her given names. Well, her actual given names are her full first and middle names. But, in her passport and BRP, they're full first name and initialled middle name.

What do we write here? They may question why there is a different middle name. But, if we write her name down as in her passport and BRP, that's not truly her name.

Unsure what to do. Any help would be appreciated.

Has your wife ever changed her name? Any idea why the middle name is only an initial in the passport?

You can provide the full name in the application form and then provide the birth certificate as evidence (along with an explanation). However, this may actually cause you problems later. Because when you apply for the British passport, HMPO will require you to send the US passport with the application. And the policy is that the name in the British passport must match the name in the US passport. Hence it would be good to understand why the name in the US passport does not match the full name

Thank you for your reply.

She's not had a single name change and she's held her passport for years and years and naturally the info just rolls over when you come to renew. She has no idea why her passport has an initial and not her full middle name. From my limited research you actually can have your initial in your passport instead of your full name so that is what's happened there it seems. I'm not sure what the cleanest way to do this is.

Ben1989 wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 21, 2021 12:53 pm

Thank you for your reply.

She's not had a single name change and she's held her passport for years and years and naturally the info just rolls over when you come to renew. She has no idea why her passport has an initial and not her full middle name. From my limited research you actually can have your initial in your passport instead of your full name so that is what's happened there it seems. I'm not sure what the cleanest way to do this is.

Odd, but you're right. Seems like some Americans prefer not to put their full name on their passport, and the US government allows this.

The Home Office will print on the naturalisation certificate what you tell them to, provided you supply appropriate evidence. If you tell them her name is "Catherine E Smith" and provide the passport, they will print this on the certificate. If you want her full name, then you will need to write "Catherine Elizabeth Smith" and provide her birth certificate as evidence.

When applying for the first British passport, you will need to provide her naturalisation certificate and her US passport. Their policy is that the name you apply with matches the name on your naturalisation certificate, unless you can provide evidence that your name has changed since the issue of the certificate. (Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... rtificates )

However, they also require that the name on your British passport matches any foreign passports that you hold. Unless you can prove that the middle initial is printed on the US passport because of technical limitations, you will need to get the US passport changed to the full name before they will issue her a British passport.
(Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... -documents )

So I reckon you have two choices:
1. Accept the middle initial as her official name; or
2. Get the US passport changed either before or after naturalising.

Thank you strong and stable.

Would the BRP also have to be changed before the application? Can you foresee any issues after naturalisation where we'll come stuck with her 'official' middle name becomes her initial, e.g. electoral roll, mortgage applications etc?

I personally would like to do things clean which would mean a brand new passport application (i.e. not a renewal or modification), the BRP (if needed) and then apply. My wife, however, is sick of paying so much money towards visa after visa over a middle name where most people don't care. Causing some friction haha

Ben1989 wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 22, 2021 7:08 am

Thank you strong and stable.

Would the BRP also have to be changed before the application? Can you foresee any issues after naturalisation where we'll come stuck with her 'official' middle name becomes her initial, e.g. electoral roll, mortgage applications etc?

I personally would like to do things clean which would mean a brand new passport application (i.e. not a renewal or modification), the BRP (if needed) and then apply. My wife, however, is sick of paying so much money towards visa after visa over a middle name where most people don't care. Causing some friction haha

If you want to avoid getting a new BRP - Ideally you'd just put in the application for naturalisation with the birth certificate as proof of full name and then sort out the US passport once she's a BC. She'll be unable to travel after her citizenship ceremony and until she gets both the new US passport and first British passport, which could take a couple of months. But she'll be unable to travel for a month regardless of the name change because of the first British passport application. You can control the timing of this period by choosing the date of the ceremony.

If you stick with the initial - Hard to say for certain, but if she has always used either the initial or no middle name then I doubt she would have any issues in the UK. The British passport, naturalisation certificate and UK driving licence are the relevant identity documents used for most purposes. It's unlikely that any service would need to see her US birth certificate unless she needs to prove US citizenship for some reason. And the US passport would generally prove the US citizenship on its own.
If you were to move outside the UK, you could very well run into problems. Every country treats bureaucracy a bit differently. Given that having just the initial is not the norm on British passports, it's possible someone could view it with suspicion.

If you change the initial - You'd probably want to go to your bank(s) and get the name updated once you got the new passports. I don't think it'd be a big issue. My own bank account just shows my middle initial on statements, but I'm fairly certain the full middle name is in the computer system. As for the electoral roll, if you live in England or NI then she's not currently on it. You might also want to update her employer and HMRC just to ensure the full name is tied to the NINo.

Personally, I'm with you. I'd be uncomfortable with my passport not showing my full name. Bureaucratic issues are painful and I'd rather do what I can to avoid unforeseen future problems. But I also appreciate your wife's perspective that the name change costs yet more time and money. Having the middle initial is not guaranteed to cause you problems, and could still be fixed later by requesting a correction of the naturalisation certificate. But doing it later will cost you an extra £250

Thank you again strong and stable.

Would UKVI not raises issues with this middle name change? Would they not think why previous applications and things such as her Life in the UK and BRP all have a 'different' name (although it's an initial)?

Also, is it possible to apply for a new US passport from inside the UK? Would UKVI not need to see things such as deed polls for the name 'change'? It's all very stressful.

Would the BRP need changing before applying?

Would a new passport mess up proof of duration spent in UK requirements?

