Passport refused - uncancelled passport in maiden name

[Sylwianotts]

How did they know about this cancelled Polish passport in a different name? Did you send it to them or did the birth certificate amendment flag up suspicion?

I concur with those in the thread saying the government should be taken to court and have this injustice put right.

Hi

I sent it by mistake but immediately after sent a letter explaining it is cancelled. But they refused to ever accept this fact, to run a check etc etc.

[Sylwianotts]

Sylwia,

You've obviously done everything that you were supposed to do. I think they are just taking a p###.

You can write to the head of the HMPO:

Mark Thomson
Director General,
Her Majesty's Passport Office
2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF

It's probably a good idea to use a recorded delivery and also write on the envelope, "Confidential - only to be opened by the addressee" or some such stuff.

If you want to win, you need to take the king. I've used this approach to deal with mobile phone companies, gas/elec suppliers, etc when they were telling nonsense.

--

Yoshi

Thanks Yoshi, that's what I will do.

As for the last few weeks, the HMPO manager I have been emailing back and forth said that I either 1)apply for a new Polish passport first or 2) get an email from the Consulate confirming that the expired Polish passport is cancelled and that a new Polish passport would only be issued in the new name. He said on several occasions that email would be fine. I rang the Passport office to confirm and got shouted at by a bloke saying that only letter would be accepted, but as I mentioned that one of the managers stated he would accept email, he said that would be fine.

Anyway, I sent the official statement from the Consulate to the manager via email confirming that the passport is cancelled and obtaining one in old name is not possible, and that to get a new one I would have to register the Birth in the Polish system first (the first temporary passport- that is now cancelled-is only issued to kids under 12 months without the need of registering the birth) etc. SO basically everything he/The HMPO asked for, in the form the asked for. The manager came back saying that although they received the requested statement, that I should still apply for a new Polish passport first since the statement says that I can. I replied to him attaching his previous email stating that his new request contradicts with what he said before plus what HMPO said so far, he ignored my emails since. I have forwarded the actual letter from the Consulate a few days ago (they sent me the statement both via email and a letter).

My MP has not heard anything since the 14th when they told him that "the case is complex and was forwarded to the Commonwealth Office for clarification".

I submitted an official complaint to them back in March, got a confirmation, the deadline has passed and no reply, so a sent a follow up, again a confirmation and no reply, another follow up, deadline passed and no reply again... Another follow up, finally they replied but with a generic "sorry you've not received a reply, feel free to submit a complaint bla bla" so basically I would be back to square one. I requested that they review the complaint but not holding my breath.

I have submitted a FOI request regarding the cancelled passports on www.whatdotheyknow.com , deadline of 20 days, no reply. I have now requested an internal review as per the procedure on the website. They have until the end of May to reply, but so far not even received an acknowledgment (and the requests made before and after mine all did)>

They are ignoring me as much as they can. The beaurocracy is making my blood boil but I am not giving up.

[Sylwianotts]

PS and another annoying thing, I didn't receive any correspondence from my examiner since the initial "please align your other passport in line with your application" mid March, just before I sent them the first letter stating that the Polish passport is cancelled. Since then , no letters. Whenever they change their mind and made a new request, I had to phone o find out. They tell me each time that if something is required, the examiner will contact me directly, but he/she never did, not to ask for renouncing my Polish citizenship, not to confirm that the polish passport is cancelled, not for the Consulate's statement, not to let me know that it's been forwarded to the common Wealth office, I had to ring almost every day and find out myself from various staff plus I would occasionally get an email from the manager with his own ideas, contradicting with what the advisors said on the phone. SO the examiner either is not bothered or avoiding to write anything that could be used against him when I make an appeal to the Ombudsman via the MP...

