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I will be grateful for advice please. My wife’s marriage certificate has the surname which is the feminine version of her surname (an extra a in the end). The rest of her documents have the spelling without the extra ‘a’ in the name. She has used the same marriage certificate for her past applications which were all granted with no issues raised previously. However, we have received email from case worker who wants clarification about the spelling of the surname used in the marriage certificate. How do we explain to the case worker that it’s the same surname but just in the marriage certificate, they used the feminine version of it? My wife has not changed her surname before or after marriage. There is a school leaving certificate which has the same surname as the rest of her documents. Would that suffice? Quite worried as the case worker has only given her 1 week.

Is this a citizenship application or a passport application?

contorted_svy wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 01, 2025 6:43 am

Is this a citizenship application or a passport application?

Hi, Thanks for your reply.
This is citizenship neutralisation application.
I hope to hear from you soon.
Thanks.

Is there a website or official policy that explains why women use a version of their name ending in -a? She could legally change her name by unenrolled deed poll https://www.gov.uk/change-name-deed-poll to her surname in -a if she applied under that name and enclose the certificate to the case worker.

Thank you for your reply. As explained, she has not changed her name. She has a School Leaving Certificate which confirms her name has remained the same. It’s only on the marriage certificate that they used the feminine version of the surname. Any thoughts on how to explain this to the case worker?

I understand. What I am suggesting is that she should change her name legally to that and only use that in the future, send it to the caseworker, and see what they say. Unless you have official sources that the case worker will accept. Note that neither of these approaches is guaranteed to work - names should always match on official documents.

Thank you for your reply. There is not enough time to change the marriage certificate. I will submit old passport and school certificates confirming name has not changed and then hope for the best.

I am not suggesting you change the marriage certificate, rather that your wife legally changes her name via unenrolled deed poll to what appears on the marriage certificate. Good luck and please do report back.