Jim Kelly

Thanks for the case worker link, howerde. Very interesting. I may be able to cite the fairness test and get them to use their discretion if we promise to get the name change done on our next visit to Thailand, post-Covid.

Yes, I'm going to ask the HMPO about that. We would need the expiring UK passport back anyway as photo ID to back up her vax certificate for the airline, as it's in her married name.

I looked into the deed poll UK name change as the easiest option, but we live in Glasgow and Scots law is different. Only people born or adopted in Scotland can change their name here. The Passport Office doesn't insist that we travel to Thailand, only that the name in the Thai passport must be changed. The first step in this process is to register our marriage in Thailand and change the name in the house registration document, then get a new ID card. This can apparently be done from the UK by giving someone in Thailand the power of attorney to act on our behalf, but it's a complicated process and going to Thailand would probably be easier. Also, considering the long wait for an appointment at the London embassy, it would be much quicker to get the new Thai passport in Bangkok.

My wife, a naturalised British subject for the past 30 years, will be travelling to Thailand at the request of the UK Passport Office in order to change her name in Thailand to her married name. But since the Passport Office is withholding her British passport until she does so, she will have to travel on her Thai passport. Will she face a problem when she tries to fly back to the UK without a British travel document, or can she show the airline (and UK border control) her certificate of naturalisation to prove her right of abode?