EEA (All forms) - Name discrepancy

[Federal]

Hey folks,

I'm currently waiting for the HO to issue me a PR document after having sent off the EEA(PR) form, but I wanted to ask whether any of you had to make an application under a name that would NOT match the one on your travel document or ID card. In my case, my first and middle names found on my Greek passport and ID card are a transliterated variant of my Greek name (Georgios), which I have never, ever used. All my UK documents, including my UK driver's licence, HMRC correspondence, Life in the UK test, bank statements etc, are under my actual name (George) and I have sent a cover letter with my application to establish a connection between the two variations of the name and stress that I am applying under the name George.

I got a bit concerned when I checked my credit card statement the other day and saw that the money had been withdrawn and a reference code was put in along with the name Georgios - it's possible that considering that the money is being taken before any case is considered, that whoever processed my payment did not bother scrutinising the entire application.

But my question is whether others have applied for a PR card (or even citizenship, which is the next step) under a name unlike the one found in their ID documents. I would expect that this would be an issue frequently encountered by nationals whose language is not transcribed through the latin alphabet.

I'm very keen to hear your experiences!

[Federal]

And in an unhelpful twist, I just received my confirmation email with my Case ID and my name is wrong there too. (and by wrong, I mean that they used the name from my travel document, as opposed to my UK driver's licence etc)

Any suggestions?

[noajthan]

Hey folks,

I'm currently waiting for the HO to issue me a PR document after having sent off the EEA(PR) form, but I wanted to ask whether any of you had to make an application under a name that would NOT match the one on your travel document or ID card. In my case, my first and middle names found on my Greek passport and ID card are a transliterated variant of my Greek name (Georgios), which I have never, ever used. All my UK documents, including my UK driver's licence, HMRC correspondence, Life in the UK test, bank statements etc, are under my actual name (George) and I have sent a cover letter with my application to establish a connection between the two variations of the name and stress that I am applying under the name George.

...

But my question is whether others have applied for a PR card (or even citizenship, which is the next step) under a name unlike the one found in their ID documents. I would expect that this would be an issue frequently encountered by nationals whose language is not transcribed through the latin alphabet.

I'm very keen to hear your experiences!

The person processing the payment is likely to be an accounts clerk (possibly in a different department if not agency) & not a caseworker on your case.

fyi - you can see HO/HMPO approach to names for British passports here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... f-name.pdf
- see: Numbers, Symbols and Punctuation Marks (Diacritical characters and accent characters)

You will have to tread carefully and straighten this out before naturalisation & British passport (if that is your ambition);
especially as HO & HMPO appear to have separate and not always aligned policies in this area.

Good luck.

[Federal]

Thanks noajthan - Naturalisation is indeed what I'm after. Do you think I can call the hotline now that I have a Case ID and ask to speak to someone about this? Not sure how I could straighten it out otherwise... I dread waiting and receiving a PR document with the name that is NOT the same as, for example, the Life in the UK test pass certificate. What's the scope for correcting such information before, or after you receive your PR document?

I suspect that if it's the latter, that completely blows my attempt to send my AN form before the April fee increase out of the water...

[noajthan]

Thanks noajthan - Naturalisation is indeed what I'm after. Do you think I can call the hotline now that I have a Case ID and ask to speak to someone about this? Not sure how I could straighten it out otherwise... I dread waiting and receiving a PR document with the name that is NOT the same as, for example, the Life in the UK test pass certificate. What's the scope for correcting such information before, or after you receive your PR document?

I suspect that if it's the latter, that completely blows my attempt to send my AN form before the April fee increase out of the water...

It's most unfortunate.
It may also depend if HO determines you are changing your name rather than simply transliterating it.

The helplines are notoriously unreliable; call 3 times, get 4 different answers.

I'm sure the accounts clerk will have used the name without thinking so it may not indicate the caseworker has got it wrong.

Is George the accepted Anglicised/transliterated of form Georgios? (great name btw).
As the document explains, you may have to justify your form of the name &/or involve the embassy (!).

