Changing your name with HM Passport Office

How to change the name on your passport#

1. Apply online for a new passport in your new name. It costs £102 at GOV.UK, or £115.50 on a paper form; a change of name cannot be added to the passport you have.
2. Send your original deed poll and one document in the new name, such as a payslip or a letter from your council, with your current passport if you have one.
3. Allow about three weeks. HM Passport Office says you will usually get your passport within three weeks of it receiving your documents.

A new passport, not an amendment#

GOV.UK says you need to get a new passport if you change your name. You are sent a new 10-year passport, time left on the old one is not added, and the new passport has a different number. The old passport is cancelled and returned to you.

What you need#

• Your original deed poll, signed in your old and new names, witnessed and dated. Not a certified copy, a photocopy or a scan: HM Passport Office asks for original documents and posts them back separately once the passport is printed.
• One document showing you already use the new name, such as a payslip, a bank statement, a letter from HMRC or your council, or a driving licence in the new name. That is why telling HMRC, your council or your bank comes before the passport; the exceptions are Lloyds, Halifax and Santander, which want the passport or a driving licence in the new name first.
• Evidence of any earlier change of name, if the name has changed before.
• Your current passport, if you have one.
• A new photo, digital if you apply online, or printed if you apply on paper.

If the change is for a child, HM Passport Office also asks for consent from everyone with parental responsibility, unless a court order allows the change without it.

What HM Passport Office's own guidance says about deed polls#

The guidance its staff work from says an unenrolled deed poll, including one made online, must be accepted as evidence of a change of name provided it is signed in the old and new names, signed by at least one witness (who need not be a solicitor), signed in wet ink, dated, and a contemporaneous document. Staff are told not to comment on the company that issued it. The evidence sent must be an original document; the only copies accepted are certificates issued by the General Register Office. The document showing the new name in use must have been issued within the last 12 months, unless it is a driving licence, a foreign passport or a national identity card, which can be older.

Applying#

Online at GOV.UK costs £102; a paper form, from a Post Office that offers Check and Send or from the Passport Adviceline, costs £115.50. GOV.UK says to fill in and sign the application using the name you want printed on the passport.

No countersignature for a name change#

GOV.UK is explicit: you do not need a countersignature if you are changing your name or adding a title. One is needed only if your appearance has changed so much that you cannot be recognised from your existing passport, or for a first passport.

How long#

HM Passport Office says you will usually get a passport within three weeks, counted from when it receives your documents, and longer if it needs more information, which it tells you within three weeks. The 1 week Fast Track service covers a change of name, with an appointment as soon as the next day and delivery by courier a week after it, for £192. The 1 day Premium service does not take a change of name: HM Passport Office's guidance to its staff says it can be used only by an adult renewing a passport who has not changed their personal details. How long a passport in a new name takes, and the passport timing tool puts dates on each step.

Travel#

GOV.UK's advice is not to book travel until you have a valid passport, and it says the name on your passport must match the one you use to book. Unexpired visas in the old passport may become invalid after a change of name; check with the embassy of the country that issued them.

Travelling with a child whose surname differs from yours? Travelling abroad with a child who has a different surname lists what to carry.

Marriage and civil partnership#

A marriage or civil partnership certificate is enough on its own, including for a double-barrelled name, so no deed poll is needed. A passport in the new name can be issued up to three months before the ceremony, post-dated so it cannot be used until afterwards, with a "passports for newly weds and civil partners" form signed by the person conducting the ceremony. Some countries will not issue visas for a post-dated passport.

Returning to a former name after divorce#

GOV.UK lists what to send: your birth certificate, a statement signed by you saying you have gone back to the former name for all purposes, a document showing you are using it, and the marriage or civil partnership certificate. Some organisations want a deed poll for the same change, and one is accepted here too.

Dual nationals#

If you also hold a non-British passport, GOV.UK says the name on it must match the name you want on your British one, so change the foreign passport first. Only the country that issued it can do that.