Spouse name change

[blackpurple]

I'm a British citizen (via Naturalisation) and my wife is working in the UK on her own Work Permit (WP) processed by her company. We are planning to get her family name changed in her PP. She is a Indian national and we have got our marriage certificate issued in India. Getting her name changed in her PP via Indian embassy or from India is not a difficult process, but what would happen to her current WP which is issued on her original name and is valid for another good number of years? Do we need to get it re-stamped or is it legal to leave it like that?

Thanks
Blackpurple

[dnicky]

Changing the name on the passport will have no impact whatsoever on the work visas stamped in the passport. You can, if you want, pay extra to get the visa changed as well, but it is not mandatory.
Your wife although would need to carry marriage certificate along with her passport whenever she travels in and out of the country.

If I were you I would not have bothered changing the name on the passport unless it was extermely necessary.

[whirly]

blackpurple,

Like dnicky says, your wife can keep her work permit in her old passport. She will have to get used to carrying both passports and her marriage certificate when she travels.

If I were you I would not have bothered changing the name on the passport unless it was extermely necessary.

Not sure that I agree with this. The last thing I changed was my passport, and it caused me no end of grief when travelling. Wish I had changed it sooner! Just a word to the wise: make sure her names match on her passport and any frequent flyer cards. Several airlines gave me a hard time because my passport was still in my maiden name, but miles were being collected in my married name. One airline even wanted to charge me an extra fee just to let me get a boarding pass.

It takes a while, but you might as well change her name on everything to be consistent... It's so much easier when everything matches up.

[John]

I'm a British citizen (via Naturalisation) and my wife is working in the UK on her own Work Permit (WP) processed by her company

Any reason why your wife has not switched to a spouse visa? That is surely the obvious thing to do, leading to faster ILR and Naturalisation.