[Jo Jo]

Has anyone else been in a situation where they had to change their name not long before they moved to NZ? I am planning to get married in July, and moving to NZ in September. When I get married I am intending to change my name from Miss X to Mrs X Y (no hyphen. And if this is the first of many marriages then I am looking forward to being Mrs X Y Z A B C, etc :laugh) But, I wondered what impact this would have on getting a visa. I have no idea about how to go about changing my name officially yet, and no idea about how long it takes to get a new passport... any advice gratefully received. BTW I am applying for partnership.

[sizzlingbadger]

Instead of getting the visa stamped in your old passport I would try and get it done in your new one. Probably save extra cost of having to transfer them over.

Can't see any problems with NZIS about name changes especially when you're getting married.

Lastly, Congratulations :clap

[nippa&pippa]

I had my new passport in new name a month BEFORE i got married due to had to go to france a week after our wedding to attend friend's wedding..it is possible to get new passport and get visa stamp on it, but you can't use passport till after wedding!

[Trigirl]

We got our agreement in principle and then sent our marriage cert to NZIS who were happy to issue the visa into my passport in my married name. Don’t get the visa issued into your old passport as NZIS will charge you for a new visa when you change it.

The new passport took about 2 weeks to arrive (using the post office fasttrack system) but you could go and get it done in person if you really needed to.

Having stuff in two names in two countries has been frankly a ginormous pain in the butt (try getting a UK postal redirection from NZ if you no longer have current ID or a bank account in that name!)

[Jo Jo]

Thanks for the replies, they really help.

Trigirl, when you changed your name in your passport, did you get a new passport number? Or just a new passport with the same number as your old passport?

(I'm a bit annoyed about having to change my passport as I only got a new one 2 years ago, and it took me ages to get a photo I liked - can't believe I have to go through all that again!!)

[Trigirl]

definitely a new passport number.

by the way - a word of warning that i wish someone had told me before i came. make sure you keep a copy of your old driving licence as other wise your new one will only prove that you've had your licence a few months and there's a chance that if you can't prove you've been driving longer some other way then you'll have to resit your practical driving test.

[Jo Jo]

Super - thanks for the quick reply.

I don't have a driving licence, so don't need to worry about that. I was going to learn to drive before I came to NZ, but now I know about having to take the test again of your licence is less than 2 years old I'm putting off learning til I get there.

[Anita & Marco]

I would like to add something as well. Looking back - a lot of years - when I changed my name to my husband's I thought I did the right thing. His name was much easier to spell than mine and so I changed it. I had some miner problems back in The Netherlands, where especially at University they only use your maidenname, whichever name you have or would prefer to use, you will always have the name that was given to you at birth.

Here in NZ I have had major problems while changing my driver's licence and again while enrolling for a course.

I will never do a thing like that again, and hopefully I will never have to change it back again.........

Good luck and I understand your feelings, but heya - what's in a name and why should you change your name to his and not the other way around??

Cheers,
Anita

[khhill]

I changed my name shortly before moving to NZ. My word of advise is to bring over heaps of certified copies of the marriage license.

Not sure how it is in the UK, but from the US (at least AZ), the part of the marriage license that you keep is not the officially recorded license. The only place I could get certified copies of the officially recorded one was from the County Recorders Office, which had to be done in person. They looked at me like I was crazy when I requested 10 copies a year ago, but I am now down to my last one.

Congratulations on the upcoming wedding and move to NZ! :clap

[Jo Jo]

Thanks for the replies. Anita - I have thought long and hard about changing my name, and have decided on the compromise of keeping my name, and adding his to it. Loads of my friends have got married in the last 5 years, and the split between those that have changed their names and those that haven't has been roughly 50:50, and I find myself wondering, "Why did they do that?" whatever they do! I did broach the subect of both of us changing our names, but that idea was given short shrift!

khhill - thanks for the tip-off re the marriage certificates. I shall add that to my list of things to do.

[Trigirl]

Anita - I think that must be a Netherlands thing. In the UK once you change your name everyone uses your new name (including universities) so after the initial telling everyone - which can be a bit of a pain - you never have to do it again.

