Wifey's British passport renewal woes.

There are 17 replies in this Thread which has previously been viewed 326 times. The latest Post (February 17, 2025 at 8:08 PM) was by GlasgowJohn.

    So the other week the missus sent off the form to renew her British passport which expires in May. She received an email today telling her the application has been rejected. Reason given she will have to change the name she has on her Argentine and Spanish passports to the same name she uses on her British passport.

    Beats me how she managed to get a British passport in the first place? This one would have been her third!! :scratchead:

    Quote from aficionado

    Sounds like a lot of time and paperwork. They will not allow only a change the British passport name to match the other two?

    It wasn't suggested. I told her to ask them to return her current passport and refund her payment. We're going to the UK this May so we can sort it out then. It's all a bit of a faff from here. Phoned them six times today and got cut off every time.

    I do a lot of dual (or more) citizenship work and yes, her name on her passports should match.

    If she was using her married name on her British passport, but her maiden name on the other ones, this is obviously an issue. Imagine buying a plane ticket as Mr. Lopez and showing up as Mr. Doe at the airport. She will be denied boarding!

    Italian passport provides a field on page 4 where married women can add their married last name. In Italy and Argentina, women do not take their husband's last name.

    If she wants to go by her married name, only, she has to do a Deed Poll in the UK and then change her name in Spain and Argentina. Or she can do the opposite and become known as her maiden name in the UK, so that her UK passport is aligned with the other twos and not vice-versa.

    Since she has more business in Argentina than in the UK, I believe it would be simpler to switch legally in the UK to her maiden name.

    She always carries all three passports when travelling so the passport name not matching the ticket name has never been an issue. She has often entered a country with a different passport name than the one on her ticket.

    It's no big deal really apart from likely having to cough up the £20 ETA fee if they don't send her current passport back.

    Quote from Splinter

    I checked at the post office in Olivos and the cost for certified mail for my little envelope is AR$30,800, so that's what I'll do.

    You chose well as their more expensive option is a rip off. We've both been sending documents to the UK recently and although not that quick it's so far so good. :thumbup:

    Miraculously my old passport only took six working days to reach the UK passport office and I was informed by text message. That's pretty good going for Argentine post!

    Incidentally, I had Adri take my photo in the kitchen instead of going to a photo booth and I expect to receive the new one via DHL in the next few days.

    Quote from Splinter

    Miraculously my old passport only took six working days to reach the UK passport office and I was informed by text message. That's pretty good going for Argentine post!

    Incidentally, I had Adri take my photo in the kitchen instead of going to a photo booth and I expect to receive the new one via DHL in the next few days.

    That's a result. My UK pension life certificate letter took a couple of days to get to Mercedes then sat there for days before moving on to Buenos Aires. F*** knows where it is now.....a slow boat to Tilbury docks probably!! :D

    Is there a reason for the change in color? Just curious.

    We sent in applications for our US passport renewal this week and were told the new ones should arrive in 4-6 weeks. We’ll see.