[Enka]

Hi Sylvia,

Oh I feel for you as I'm going through the same nightmare as you. I have applied for my and my sons first British passport at the beginning of March. We used post office to do all the checks and I have read the booklet I was given by post office number ILB37 10.15 and there was nothing there about changing our names on Polish passport. So you can imagine how annoyed I was when they told me, they are not going to issue British passport. Since then I have phoned them at least 30 times, I was accused by one of their advisors of being a criminal, despite the fact I have been working for the NHS for the past 9 years and have my DBS checks done regularly. Every single time we are given different advise i.e. - cancel your polish passport - which I did - not good enough, renounce polish citizenship- which I'm not going to do, change my sons name and mine in Poland and then apply for a polish passport under new name. What is the point of me having 2 passports ? I live here and I only need one passport. On top of that my situation is little bit more complicated. My son is 16 and to complete his name change in Poland I have to have a signature of his biological father. Although I was given custody of my son and I was able to change his name in UK, the law in Poland is totally different. I have no idea where my ex is as he has not been in touch with us for over 10 years. So I have to go to a court in UK to get permission for a name change for my son.
We have made a formal complaint against passport office. The front line advisors are not trained enough, often they are rude and they make you feel like a second category citizen. There is no consistency and they lacking common sense. We are awaiting response from them.

[Sylwianotts]

Hi Sylvia,

Oh I feel for you as I'm going through the same nightmare as you. I have applied for my and my sons first British passport at the beginning of March. We used post office to do all the checks and I have read the booklet I was given by post office number ILB37 10.15 and there was nothing there about changing our names on Polish passport. So you can imagine how annoyed I was when they told me, they are not going to issue British passport. Since then I have phoned them at least 30 times, I was accused by one of their advisors of being a criminal, despite the fact I have been working for the NHS for the past 9 years and have my DBS checks done regularly. Every single time we are given different advise i.e. - cancel your polish passport - which I did - not good enough, renounce polish citizenship- which I'm not going to do, change my sons name and mine in Poland and then apply for a polish passport under new name. What is the point of me having 2 passports ? I live here and I only need one passport. On top of that my situation is little bit more complicated. My son is 16 and to complete his name change in Poland I have to have a signature of his biological father. Although I was given custody of my son and I was able to change his name in UK, the law in Poland is totally different. I have no idea where my ex is as he has not been in touch with us for over 10 years. So I have to go to a court in UK to get permission for a name change for my son.
We have made a formal complaint against passport office. The front line advisors are not trained enough, often they are rude and they make you feel like a second category citizen. There is no consistency and they lacking common sense. We are awaiting response from them.

Hi,

They tend to be rude on the phone, yes. Especially when you ask them to quote any policy to back up their requests and decisions. I've still not received a reply to my formal complaint, so if you do, please let us know the response.

They apparently have a "knowledge base" for each country, I got the manager to read the some bits ftkm it and he proceeded to tell me about what the capitol is etc... Seriously? How about the basic passport info, like all expired passports are cancelled automatically, or the fact that to obtain a first full passport for a child you need to present the BC etc... Then the issues wouldn't arise.

Here are my FOI requests if anyone wants to follow them,

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/ ... ing-538949

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/ ... ing-537635

No reply or even an acknowledgment to either, despite the deadline passing on one of them or the fact that requests made before or after mine were all at least acknowledged even the next day. So now I am complaining the the Information Commissioner as per procedures but that will take time and they still will probably claim they've never received it (despite my follow ups both on site l, via the phone and several emails to different recipient in HMPO). I'm like a bad penny to them.

The stress caused by this is terrible but I'm not quitting!

[C1947]

Hi guys
My daughter in law has recieved her british passport in her married name.Her thai passport has her maiden name.There are no comments on the observation page, so she has been very lucky to get passport in her married name.

[geriatrix]

so she has been very lucky to get passport in her married name.

+1
Also shows that there is no consistency in how caseworkers follow HMPO's policy regarding this issue.

[Marii]

Hi guys
My daughter in law has recieved her british passport in her married name.Her thai passport has her maiden name.There are no comments on the observation page, so she has been very lucky to get passport in her married name.

I think her application was successful because she haven't submitted her thai passport which contains her maiden name.
However, It is clear in the guidance applicant must submit all uncancelled passport and I would not recommend anyone to apply without passport.

[noajthan]

I think her application was successful because she haven't submitted her thai passport which contains her maiden name.
However, It is clear in the guidance applicant must submit all uncancelled passport and I would not recommend anyone to apply without passport.

