My wife has applied for a settlement visa to the UK with her passport using her maiden name, if she is successful with her application can she then send her passport to the Thai embassy in the UK and have a new one issued with her married name and how then would her UK visa information be transfered to her new passport or does this have to be done in Thailand ?

thanks Dave.

My wife has applied for a settlement visa to the UK with her passport using her maiden name, if she is successful with her application can she then send her passport to the Thai embassy in the UK and have a new one issued with her married name and how then would her UK visa information be transfered to her new passport or does this have to be done in Thailand ?

thanks Dave.

She can have her passport endorsed with a married name at the Thai embassy but she will have to have changed her ID card first in Thailand as she will need it to change or apply for a passport. The name on the ID card and the passport must match.

She can, if you wish, continue to live in UK using her Thai name (the name in her passport), no problems. When you need visas for Thailand you show both your and your wifes passports and the marriage certificate as the link.

Thanks Mahout,

Does she need her ID card to leave the country? can she change her ID card to her married name and fly out on her present passport in other words can she leave with a passport and ID card that do not match because then when she is in the UK she can change her passport using her new ID card. Also how would she get her visa stamp put in her new passport?

Dave.

Thanks Mahout,

Does she need her ID card to leave the country? can she change her ID card to her married name and fly out on her present passport in other words can she leave with a passport and ID card that do not match because then when she is in the UK she can change her passport using her new ID card. Also how would she get her visa stamp put in her new passport?

Dave.

I heard today that if she has the new biometric passport they wont endorse it with a name change, she will have to apply for a new passport (Anyone confirm?).

I dont think she will have any problem leaving Thailand with ID card and passport in different names, she will have the marriage certificate as proof.

She can have her visa transferred to a new passport at a cost, I think, of £160. Not sure how it will work, as is normally recommended, to carry both old and new passport if the names on the passports dont match and the name on the visa doesn't match the valid passport. Maybe the marriage certificate will have to be carried with both old and new passports to avoid the transfer costs.

Thanks again Mahout,

next month I'm going to the British embassy with my wife for her interview so I'll ask them there for a definative answer to the passport question.

Dave

As Mahout says, your wife is under no compulsion to change her name in the passport. However, if she does so, my advice would be to travel with the old and new passports plus your marriage certificate rather than paying the Borders and Immigration Agency to have the conditions transferred.

Scouse.

......and when you book her air ticket make sure its in the same name as the passport she is travelling on.