sushdmehta wrote:If I have understood it right, the issue here is not of a person using maiden name or adopting spouse's family name, but that of changing the name to reflect a "surname" which currently is reflected in "given name" (e.g. - first / middle name).
Yes, that is correct. Both FirstName and SurName are written in the 'Given names' field in the passport. The Lastname field is blank in the passport. It is worth mentioning that the previous passport (with maiden name) did not have this mistake. When she applied for a new passport after marriage, then this mistake was made by issuing authorities.
sushdmehta wrote:In such case, best that you defer the change until your wife becomes eligible for naturalisation. I believe she'll need a deed poll to reflect the name change and will need to send it along with the naturalisation application.
This way, will saves you the cost and effort of getting the name changed in her current foreign passport and, if required, also for NTL under the new name.
I showed her passport to the counter clerk (passport services) at the Indian embassy on my recent visit and he basically said that it is very straight forward to change this mistake. All we need to submit is the required fee (GBP 19) and an application to move the surname of the last name field and they will issue a new passport with the correct fields filled-in and will cancel the existing passport and return it. I had this conversation with him only a week before I applied for ILR and in retrospect I feel that this might have been a better option (to get name corrected in the new passport issued and then apply for ILR). At that time, I was not very sure, if UKBA will refuse or decline ILR because of this name change.
I applied for my ILR though a well know immigration services firm, and asked them the very same question. The response was that it does not matter if you get the name corrected before or after ILR. If it is corrected before ILR application, then ILR will be issued on the new passport. If the name is corrected after ILR application, then she can carry both old and new passports.
As we will apply for BC next year, we will follow then process you described.
However, I am mostly worried about some difficult (or ignorant) airline official creating issues during transit or boarding the flight. Basically, for all online booking surname needs to be given and she always provides her surname in online bookings (the way it should be), and if someone decides to go by the book they may very well deny boarding.