If maiden passport was not submitted that could explain the relatively painless and positive result.
Had the uncancelled passport in maiden name been submitted it would have been very likely to have been snagged too.

[C1947]

Hi guys
Her thai passport with her maiden name was included in her application as it asks for it,but she backed it up with thai id in married name and all her documents in uk that she uses married name.
She did write a letter also asking for her maiden name to be put on observation page but they didnt do that,there wasnt any observations on that page of passport.
Also thailand does accept name change on thai passports .

[C1947]

Forgot to mention, her naturalisation certificate was also granted in married name as check and send lady advised her to apply for it and there woudnt be a problem with passport in married name.
She did tell the lady at the time about the rule changes concerning name changes but the lady was adamant that she would recieve british passport in married name.
Her previous brps were in maiden name.

[noajthan]

Hi guys
Her thai passport with her maiden name was included in her application as it asks for it,but she backed it up with thai id in married name and all her documents in uk that she uses married name.
She did write a letter also asking for her maiden name to be put on observation page but they didnt do that,there wasnt any observations on that page of passport.
Also thailand does accept name change on thai passports .

Perhaps there has been a recent internal (& undocumented) shift in HO policy then.
Will be interesting to see how the next applicant with similar circumstances gets on.

[C1947]

Hi noajthan
Yes i find it hard to believe as well
Maybe there has been a change and not documented because we all know the name changes regarding maiden names was not very well documented.
But for going on these forums i would not of been aware of this rule.
I do think her thai id card in married name helped as she stated on application thats what she is known as in Thailand.

[ouflak1]

Perhaps there has been a recent internal (& undocumented) shift in HO policy then..

Whether or not there was an internal policy shift, there was an extant external policy in place since 1948:

Article 13, (2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including their own, and to return to their own country.

There is no country on earth, and likely not even any airline or other from of international travel to that country, that will allow someone into that country through a controlled border without a valid passport or secure state ID (such as the UK BRP). This rule effectively blocked the right of new UK citizens to leave their own country, in particular newly married women who lost their citizenship upon acquisition of their new citizenship. Not only was this rule heavily biased with regards to women in the UK, a country that doesn't exactly have the most sterling record with regards to the rights of women, this rule was also 100% biased with regards to ethnicity, a civil rights issue the UK is still struggling with.

In America, this would have been an open-and-shut class action lawsuit. But we are notoriously litigious in nature (forgive my stereotyping). Even so, I'm still surprised that a good number of women disproportionately affected by this haven't sued the UK government. I cannot conceive of any defense that the UK could come up with to defend this behavior.

This kind of rule is something I might expect from a third world Islamic country harshly applying some relic of sharia law in order to further oppress is female population. Not a modern 1st world European country that has often times proudly gotten up on its high horse to preach internationally on such topics.

[Richard W]

There is no country on earth, and likely not even any airline or other from of international travel to that country, that will allow someone into that country through a controlled border without a valid passport or secure state ID (such as the UK BRP).

What law requires a British citizen to enter the Common Travel Area at a port? He is free to swim ashore at most points along the coastline.

[ouflak1]

There is no country on earth, and likely not even any airline or other from of international travel to that country, that will allow someone into that country through a controlled border without a valid passport or secure state ID (such as the UK BRP).

What law requires a British citizen to enter the Common Travel Area at a port? He is free to swim ashore at most points along the coastline.

So you're saying that the UK is within its right to withhold the issuing of passports to women of varying ethnicity (and let's not make any mistake, that's who is being targeted with this rule), effectively locking them out ever traveling through any controlled port of entry, on the basis that these women can atleast travel to one other country through uncontrolled ports. Heck, since the women are free to swim to Ireland, France, the Atlantic..., anywhere their little arms can take them, and sneak in, there's no problem! I suppose they could always just swim back as well, because the ladies don't need a passport for that either, right?

I'm sorry. But that's insane. If the UK is crazy enough to try that wacky defense, they should just save themselves the infinite embarrassment and end this rule before somebody actually does get around to calling them out on this in a court of law.

