What GOV.UK says#
One sentence in the deed poll guidance: if you are a permanent resident overseas, you cannot change your name by deed poll. The reasoning is that a deed poll is a creature of the law of England and Wales, and a person whose permanent home is in another country changes their name under that country's law, whatever passport they hold.
GOV.UK does not define "permanent resident", and in practice the question is where your permanent home is. Someone posted abroad for a year, studying abroad, or between homes is not a permanent resident of the other country. Someone who has settled there is.
British citizens living abroad#
If your permanent home is abroad, change your name the way that country provides, and then apply for a British passport in the new name through HM Passport Office's overseas service, which accepts evidence of a change of name made under local law. GOV.UK's overseas passport guidance sets out what to send from each country.
If you keep a home in the UK and are abroad temporarily, you can make a UK deed poll in the ordinary way. We post to UK addresses; the deed can be forwarded to you, and it is signed and witnessed wherever you are, in front of two adults who meet the usual tests.
Foreign nationals living in the UK#
You can make a UK deed poll, and it is valid here: a bank, an employer, DVLA or HMRC will accept it as evidence of your change of name. What it cannot do is change the name in a passport issued by another country. Only that country can do that, and its embassy or consulate in the UK will tell you whether it accepts a UK deed poll, with or without an apostille, or requires its own procedure. It is worth asking before you order, because a UK passport in one name and a foreign passport in another is exactly the mismatch airlines and border staff notice.
Using a UK deed poll in another country#
Authorities abroad may ask for a notarised copy, an apostille or both. Using a UK deed poll abroad explains what each is and who does it.
