New policy regarding passport names for dual nationals.

[Polvin]

Need some assistance as I’m planning to come to Europe for a holiday in December. I Born in South Africa and have always lived here. Both my parents are from the uk. One of the first things they did was that they made sure I got British passport straight away. I’ve actually had it longer than my sa passport. For some reason my mother spelt my first name one letter different between my uk passport and all my sa docs. It’s a variant spelling of the same name just a a one letter difference. The spelling on my uk passport is the nicer looking spelling but I’ve gone through schooling and university with the sa spelling so all the most important documents in my life is with that spelling. Most articles regarding the uks issue with different names seems to be them telling you to change the other countries passport. Obviously in this case It would be much easier to keep my sa spelling and change my uk one. Best case scenario would to have the passport issued with an observation. But in the event I have to change one I’d like to change by uk passports name. Is this possible ? I’m getting major anxiety from the docs listed on the online application for renewal as most of the listed docs just show initials in the sa such as a utility bill and drivers license. I’ve never lived in the uk so only the passport has this spelling surely it won’t be difficult. Really worried my passport won’t be ready come December.

[cherrytree]

Here is an example of how to 'change the spelling of your name slightly' (a legal term), such as changing Jane to Jayne. In such cases, the name on a British passport may differ from the name on a foreign passport, with a small printed statement on the signature page of the British passport indicating that the bearer holds another passport in a different name.

• A Deed Poll created prior to the naturalization application with the new name.

• A new name stated on the naturalization application (in which case the naturalization certificate is issued with both names).

• One or two documents showing evidence of the new name being accepted by other government bodies, such as HMRC, DVLA, or the local council (required to demonstrate that the person is known by the new name and is actively using it).

In such cases, documents sent to the Passport Office (PO), along with the naturalization certificate, may be accepted to facilitate the name change in the first instance.

[jmmo20]

What's the latest with this?

My husband and I would both want to change our surname in the UK as we are going to start a family. Both of us are Spanish and naturalized British citizens.

Spanish law doesn't allow the type of surname change we are aiming for (i.e. single surname, to reflect both our family names). How we go around getting "evidence" is another thing - I guess we can print the law?

anyone with a Spanish passport who've recently done this?

[ronnie87]

I have recently naturalised as a British citizen and I would like to apply for a passport. I've been reading about the one name policy for dual nationals, but it is not clear to me how strict this is. In my case: I am Hungarian by birth and my name, as written on my birth certificate and all foreign ID documents, contains diacritics, specifically acute accents, as per the correct spelling in the Hungarian language. However, as the UK does not use diacritics, on my certificate of naturalisation, my name is spelt without the diacritics, more specifically it is spelt with "A" instead of "Á". My question is whether this can cause me any issues when applying for a passport -- given that I need to submit my foreign passport, which contains the native spelling -- or are diacritics just ignored and "Á" is considered the same as "A" for the purposes of name matching? Does anyone here have any experience in this regard? I expect that diacritics are quite common, especially in European names, so I can't be the only one in this situation.

[alterhase58]

I have recently naturalised as a British citizen and I would like to apply for a passport. I've been reading about the one name policy for dual nationals, but it is not clear to me how strict this is. In my case: I am Hungarian by birth and my name, as written on my birth certificate and all foreign ID documents, contains diacritics, specifically acute accents, as per the correct spelling in the Hungarian language. However, as the UK does not use diacritics, on my certificate of naturalisation, my name is spelt without the diacritics, more specifically it is spelt with "A" instead of "Á". My question is whether this can cause me any issues when applying for a passport -- given that I need to submit my foreign passport, which contains the native spelling -- or are diacritics just ignored and "Á" is considered the same as "A" for the purposes of name matching? Does anyone here have any experience in this regard? I expect that diacritics are quite common, especially in European names, so I can't be the only one in this situation.

For naturalisation UKVI routinely change special characters to the nearest letter used in English. So this is not a name change and shouldn’t be a problem. But best to include a covering note with your application explaining this, in case an inexperienced caseworker raises an issue.