Brit Citizenship / Passport Application and Philippine Passport Questions…..

[New Shoes]

Hello there!

My wife has just received her British Citizenship Invitation letter, which is great !!!

Once she has British Citizenship, my wife wants to apply for a British passport.

Currently her Philippine passport is in her single / maiden name and I have read that in order to apply for a British passport, the Philippine passport has to show her married name.

I have a couple of questions:

1) Has anyone recently applied to the Philippine embassy/consulate in London to have a Philippine passport issued in the wife's new married name………. and if so how long was the process??


Also, after doing a search I found this post from another forum member….

""I applied for my first british passport 3 weeks ago and received a letter that i cant be issued a passport because my Philippine passport is on a different name, which was still on my single name, to the one i am applying for now, which im applying it to be on my married name.

I was initially given 2 options, either apply for new Phil passport under my married name to which Phil. Embassy said not an option since im already a brit citizen……. or get my passport cancelled by the Phil embassy and letter stating that passport is cancelled and my citizenship is renounced.

I was told by the case worker from Passport Office that the latter is the only option""

2) With regard to the above statement, has anyone applied for a British Passport by using the second option mentioned above?

Any replies would be most appreciated!!

[Michael Parnham]

Hi New Shoes, when was your Citizenship application submitted please?

[Terpe]

Firstly you will already know that there's nothing you can do or say to have the passport office change their policy.

To renew the Philippine passport to show married name will take between 12-18 weeks.
The Philippine Embassy no longer do name changes as they did years ago and now send to Manila for a new one.
This would need to be done before any application for British Passport but the naturalisation ceremony can still take place as long as you do not inform the Philippine Embassy. Technically the Philippine citizenship and eligibility for Philippine passport no longer exists.

To get a new passport in married name you'll need to provide the marriage certificate and certified copies. Depending which country the marriage was made will determine where the certified copies need to be done.
Another complication is whether or not a UK marriage was reported to the Philippine Embassy on time. This would need to be done if not done already.

The only alternative option is to have the current Philippine passport cancelled due to no longer being a Philippine citizen. Technically this should be done after Naturalisation as a British Citizen.

[New Shoes]

Many thanks for the detailed reply, Terpe. Great info!! Much appreciated.

Michael, the Citizenship application was submitted / posted 1st of July