Spouse Visa - Does my wife change her family name before or after Visa?

[Altecice]

Hello!

Myself and my wife got married recently in her home country of Pakistan. Everything is legal and we have a marriage certificate in English.

We’re now at the point of applying for a spouse visa (she was over here in the UK on a study visa this is when we met) My wife wishes to take my family name, like how the woman changes her name after marriage in the UK.

We’ve attempted to get her NADRA CNIC card updated to reflect this in Pakistan but she was told that it was not possible to put my family “fathers” name and only my first name. For example

My name: Joe bloggs

Her pre-marriage name: sally Joseph
(Joseph being her fathers first name)

So the only option they gave us was to change her CNIC to:

Post-married name: sally joe
(My first name)


This is not what either of us want, it also means we cannot apply for her new passport and thus her Spouse Visa will remain in her old name. Her existing passport lost her first name, no given name and her fathers name.

Is it possible to have the spouse visa in a different name from her passport? I guess not.

If not then does some way to change all this after the fact exist in the UK? Could we get her visa updated?

[Altecice]

Sorry I can’t edit the above post now. But it should say “lists her first name”

In addition, will having her Pakistan CNIC not changed to show married cause any problems?

[Theunknownusername]

I have been through this process myself, and I can categorically say that the Nadra Centre is providing you with incorrect information.

Is she in Pakistan trying to get her document updated? Or are you doing this on the online portal?

After my wife and I were married and our marriage registered with the local Union Council (providing us our marriage certificate additional to the Nikah Namah papers), we took them to the Nadra centre and changed her name. She took my family name which is my surname and my fathers surname. There was no limitation on what name you can choose to have.

I suggest you go back and speak to someone more senior. They should be able to get your surname and her surname to match. You will need a copy of your passport and your own CNIC/POC if you have one. You will also need to get the document they provide to be attested. This can be done by anyone who works for the government like Government schools/government doctors etc. I got this done for free as I knew some people but you may have to pay a small fee.

If you are doing it online, raise a complaint on the portal and converse with the team through there. You can also get the Islamabad office to call you and you can discuss your problem. Sounds like the current provider is just uneducated in the name change process, your wife has every right to change her name how she pleases.

Good luck!