[muina]

Hi everyone,

I'm preparing for my citizenship application this June, and have taken the option of applying for the passport at the same time as the naturalisation application as apparently this saves time. I was planning on using my married name on the naturalisation application, and subsequently on the passport application, but after reading this thread, it sounds like I'll have a problem!

I've been married for a year now but have not used my married name anywhere. It's a right hassle getting a new passport (I'm a Filipino citizen) as they want me to send my marriage details to the Philippine consulate in Sydney where I got married, wait for the statistics office in the Philippines to recognise that, before I can even apply for a new passport with my married name. So nope, not going down that route.

I was thinking of changing my bank details with my married name, but since my application is in 3 weeks, I don't know if that will be enough time for getting to everything (professional registration, etc etc).

So now I'm thinking of just applying for naturalisation under my maiden name, apply for my first British passport still under my maiden name, and just apply for a second one with the married name. Or would I still run into trouble with that, with them asking why I never declared I was married in my first application?

[noajthan]

...

So now I'm thinking of just applying for naturalisation under my maiden name, apply for my first British passport still under my maiden name, and just apply for a second one with the married name. Or would I still run into trouble with that, with them asking why I never declared I was married in my first application?

This may be your best bet if all papers and Philippine passport are all in your maiden name and you've only ever used your maiden name so far.
HMPO will be most interested in the name in any/all current passports.

It's your business why you choose to have the name you use. (My wife only changed hers after several years of marriage).

Don't forget to apply to retain your Philippine citizenship (if you wish to do so) after naturalising.
And if you do eventually change your name then any SSS registration you may have will need updating too.
Mabuhay!

[muina]

...
This may be your best bet if all papers and Philippine passport are all in your maiden name and you've only ever used your maiden name so far.
HMPO will be most interested in the name in any/all current passports.

Another option I'm thinking about is applying for my naturalisation with my married name, but instead of applying for the passport at the same time, wait after the citizenship ceremony, get that cancellation certificate from the Philippine embassy, then apply for the passport under my married name. Or are they going to be causing trouble with that option?

It's your business why you choose to have the name you use. (My wife only changed hers after several years of marriage).

I know, and why they cause so HMPO cause so much hassle about it is not very...progressive. I spoke to UK VI people to ask about using my married name and they said it was fine so long as I include the marriage certificate. I see HMPO is still behind on this, and all the bureaucracy is so reminiscent of the Philippine government. Utterly confounding.

Don't forget to apply to retain your Philippine citizenship (if you wish to do so) after naturalising.
And if you do eventually change your name then any SSS registration you may have will need updating too.
Mabuhay!

Oh dear, thank you for reminding me about the SSS! I think my father has been putting money on it even after I left. I wasn't seriously considering retaining my Philippine citizenship, but then that would mean all that money would be kaput? More things to read on, I suppose!

[noajthan]

...

Oh dear, thank you for reminding me about the SSS! I think my father has been putting money on it even after I left. I wasn't seriously considering retaining my Philippine citizenship, but then that would mean all that money would be kaput? More things to read on, I suppose!

I don't think you lose your papa's contributions but, who knows, you may want to buy (more) land &/or vote (&/or become president - some day).
btw - there's a SSS office at the embassy in London which is handy.

If you don't retain your previous citizenship you will become a Balikbayan;
do hold onto your old passport, even if cancelled, as you will need to show it to avail of balikbayan privileges.

[Richard W]

I'm sorry. But that's insane. If the UK is crazy enough to try that wacky defense, they should just save themselves the infinite embarrassment and end this rule before somebody actually does get around to calling them out on this in a court of law.

"A passport is a privilege, not a right" is beloved by governments. The best the courts will do is insist on consistently and fairly applied rules for refusing passports.

[ouflak1]

"A passport is a privilege, not a right" is beloved by governments. The best the courts will do is insist on consistently and fairly applied rules for refusing passports.

A passport is neither a 'privilege' or a 'right'.

• 1. A passport is an identification document generally recognized by the international community for purposes such as travel and counselor services. Effectively it is a government vouching for that person's identity.
  
  2. Citizenship is a privilege.
  
  3. The ability of a citizen to leave their own country and return to their own country is a basic human right.

These concepts are all no doubt related. But they are each distinct and separable.

