AN application - married vs maiden name & travel

[sarahnicole412]

Hi, I'm hoping someone may be able to help with this! I've seen similar posts, but mostly regarding cases where a maiden name cannot be changed in the applicant's existing passport because of the rules in that country (it seems like this happens a lot in India?).

I am a US citizen who will shortly be making an application for naturalisation using the AN form.

My question has two parts:

1) I see on the UKVI site that most cases using the AN form are processed within 6 months. But I also saw that following a successful application, it is no longer possible to travel using your BRP. And in some place it appears that the BRP must be sent in with the application even if you use the Nationality Checking Service (the form itself seems to say this, although others on this forum have said the NCS gives you the BRP back after taking a copy at the appointment), meaning you cannot travel while waiting for the application to be processed. Further investigation shows that it will take at least 6 weeks from the the date of application to receive a first adult UK passport.

My first question is, is it possible to travel while waiting for the application using the NCS? Or is it going to be impossible to travel from the date of application until after I have a UK passport (potentially 8 months or more?). I travel semi-regularly for work, and may not be able to avoid travelling for this length of time.

I sent an email asking this question to (nationalityenquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk), an address published as a contact if you had questions. I received a rather helpful auto response entitled "IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ AS YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE ANOTHER RESPONSE" with the same information available on their website, and no further way to contact them with queries.

2) To complicate matters, I was married in September 2015, and have changed my name to my married name most some places (bank accounts, utilities, employer, etc). The only place I continue to use my maiden name is in my US passport and BRP.

I received ILR in Feb 2015, before my wedding, and was told by the home office employee that if I was planning to make an application for citizenship, it would be cheaper and easier to keep my US passport in my maiden name, and to leave my BRP in my maiden name as well. She recommended that I change my name in my US passport just before making the AN application.

This is what I was planning to do, but I have concerns about having my BRP in my maiden name and my US passport in my married name while I wait for the application to be processed. It seems like the AN application may take 6 months (or more), and the rules for the change of name in the BRP says that it must be changed within 3 months or else you risk both a £1000 fine and the possibility that your stay will be shortened. But changing the name in the BRP costs £380 and can take months unless you apply in person (in which case it's over £600), which seems extortionate when you think it would only be valid for until the AN application is processed.

So my question is, if I have confirmation of having made an application using the AN form as well as a cancelled US passport in my maiden name, a marriage certificate, and a new US passport in my married name alongside a BRP in my maiden name, will this cause an issue if I need to travel? Am I at risk of this fine/shortened stay?

If so, is it better to leave my US passport in my maiden name, apply for naturalisation in my maiden name (even though my day to day life in the UK is in my married name), and then change to my married name in my US passport after naturalisation and apply for my UK passport in my married name (this would mean that my naturalisation certificate would be in my maiden name). Or will this only cause more issues when applying for a UK passport? Or indeed with the naturalisation process itself, if they see that I'm living day to day under my married name?

This whole process is so needlessly confusing - I don't want to fall foul of the rules, but also don't want to add time and expense changing the BRP for what could end up being just a period of a few months.

Thanks for any help/personal experiences you can provide!

[PainauChocolat]

If you have legally changed your name, you have legally changed your name. You cannot apply in your old name. Your tax records/ banking are going to be all mixed up with different names and delay or possibly reject your application. You need to fully switch over to your married name.

Your best course of action is to get a new US passport in your married name before you apply for your citizenship. You also need to notify the home office of your name change for your BRP: https://www.gov.uk/change-circumstances ... have-a-brp "You must apply for a new BRP straight away if any of these things change:
-name, eg if you’ve got married"

If you have had time to get a new US passport, the home office could argue that you have had plenty of time to get a new BRP and therefore isn't considered "straight away". Extortionate- yes, but the risks are too great to not do it by the letter of the law.

You cannot apply in a name that is not legally yours anymore. When you are all switched over to your legal name, you can then apply for your citizenship. When you fill out the form, it has a place where you write if you have been known by any other names. This is where you put your maiden name and attach your deed poll or marriage certificate showing your legal name change.

They will not issue you a UK passport in a name that is not legally yours (maiden name), nor will they issue you a passport in your married name without your US passport in your married legal name.

You have already said yourself: they have written in big bold letters "You must apply for a new BRP within 3 months. You can be fined up to £1,000 or have your stay shortened if you don’t." You don't want to get caught, and then have this be held against you for the character requirement. There are stories on here of people's AN getting rejected for less than this on character.

As for NCS, you get to keep all your documents so you can travel.

[ohara]

NCS will not retain your BRP or send it to the Home Office. They will send a certified copy.

You are free to travel with it until you attend the citizenship ceremony, after which you have 5 days to return it.

[sarahnicole412]

Thanks so much for this advice.

Do you know if it matters that the BRP will be in my maiden name? If my US passport will be in my married name?

[geriatrix]

You must apply for a new BRP straight away if any of these things change:

• name, eg if you’ve got married
  nationality
  facial appearance
  date of birth, eg if it was wrong
  gender

[sarahnicole412]

Does anyone know of a number or contact to someone at UKVI to ask about this? I just find it odd that both the NCS over the phone and the woman at Lunar House in Croydon when I applied for ILR both told me something other than what UKVI have on their site.

With regards to changing your name on BRP, I was told that I should not do this until I changed my passport, even if I changed it with employer, banks, etc.

[geriatrix]

With regards to changing your name on BRP, I was told that I should not do this until I changed my passport.

That is correct.
It is expected that when people change their name the first thing they would do thereafter is to have the name changed accordingly in their official "identity document" issued by the country of their citizenship. This is usually a "passport" but can be other documents as well, along with the passport.

But in reality people find time to do everything in the world but that.


As far as UKVI or HM Passport Office are concerned, your name is what is in your foreign passport - not what you tell your banks,employers etc. it is!

There's a topic on the forum (currently at page 22) on the issue that HM Passport Office refuses to issue British passport in the applicants' new (married) surname when their foreign passport still shows maiden name.