misprint in naturalisation certificate

[obormot]

I obtained my naturalisation certificate in mid-December, just before I had to travel abroad. Now I returned and I would like to apply for passport.
So i looked at my naturalisation certificate and realised there is a misprint - one letter is wrong in the name of the city I was born in (the city is "St. PetersbUrg" and the certificate says "St. PetersbErg").
Moreover, in fact this "Petersburg" is the new name of the city - it was renamed after I was born. In my passport there is the old name (which is not "Petersburg" at all, but "Leningrad").
In citizenship application I wrote place of birth as old name (the city name when I was born) + new name in parenthesis: "Leningrad (St. Petersburg)".
And my spelling was correct!

I guess I cannot apply for passport now, but should apply for certificate replacement, no?
What should I ask for the city to be put in - old or new (with correct spelling) name??
i usually use new one, but in my passport it is the old one..
I must add the country I was born also changed the name, but it seems they really want to use the new name anyway (there is no option to choose old name in their scrolling down lists..)

[alterhase58]

Have no experience of this but start with this link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... ertificate
They have clearly made a mistake compared to your application.

[obormot]

Thanks, I found this form, and I will do it.

But I now realised it is even more complicated, then just a misspell.

My birthplace changed the name after I was born. In my birth certificate, in my passport of my home country (and in my EU passport) my birthplace is listed under old name "Leningrad" (it was its name when I was born, and this is the policy of both countries)

When I applied for naturalisation, I put in the form the old city name, but also added the current name in parenthesis, like this:
place of birth:   Leningrad (St. Petersburg)
<to explicitly show that the name have changed>

HO for whatever reason put in my naturalisation certificate "St. PetersbErg"
But what is their policy when the name of the city/country changes after a person birth date?
Do they want to use current one or one at the time of birth?

When I ask for correction of my naturalisation certificate, should I ask for correcting spelling mistake in one letter, or for putting old city name "Leningrad", as at time of my birth?

[alterhase58]

Not aware of the specific rules. Always assumed they use the latest version of country and place names. For my parents' details I used the current place and country names as opposed to the names at the time of their birth though that wasn't an important detail. I suppose you could try and ask for the old name but both names is probably too complex(?) for the way things are done.

[alterhase58]

There is actually some information available, relating to passports, which I guess is valid for other official documents:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... -birth.pdf

Quote:
"When the authorities of a country change the name of towns, provinces or the
country itself from the original name to a different one, it does so for all official
purposes. It is long-established international practice for passports to reflect
this by recording in passports and travel documents the holder’s place of birth
in its current, official form. For example, Salisbury Rhodesia, is now Harare
Zimbabwe. Please see the table in Annex A of the most commonly
encountered changes of place name. In cases of doubt, examiners should
check an up to date atlas. There is also an up to date list of countries on the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) web site."

[obormot]

I actually found the answer to that.

Here:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... -birth.pdf

"When the authorities of a country change the name of towns, provinces or the country itself from the original name to a different one, it does so for all official purposes. It is long-established international practice for passports to reflect this by recording in passports and travel documents the holder’s place of birth in its current, official form."

Thus, it seems UK authorities use current names. (My city, St. Petersburg, is actually on their official table of changes in that document above)

However, it is not true that this is "established international practice" to use current names. Both Russia and France insist on stating the place names as they were at the time of birth..

[obormot]

O! We found the same document at the same time!
So it seems I only need to change E to U..
I wonder though, if I send an application for passport now with current certificate with incorrect spelling (but stating the correct name in passport application), will they refuse it?
Is there a phone number to talk to passport people?

[alterhase58]

https://www.gov.uk/passport-advice-line