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British Passport - Name Change

Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2016 12:28 pm
by vishaljumani
Hello,

My wife has her Indian passport in her maiden name, but after coming here her surname has been changed in banks, utility bills based on submission of the Marriage Certificate. Her Naturalisation certificate has both the maiden surname and the married surname. We have completed our Oath ceremony and waiting to apply for the British passport.

There was a clause in her letter asking her to get the Indian Passport changed with the married surname.

However looking at the Indian Passport application, there is a Self Declaration section stating that "I owe allegiance to .... India and have not voluntarily acquired the citizenship or travel document of any other country."

But doesn't this mean that we have gained citizenship of the UK.

Is there anyway, we can skip applying for the Indian passport and directly apply for the British passport on the basis of the Naturalisation Certificate?

Thanks,
Vishal

Re: British Passport - Name Change

Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2016 12:59 pm
by noajthan
vishaljumani wrote:Hello,

My wife has her Indian passport in her maiden name, but after coming here her surname has been changed in banks, utility bills based on submission of the Marriage Certificate. Her Naturalisation certificate has both the maiden surname and the married surname. We have completed our Oath ceremony and waiting to apply for the British passport.

There was a clause in her letter asking her to get the Indian Passport changed with the married surname.

However looking at the Indian Passport application, there is a Self Declaration section stating that "I owe allegiance to .... India and have not voluntarily acquired the citizenship or travel document of any other country."

But doesn't this mean that we have gained citizenship of the UK.

Is there anyway, we can skip applying for the Indian passport and directly apply for the British passport on the basis of the Naturalisation Certificate?

Thanks,
Vishal
There are some potential 'catch-22' situations you should be aware of here.

See forum sticky on UK passport (names/identity) policy:
british-citizenship/british-passport-po ... 84012.html

And see cases here that have proved challenging for married ladies, including Indian nationals:
british-citizenship/passport-refused-un ... n#p1286025