The courts can look at the facts as plainly put in front of them and clearly see that this rule is targeting women, in particular women whose ethnicity is not native British. They can base that decision on basic human rights. The courts have made such decisions many times in the past, and even recently. They can make that decision now. Whether they will or not...? Maybe that point just needs to be tested. It is clear right now that the national mood about immigration, even perfectly legal immigration, is not the best. And courts can be swayed by such things. Otherwise, this is an open-and-shut case in my opinion.

It is certainly clear that the condition of "consistently and fairly applied" is not being met. If the courts, as you say, insist on that, then the women who bring that case against the UK government win by default.

[Marii]

"A passport is a privilege, not a right" is beloved by governments. The best the courts will do is insist on consistently and fairly applied rules for refusing passports.

A passport is neither a 'privilege' or a 'right'.

• 1. A passport is an identification document generally recognized by the international community for purposes such as travel and counselor services. Effectively it is a government vouching for that person's identity.
  
  2. Citizenship is a privilege.
  
  3. The ability of a citizen to leave their own country and return to their own country is a basic human right.

These concepts are all no doubt related. But they are each distinct and separable.

The courts can look at the facts as plainly put in front of them and clearly see that this rule is targeting women, in particular women whose ethnicity is not native British. They can base that decision on basic human rights. The courts have made such decisions many times in the past, and even recently. They can make that decision now. Whether they will or not...? Maybe that point just needs to be tested. It is clear right now that the national mood about immigration, even perfectly legal immigration, is not the best. And courts can be swayed by such things. Otherwise, this is an open-and-shut case in my opinion.

It is certainly clear that the condition of "consistently and fairly applied" is not being met. If the courts, as you say, insist on that, then the women who bring that case against the UK government win by default.

I do like what you said above. However, women who will bring the case into court should be very wealthy. It's can cost fortune to sue government.

[tabooze]

Hi, all.

I am hoping for some positive experiences with getting passport in married name...

We're a family of 5. 4 of us got our passport (children and myself), however, my wife has an uncancelled Serbian passport in here maiden name. (We both have another citizenship that's in her married name) We've been married for 20 years, outside Serbia, she's only ever been known under her married name, which hasn't been a problem until she needs to get her UK passport.

As everybody knows, this effectively means that although she still has two passports, she can't travel anywhere, as she's got no way of coming back - no more BRPs.

After getting the letter advising her to change her Serbian passport (we've been trying to for over 10 years, they need an apostille, which we can't get from where we got married), and calling the advice line, the dude told me the solution is very simple "just renounce your Serbian citizenship". The cheek! It might look simple to someone who's never left Yorkshire or wherever he's sitting, but it is not that simple. First, my wife's got inherited property there, which she'd have to give up. Second, after talking to the embassy, we learned that even giving up on citizenship would take a couple of years and cost at least £300.

So, after reading all this in this thread, we built a dossier - about 20 years of history of my wife using her married name in several countries, and for the past 7 years in the UK, all started off with a very nice letter to the case worker explaining all these difficulties, and pleading for help, helpfully suggesting they put the observation in the passport.

It's now been three weeks. I called last week, they said they're trying to find a solution and the case was with the policy team, please call back next week. Sounded positive!

Today, exactly seven days later, I call, and a not very friendly lady informs me that nothing's changed, because, you know, it's been a bank holiday in the UK. Now, I know I have an accent, but this assumption that because I have an accent, I do not understand that there's been a day's holiday.... Urggghhh! I can't afford to mention that the bank holiday's only one day, and we are talking three weeks later, as I'll probably just destroy our chances....

I am sick of being treated like a sub-human being, and can't wait to have all the passports. Meanwhile, cost of plane tickets for the summer keeps going up.

Anyway, this is just to get it back to actual cases and to vent a bit.

[nathan2]

Thank you everyone for contributing your experience and advice in this thread, especially noajthan. My wife received her approval this morning!

We changed her Canadian passport into married name, then immediately applied for naturalisation (did not update the BRP first). Went through fine in two and a half months. Approval letter is in married name, so certificate should be too (waiting on council to write with a ceremony date).