Need urgent advice please - naturalisation name issue

[wanttoclarify22]

Need urgent advice please.

My wife and myself applied for naturalisation through NCS a few weeks ago and we have received a letter from the council today telling us when the next oath taking ceremony is scheduled to take place in the council. Since our application submission, we have only received an acknowledgement letter from UKBA. We have not received any approval letter from UKBA yet. We may get it in the next few days. The acknowledgement letter from UKBA mentions both my name and my wife's correctly.

The letter from the council today addressed to me has my name correctly specified. However, the letter from the council to my wife has her first name and surname reversed. My wife called the council and UKBA today after this and they seem to indicate that even the naturalisation certificate will have her name reversed.

In the application form, we have correctly specified her surname and given name (in other name) correctly. My wife's Indian passport is an old style passport and does not have separate columns for surnames and given names. There is only one entry for name and her name is given as XXX AAA where XXX is her surname (her dad's name - clearly a man's name) and AAA is her given name (clearly a woman's name).

All her P45, National Insurance card, bank statements (i.e. all documents issued by UK establishments) show her name correctly as AAA XXX (i.e. first name followed by surname). We had enclosed her P45 and bank statements as supporting documents along with her naturalisation application. She does not have a UK driving licence.

My urgent query is - what should she do now? We have her birth certificate (which we did not send along with her naturalisation application - we did not know that it might be needed) which shows her name as AAA XXX (i.e. first name followed by surname).

Our preference is to correct any problem before taking the oath. Once she receives a letter from UKBA informing her of approval decision (I assume this letter will have her name written with first name and surname reversed), can she write to UKBA a letter enclosing a certified copy (solicitor or notary public certifying it) of the birth certificate, original bank statements, original P45 and request UKBA to correct any error they may have in their system? Some friends advised today that it is better to correct any error before the oath taking ceremony (even if it gets delayed by a month).

Will UKBA correct and issue the correct naturalisation certificate?

We are very worried and would appreciate your advice please. Many Thanks in advance.

[avjones]

There is only one entry for name and her name is given as XXX AAA where XXX is her surname (her dad's name - clearly a man's name) and AAA is her given name (clearly a woman's name).

Wait until you get the UKBA, and reply immediately, explaining the problem and enclosing a photocopy of birth cert, etc.

What is obviously a male / female name to you might not be obvious to someone unfamiliar with Indian names.