Naturalisation in Married name when my current passport has maiden name

[Nicola_DG]

Hi all,

What documents do I need to provide to be naturalised in my married name? I'm Portuguese and legally women aren't allowed to drop their maiden names so my passport has my maiden and married surname.

Majority of my documentation in the UK; NHS, Employement etc., is in my Married name. HMRC has me down as my legal passport name which I'm currently trying to get changed before my citizenship application next month.

If anyone has recently gone through this process and succeeded I would appreciate any advice.

Thank you.

[contorted_svy]

You can do a deed poll and legally change your name to your maiden + married name if you can't get your passport changed. https://www.gov.uk/change-name-deed-poll This is probably the easiest option as it would explain why you have used a different name in the UK with employers/NHS/HMRC etc.

Once you apply for your first British passport they will expect consistency in names on all your uncancelled passports so make sure the old one gets cancelled.

[Nicola_DG]

Thank you. I don't want my maiden name on my British passport, which is not legally required if you can prove that your country of birth doesn't allow name changes. I'm just unsure of what kind of evidence to provide when making my citizenship application, and if the deed poll needs to be enrolled or not.

[paulina_wa]

As I understand it the issue is she doesn't want to use maiden+married name, just married name so a deed poll wouldn't really solve this as the issue lies on the Portuguese side of things.

According to the HMPO's Knowledge Base, it is possible to change your name after marriage in Portugal. https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... se-profile but to be fair, I'm not sure if you can change it post factum or only when registering the marriage (for example in Poland you only have one shot at it when registering your marriage and it's nearly impossible to change it afterwards).

If you can't change your name on your Portuguese passport then I believe you won't be able to have only your married name on the naturalisation certificate as the one on your passport is indeed your legal name. Is there any particular reason you'd like to avoid it, other than your personal preference for your married name?

There might be some leeway with your British passport after you've naturalised using administrative fairness test but it's a bit of a long shot and you'd end up with an observation listing your Portuguese legal name.

[Nicola_DG]

Hi all,

I'm due to make my citizenship application next month. I have South African and Portuguese Citizenship by birth.

I started using my assumed name (Name + Husband's surname) when I got married. Portugal changed my surname to my name + maiden name + Husband's name on my passport, as women aren't allowed to drop their maiden names in Portugal. I have since updated my South African passport to reflect my assumed name, which I should receive soon.

I want my British Citizenship issued in my assumed name. How do I make sure this happens? Do I apply with my assumed name and explain why my passport has my maiden name on it?

If anyone who has done this could provide some guidance, it would be appreciated. Thank you.

[Nicola_DG]

I don't have any ties to my family and I've always disliked my surname as I don't want ties to my father. Unfortunately, Portugal only allows women to add on their spouse's surname. We aren't legally allowed to drop our maiden names.

Thank you though! I'll look into the administrative fairness test. I don't mind an observation listing my Portuguese legal name I just don't want it showing as my legal name. So that might work.

[contorted_svy]

Please don't open other threads with the same question - just ask your questions in this one.

[contorted_svy]

Something that you may want to try is to make a request to the Portuguese consulate/embassy on removing your maiden name - if you get a reply quoting a piece of law that states why it is impossible to change your name on that passport, that may do too.