Urgent- changing my name, will it affect application for ILR

[ll_1002]

I really need some advice on this issue. For personal reasons, I would like to legally change my name. If successfull, I will need to apply for a new passport in my country of birth. I have been in the UK for the last 5 years on a student visa, and will start a permit free postgrad training job later this year. I am planning to eventually try to apply for ILR after another 5 years, on the 10 year residency rule. My new name is just a slight alteration of the name in my birth certificate and old passport, and it will match the name on my university certificates obtained in the UK. It is basically just an alteration on the sequence of words in my names. A small but important difference for me.

I am just worried that somehow this different names used in different passports could possibly cause problems in the future when I apply for ILR. It doesn't seem like a logical reason for the HO to deny me an ILR purely on that basis, but who knows? It seems like sometimes they will use the tiniest, most illogical things to refuse ILR.

So I'd really appreciate it if anyone has had a similar experience or knows of people who've changed their names, and could tell me if that either created or did not create any problems. Many thanks.

[whirly]

I wouldn't worry about it too much, especially if you're going through a legal name change. Many women - and some men - face this when they get married.

I took my husband's surname when we got married. My passport remained in my maiden name, and my spouse visa was issued in my maiden name, but everything else changed to my married name. I got my passport changed right before I applied for ILR, so now everything is in my married name.

During the transition between names, I got used to carrying our marriage certificate with me as proof of the name change. I'm sure you'll get some of legal name change document that will show both your old and new name - right?

[ll_1002]

I wouldn't worry about it too much, especially if you're going through a legal name change. Many women - and some men - face this when they get married.

I took my husband's surname when we got married. My passport remained in my maiden name, and my spouse visa was issued in my maiden name, but everything else changed to my married name. I got my passport changed right before I applied for ILR, so now everything is in my married name.

During the transition between names, I got used to carrying our marriage certificate with me as proof of the name change. I'm sure you'll get some of legal name change document that will show both your old and new name - right?

Thanks for replying. Was your ILR application successful? Did the name change cause any problems at all?

[whirly]

Thanks for replying. Was your ILR application successful? Did the name change cause any problems at all?

Yes, my ILR was successful. The woman at PEO Croydon didn't even mention the name change. Like I said, I think they're quite used to having people enter on one name/passport, and apply for subsequent visas with a different name/passport. In my case, I had a marriage certificate to confirm both the marriage and the name change. As long as you do everything legally, why would they question you?

What I would say is that the name change might cause you trouble in other areas... While my passport was still in my maiden name, I changed my frequent flier mile cards to my married name. Big mistake - every boarding pass for 1.5 years had to be in my maiden name to match my passport, but several airlines did not want to give me frequent flier points because they did not believe I was the same person. United Airlines actually wanted to charge me a $50 fee to board a plane from San Francisco to London since the names were different. They only relented because I had my marriage certificate and I was flying with my husband. BA was also a pain to deal with; the only airlines that didn't make a big deal of the name change were Virgin & Emirates.

Banks, NHS, HM Rev & Customs, local council, etc. all accept the name change but not without showing some kind of legal document showing that you used to have Name X and now you have Name Y. Again, I think you'll be fine as long as you go through all the correct channels. You just might be surprised how many places you have to notify, though!

Good luck...