Application for BC with PR card in old name

[d_swordfish]

Hi,
My Polish wife recently received her PR card through the post, which is great news, and we want to proceed to the citizenship application. However there's one small issue: the card is still in her maiden name. Unfortunately due to her passport being with the Home Office at the time, we were unable to get it changed in a timely manner in Poland, and we required the new passport to tell the Home Office about the change.We also changed address in the last couple of weeks to complicate matters a bit.
Does anyone know if we will be able to use this card as part of the citizenship application along with the marriage certificate plus something to show we changed address? If not does anyone know how we go about notifying the HO of the changes?

Thanks very much.

[d_swordfish]

Just bumping this up again in hopes of an answer, along with some additional research: The document here https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... 060916.pdf seems to be relevant and I have copied the most significant passage here:

11. Foreign nationals who apply to become British citizens may be registered or naturalised in their married name. However, if a new citizen wants a British passport in their married name they must change the name on their other passport(s), travel documents and national identity card(s) to reflect their married name before submitting their application. Exceptions to this approach are set out in paragraphs 18 to 30 below.

This would seem to suggest that the PR card needn't be changed (it's not a "travel document" right), although all the other documents should be (they have been). Anyone actually have experience with this?

Thanks.

[LilyLalilu]

As far as I am aware, her DCPR doesn't need to be changed in order to apply for naturalisation as a BC - just send proof of name change (i.e. your marriage certificate) along with it so the caseworker can make the connection between the names.

Once she has become a BC, be aware that the name in her Polish passport will need to be changed to her married name if she ever wants a British passport in her married name. It is HMPO policy (designed to prevent identity fraud) to not usually accept name discrepancies in dual nationals' passports.

[ohara]

Has your wife actually changed her name in her home country passport now? If you want the easiest path through all of this, she should do that before anything else.

I don't believe there is any requirement for her DCPR to be in her married name, nor is there a requirement for her to obtain a replacement. Just write her maiden name in the AN form where it asks if you have ever been known by any other name.

For ultimate peace of mind though, you can apply for a replacement DCPR if you don't mind dropping another £65 and waiting a couple of months.

HMPO will not issue a British passport in a name other than the one she has in any other uncancelled passport(s).

[d_swordfish]

Hi there,
Thanks for your replies. She has all her new Polish documents now which have the name changed. The date on the new passport is just the day before the PR card was issued so hopefully it should be relatively obvious that it wasn't possible to send this to the HO to get it changed on the application. The only snag there might be is the time difference between us getting married and the new documents - all in all it took about three months thanks to them being originally with the HO, us being away, plus a bit of Polish bureaucracy etc.

Thanks very much again for your kind help

[Federal]

Hello - I have had to battle through a similar issue. I have a DCPR in a wrong name and short of reapplying for the same document (which may or may not have resolved the issue) I was left with no other options other than to apply for BC, despite the naming discrepancy. After a lengthy correspondence with UKVI via my MP, I was told that I could apply for citizenship and it did not matter that 'the DCPR vignette differs' - all that mattered, was the name in your travel documents (passport). This was somewhat reassuring, (as the name in my passports and indeed all my documents is the correct one) but I'd like to warn you of what came next: a request for biometrics... addressed in the wrong name (the one on my DCPR).

Again, through my MP and through the UKVI email accounts, I had to raise this as an issue. I'm not sure which avenue worked but two weeks later, they sent an amended request for biometrics with my correct name. No acknowledgement that an error was made.

I am now patiently waiting for a decision in regards to my citizenship application. I pray that the lengthy kerfuffle as to the naming discrepancy that came before all this (been battling with this since January!) will not stall my case any further.

NB: When you receive the request for biometrics, it specifically states that if you are known by another name to the Home Office, then that is the name that they will use until your case is assigned to a caseworker. Only then, they will consider whether they should amend it. I was not at all comfortable with that (considering it was the UKVI's mistake in the first place), hence why I spammed them till they sent a new letter. Only time will tell if I did the right thing.

Best of luck, to us all!

[d_swordfish]

Hi Federal,

Thanks for your very useful reply. Was the wrong name on the PR card one you were previously known by or was it a mistake in some way? Glad to hear that it was sorted in the end with regards to the biometrics, and best of luck with the processing of your application.

[Federal]

Hello - it was a combination of both. I used to have a passport which featured a transliterated variant of my name, as opposed to the proper English version, which is what all my UK ID documents (including drivers licence) are in. The problems started when I was advised by the UKVI helpline that such discrepancies are commonplace and a covering letter explaining the situation would most definitely ensure that the English proper version would be used.

I now know that

a) the helpline can't be trusted (a common theme in this forum) and

b) that if there is anything certain about any application of any sorts, then that is that the Home Office will always, without fail, use whatever name is in your passport/ID card, regardless if you hold other IDs contradicting that. My cover letters were ignored. Subsequent correspondence via my MP, showed that the Home Office has no official procedure for correcting errors in the DCPR, regardless of whether the mistake was theirs, or the applicant's. They advised doing a fresh application, therefore repeating the entire procedure and costs associated with getting a DCPR in the first place. When I queried as to whether a caseworker would reject an application from a previously successful applicant (albeit with a different name), the MP's point of contact seemed to think that this would not be the case. However, I have my doubts.

Best of luck.