Hello Everyone, Have a nice day I just need a help , me and my husband start to compile our documents for spouse visa. Since we just got married last week, we plan to change the status of my passport (surname) . My question is do I need to wait (3mos) till I get the marriage certificate from NSO? Thanks
We were advised to get our marriage certificate antenticated by the NSO to help with the visa application. We left everything in my wife's maiden name to save waiting for a new passport.
My wife came to Spain with her Phil passport which showed her maiden name. A couple of years later she changed the names in her passport to make it show she had two surnames. i.e. her maiden surname name and my surname. All Spaniards have two surnames. We have been in Spain 11 years now. I have mentioned this several time so excuse me for doing so again. In UK there is no legal requirement for a woman to change her name upon marriage. In fact there is no law which even says she may. It is just a custom. Just in passing: There is no law in UK to say one cannot change their names, all names. I did just that about 30 years ago.
@Emz|Ray❤ just curious, are you in the uk right now? If yes, then you will need to submit your Marriage cert to the ph embassy to register in at nso. This takes about 6-8 weeks. Once this is done, you can then update your passport with the married name (again with the ph embassy in london and again will take more than 6 weeks). If you have enough time in the fiance visa, it should be okay to wait until you get all sorted then apply for the spouse visa. If you are in ph, this timeline would be shorter and would be cheaper. As what they say, there is no law saying you have to change it to married name. You can save a bit of money after getting the flr (m) and then change your brp and passport.
You can save a bit of money after getting the flr (m) and then change your brp and passport. Or if you decide to change your name then wait until you need to renew your passport and do it then. Or maybe your husband would like to change his surname to yours. As I said one can change their name in UK just by doing it (no Deed Poll etc. is required) and then informing all who need to know, D/L, DWP, bank etc. That is just as legal as a wife doing it upon marriage.
Hello Maley, I'm currently in PH now. I've been to UK last Oct to Jan2017 (visit visa) then got married this month. Now I got your point , there's no need to change my status in my passport like changing surname . I thought its a requirement before applying a spouse visa .. how about if I take English test and TV test what surname I'll use? My married name or maiden name? Thanks
You need to decide what name you wish to be known by and stick with that name unless or until you decide to change your name. When you do that, change it for all purposes. In usual circumstances one would choose to be known by just one name. Say Mary Ann Gonzales. Thus if you were to change your name, to say Mary Ann Brown, but leave your maiden name on your passport then that document would not be proof of your ID/name. My wife used her maiden name until after a couple of years in Spain when she decided to change her name. In her case the Phil consulate did it in Madrid. They just wrote the new name in the passport and stamped it. It took about an hour. I believe now that MO is not available. When she later renewed her passport in Manila, having travelled on the manuscript amended passport, there were no problems (other than the usual queues and incompetence). But just to make it clear, in UK a wife is never obliged to change her name so could continue using her maiden name for the rest of her life.