I wanted us to have the same name and in the UK its legally much easier for me to change mine (ie the marriage cert is sufficient evidence) whereas if he were to change to mine it would have to be done by deed poll. Unless you are professionally well known in your maiden name not changing it seems to be making a bit of an unnecessary point to me. But thats just my opinion and I realise there are heaps of differing ones on this.

[Jo Jo]

But thats just my opinion and I realise there are heaps of differing ones on this.


You're picking up the NZ lingo!

[Trigirl]

You're picking up the NZ lingo!

in some cases :) but you should have seen my face last week when one of the lads here came into my office and asked if i had any "twink" :confused:

[Jo Jo]

What's twink???

[Trigirl]

apparently its what they call tippex here. i was very confused. and i must have looked it too as he burst out laughing....

[Ana&Steve]

What's tippex?:o
Ana

[Jo Jo]

Liquid paper or correction fluid - that white stuff you brush over mistakes with on letters and things.

Edited to say - is it called Wite-Out in the states?

[Trigirl]

oh dear :(

its the white stuff in little bottles that you use to paint over writing then write over the top of to correct a mistake.

ok - according to wikipedia you might call it "Wite-Out" in the US?

[Jo Jo]

LOL!

[Ana&Steve]

Oh yes, Wite-out! I'll try to remember tippex and twink, though:nice1
Ana
PS when I was little kids used to sniff it in school to get a high:roll , but I think they've changed the formula

[Anita & Marco]

Anita - I think that must be a Netherlands thing. In the UK once you change your name everyone uses your new name (including universities) so after the initial telling everyone - which can be a bit of a pain - you never have to do it again.


Hi Mandy,
No, it is not a Netherlands thing - here in NZ it is the same! Of course, no family member or friend ever had a problem with it, but it is the official organisations.

I receive all my mail from University here in NZ! addressed to me under my maidenname although I specifically filled in the forms with all my names on it including the name I WANT to use. I had something posted to my work, because it was a package and my colleagues already wanted to send it back to sender because they didn't know the person it was addressed to when I saw it was addressed to me.

But maybe in UK when you change your name it is also changed on your passport? That might be the only difference, but what does your birth certificate say - that will never change, I guess - so, at one stage the problem comes back to you.

Cheers,
Anita

[wiki]

The only thing like that in the UK I can think of is that if you get a doctorate in your maiden name then get married you can't call yourself "Dr Married name" - the honorific only counts on the name you had when the Phd was awarded.

[Jo Jo]

wiki, I know a few (um, just counted, and actually it's only two!) women who have PhDs and have married and changed their names since getting their PhDs, and they use the form of address "Dr Married name". Maybe they're not supposed to, but they do. It must be a pain when trying to secure funding, though, because if people search for your publication history, they'll only find the ones published since you changed your name. (That's why I'm keeping my name and adding his to it - my publication history is scanty enough as it is!)

[Trigirl]

I'm not sure why thats happening Anita but I promise its not normal even here in NZ. All my stuff from uni here gets sent to me under my married name. Yes my passport and driving licence are in my married name. And yes my birth cert has my maiden name on it but the only time i've even needed to use that in my entire adult life was for NZIS to get my visa to come here and at that point I wasn't married!

[Anita & Marco]

Hi Mandy,
The difference is that you have your married name in both your passport and driver's license, while in mine that will always contact my maiden name next to it as well. Although I never use it.
You would have to go through an official name change - which is nearly impossible to change that.

Cheers,
Anita

[Myrkk]

Anita - I think that must be a Netherlands thing. In the UK once you change your name everyone uses your new name (including universities) so after the initial telling everyone - which can be a bit of a pain - you never have to do it again.

I wanted us to have the same name and in the UK its legally much easier for me to change mine (ie the marriage cert is sufficient evidence) whereas if he were to change to mine it would have to be done by deed poll. Unless you are professionally well known in your maiden name not changing it seems to be making a bit of an unnecessary point to me. But thats just my opinion and I realise there are heaps of differing ones on this.


We were told we needed a deed poll originally 'cause my hubbie and I became mr and mrs my maiden name and his surname...... but actually we don't. His name has been changed on his drivers licence, bank accounts etc etc as has mine, with only our marriage cert. for proof. Had problem with one bank but we are no longer with them ;)