Immigration Corner | How to amend details of a UK passport

Dear Mr Bassie,

Please advise how I can amend a name or personal details in a British passport. Thanks in advance.

SS

Dear SS,

Persons can change a name or personal details on a passport. They will need to get a new passport to travel abroad or prove their identity if they change any of the following:

• Name

• Gender

• Appearance, if they cannot be recognised from the passport photo anymore, for example, they may have had plastic surgery.

Please note that the name on the passport must match the one used when the travel reservation is made.

Persons will be sent a new 10-year passport. However, the time left on the old passport will not be added to the new one.

WHEN PERSONS DO NOT NEED A NEW PASSPORT

Persons do not need to get a new passport if they:

• Change address or contact details

• Get a new job

• Change appearance slightly, for example, a change in hair colour or if the person has grown a beard

• Change marital status (divorce, marry, or form a civil partnership) but kept the same name

• Change of title, for example, doctor or professor

• Become a national of another country as well as the UK

• Emigrate

HOW LONG IT TAKES

Persons should check how long it will take to get a passport before applying. Please be aware that if a passport is needed urgently, they should find out more about the Online Premium or one-week fast track services.

It is advisable that persons do not book travel until they have a valid passport as the new passport will not have the same number as the old one.

PERSONS WHO HAVE A NON-BRITISH PASSPORT

Those persons who have dual citizenship (‘dual nationality’) and have a non-British passport, the name and gender on the non-British passport must match the name and gender they want on the British passport. If they are different, the applicant should change the details on the non-British passport before applying for a new British passport.

APPLICATIONS

Persons can make an application for a new passport online and the cost is £82.50.

Persons can also apply using a paper application form. They can get a paper application form by either going to a post office that has a Check and Send service or by calling the passport adviceline and it costs £93. Persons should fill in and sign the passport application using the name that they want to see printed on the passport.

COUNTERSIGNATURES

Persons must get a countersignature if their appearance has changed and they cannot be recognised from their existing passport. They do not need a countersignature if they are changing their name or adding a title.

UNEXPIRED VISAS

Please be advised that unexpired visas in the old passport may become invalid if a change to name is made. To be sure, persons are advised to check with the embassy or consulate of the country that issued the visa.

Good luck

John S. Bassie is a barrister/attorney-at-law who practises law in Jamaica. He is a justice of the peace, a Supreme Court-appointed mediator, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, a chartered arbitrator, the global president of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a member of the Immigration Law Practitioners Association (UK). Email: lawbassie@yahoo.com