This may be best sorted out in writing but yes, that could take time as it's a bit of an edge case.
(Suggest include the 'names' document if it helps explain your case clearly).

[Federal]

Update: called the helpline and was originally told that a Deed Poll is required. Called again, and they said that the confirmation email does not indicate that a caseworker has been assigned to my application so it's a matter of being patient.

I want to tear my hair out...

[noajthan]

Update: called the helpline and was originally told that a Deed Poll is required. Called again, and they said that the confirmation email does not indicate that a caseworker has been assigned to my application so it's a matter of being patient.

I want to tear my hair out...

This confirms members' experiences here - call helpline X times & get X (or more) different answers & snippets of advice for same question.

[Federal]

Just an update to say that I've decided to bite the bullet and made a Deed Poll to 'renounce' the name that I never had, and sent it off via post again in support of my application, quoting the case ID number. I fear that it will probably make things worse, but I honestly don't know what else to do... The fact that I have a UK Driver's licence with my proper name seems to not count for anything...

Will keep you posted.

[Federal]

..and as expected, they used my wrong name on the document too. I'm going to write them an email at their email address where people log incorrect information on their PR card, but after that I'm unsure of how to proceed. This is nuts - I went to great lengths to explain the situation on two separate cover letters and further correspondence but at no time did anyone try to contact me to discuss... They just used the name on my ID card, completely discounting all other documentation, including UK drivers licence, marriage certificate, P60s, bank statements, university degrees... I mean, how else would I have gotten all the other paperwork if I wasn't using my actual name?

The issue that leaves me with, in terms of naturalisation as the next step, is that I've got a Life in the UK successful test completion note under my actual name too, and that of course now doesn't match the name on my DCPR...

[Federal]

Apologies for reviving this thread, but I just wanted to write an update on my plight.

As of today, and after numerous calls to the helpline and furthermore involving the local MP, I am none the wiser as to how to get the Home Office to re-issue a DCPR.

It has become perfectly clear however, that the Home Office will not, in any case, entertain any variations of names other than those found in your travel document (national ID card, or passport). This obviously contravenes what I was told on numerous occasions about establishing a link between the two names, and even more confusingly, when faced with a discrepancy between the travel document and all the other supporting documentation, the Home Office will proceed in issuing the DCPR regardless, instead of rejecting (or querying) the application on the grounds of dual identity.

I have since had all my travel documents amended to show the name that I applied under, and now face the challenge in getting the Home Office to offer me a procedure whereas I get to submit these along with my DCPR and I get a new DCPR afterwards. I don't care if I have to pay again at this stage.

Unfortunately, no such avenue exists. I am in limbo. Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated.

So, to all those who have naming discrepancies and are thinking of applying regardless with a cover letter and sufficient evidence to prove the connection between your names: Don't.

[rotor]

I received citizenship, and went to apply for my first UK passport, and was denied because my country-of-birth passport has both my father's and my mother's surnames on it (even though literally not a single document in the UK has my mother's surname as I have never used it anywhere ever). My only option is to change my name in my country of birth, and get a new passport, before the UK will issue me with a passport. Of course I lost my £75(?) application fee, and changing everything in my country of birth will cost me around £1000.

The UK immigration process has undoubtedly been the most frustrating bureaucratic experience of my entire life.

[deewee]

Hi Federal,

you mention in your post, that the HO will not entertain any other names than mentioned in your passport... We (=my wife) have a similar issue, but both last names are in the passport!

- She is Latvian national, we got married 2014 here in the UK and she took my last name
- The Latvian authorities changed her last name in her Latvian passport to something similar, since some letters do not exist - eg a "W" turned unto a "V" and a "CH" was dropped completely. Phonetically it sounds similar to my last name, but the spelling is completely different.
- This spelling is on the laminated page of her passport, on the first paper page under the category "The original form of the name transliterated in Latin alphabet" is the correctly spelled name.
- She submitted her EEA PR application with the correct last name, all documents/P60/... were in the correct name
- In the PR card, her name is spelled the Latvian way!

Since you already went through the whole trouble - do you have any advice on how to deal with this?

Best
Dan