Ben1989 wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 22, 2021 10:35 am

Thank you again strong and stable.

Would UKVI not raises issues with this middle name change? Would they not think why previous applications and things such as her Life in the UK and BRP all have a 'different' name (although it's an initial)?

The only guidance I can find on this matter is here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... y-guidance

The US passport and the birth certificate are both her official documents. It's hard to say exactly what will happen with her naturalisation application if you apply with the birth certificate, but it seems that UKVI will contact you if they are unable to use one name or the other. Based on the guidance, the best way to guarantee that UKVI will accept the full name is to get the US passport and BRP changed before applying for naturalisation.

It's not really a name change, and UKVI should recognise this. Many countries do not print the full birth name on the passport for cultural or technical reasons, so this will hardly be the first time the Home Office has encountered this.

Ben1989 wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 22, 2021 10:35 am

Also, is it possible to apply for a new US passport from inside the UK? Would UKVI not need to see things such as deed polls for the name 'change'? It's all very stressful.

Would the BRP need changing before applying?

Would a new passport mess up proof of duration spent in UK requirements?

Yes, you can apply for a US passport in the UK. No, you shouldn't need a deed poll. The birth certificate is clear evidence.
See: https://fam.state.gov/fam/08fam/08fam040301.html Section 8 FAM 403.1-5

BRP would need to be changed if you change the passport before applying.

New passport would make no difference to 'duration spent in UK' requirement. You should submit scans of all pages of previous passports used while living in the UK.

So, she's applying for a new passport next week to change the initial to the full middle name.

My question is: do we need to change the BRP? What evidence and purpose is required regarding changing an initial to a full middle name.

Do you have an estimate on how long this would take or a number to inquire about this?

Ben1989 wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 06, 2021 3:38 pm

So, she's applying for a new passport next week to change the initial to the full middle name.

My question is: do we need to change the BRP? What evidence and purpose is required regarding changing an initial to a full middle name.

Do you have an estimate on how long this would take or a number to inquire about this?

It seems like the most efficient way is:

• First, apply for new US passport and wait for it to arrive. [~4 weeks? You might want to look at some US expat forums to get an idea of how long it will take.]

• Then, apply for naturalisation with new passport and old BRP. (Probably good to include the birth certificate and a note explaining the name change in the passport.)

• Finally, apply for change to the BRP if she doesn't become a citizen before 3 months elapse. [up to 8 weeks]

According to gov.uk, you only need to apply for a new BRP within 3 months of a detail change.
https://www.gov.uk/change-circumstances-visa-brp
But I think you'd be okay to apply for naturalisation before that based on this 2019 post by one of the mods:
british-citizenship/name-change-citizen ... l#p1813567

Do you think then that there is no risk with the BRP not being changed prior to submission?

One option could be to go with the current Passport/ BRP name and if you are still interested, change the name on UK Passport. Seems like a simpler process than this multi step hassle.

mesn wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 08, 2021 11:24 am

One option could be to go with the current Passport/ BRP name and if you are still interested, change the name on UK Passport. Seems like a simpler process than this multi step hassle.

Doesn't the UK passport have to reflect the name on other passports? So would that mean:

1) Apply for and receive citizenship
2) Pay for UK passport
3) Pay for US passport
4) Re-apply and pay for UK passport

So that would be three passports to pay for. So I think starting with the US one off the bat might be best.

I called UKVI on Friday and managed to get through to 'citizenships'. He said the BRP being unchanged won't be an issue for submission. However, this was 5 minutes before the call centre closed on a Friday so I will call today to get a second opinion.

So...

I spoke to UKVI and the contact said to just put a cover letter in explaining why the middle name is different. She said it's important for the passport to be in the correct name (for what i submit) than the BRP. She said a cover letter will explain and 'you'll be fine'. She obviously said she's not a case worker but her usual queries are in regards to the passport being in the wrong name to what they want on the certificate and compared to the BRP. The way round I have it is easier to deal with.

Then I called xxxxx and he was very blunt in his explanation. He said that I'll also be fine providing I put a cover letter. The majority of his conversation, however, was why am I even bothering? Just apply as is now and put up with the letter. If it bothers me that much I could change the passport in the future.

I'm not sure how I feel applying with the middle name as the initial and having that on the certificate. I like things clean and streamlined.

You really are overthinking this. Simply change the passport, add a cover letter with the birth cert and that's it, as you have already been advised. No need to get a new brp.

Okay now a potential issue.

We were planning to go over to the states in October for a wedding. Seeing as it’s a year away it was less of a risk and the hope citizenship and passport would all be sorted.

However, she has changed the potential date to May (a day after the passport change at the embassy). This now means she’ll be travelling during the application period which I know is fine. However, she’ll be arriving back into the country with a BRP that won’t match her passport. Could this be an issue? What if she takes her old passport and citizenship application papers? Or am I overthinking it (again)?

Anyone?

My 2 cents:

If e-gates are open, then she can come in without questions asked, even if the name doesn't match in the system for her ILR she'll be allowed entrance as tourist in the system and once you get the citizenship and name changes are sorted it won't matter.

If e-gates are not open or it refers you to a desk (it's happened to me about 4 times in 5+ years) then they check your documents, I have only been asked to show my BRP card once out of those 4 times. Bring evidence of the name change, the existing application etc. Answer their questions but don't offer any unsolicited information. She's settled here and may get some more questions but should be allowed to enter without issues.