One name change. Two countries. Double the paperwork?

April 20, 2013 2:50 PM

Dual U.S./Canadian citizen here. I want to change my name. This is not a marriage-related thing. But. I want my name change to be valid in both countries. If I go to the U.S. embassy with a Canadian name change certificate, will that be sufficient for a U.S. name change, or do I have to go through the paperwork on the U.S. side, too?

Also, does this mean I'd have to pay full price for a new Canadian and American passport? Or do such charges apply in the case of name changes on perfectly good/unexpired documents?

posted by Miss T.Horn to Law & Government (4 answers total)

You pay the same fees for as US passport as you would without a name change. (So this depends on what form you're eligible to use.)

I suppose there's a possibility that Canadian name change paperwork renders you ineligible to renew by mail, but I have no idea. I just happened to have read the passport fee schedule kind of recently.
posted by hoyland at 3:14 PM on April 20, 2013

Oh, I realised I misread your question about fees. If you renewed your US passport in the last year, you use DS-5504 and don't pay a fee (again, insert a disclaimer that maybe it's different if you live outside the US). Otherwise, you're effectively renewing your passport and which fee you pay depends on whether you use DS-11 or DS-82 (it's a $25 difference). Being in Canada doesn't change which of those two forms you'd use.
posted by hoyland at 3:22 PM on April 20, 2013

You'll have to apply for a new passport in your new name for the Canadian passport, recommended to be done even if your old passport is still valid, to prevent border/etc delays, which will include the full fees related to getting a new Canadian passport.

http://www.ppt.gc.ca/support/faq.aspx?lang=eng&id=q04415
posted by juliebug at 3:26 PM on April 20, 2013

This sort of depends on what you mean by "sufficient".

There are lots of situations in which a Canadian passport can be used in the US as a valid form of identification, and vice versa. So if there are reasons why you can only do one (or if costs are an issue) then you MIGHT be ok for practical purposes.

In the US (at least in most of the states that I'm familiar with), you need to get a court order to change your name. That's a state-court driven process, and, at least in all of the states that I have experience in or am familiar with, there's no automatic notification process. So once you get your court order, then you have to separate go change the name on your driver's license, social security card, passport/USCIS (for immigration, if necessary), bureau of prisons/probation, etc. And, speaking from personal experience, this is quite time-consuming.

If you got your name changed while abroad, and there is a court order that you get showing that at then end of the process -- i.e., similar to what you'd do in the US -- then I think most places will accept that. The US passport documentation process talks about a "name change by court order" -- note that it doesn't specify that it must be a US court order.

Further anecdata. My US passport does not reflect my current name. When I started a new part-time job a few weeks ago, I presented both my passport and my name-change order to prove up eligibility to work (for I-9 purposes). Employer filled out the I-9 without any questions.
posted by QuantumMeruit at 6:35 AM on April 21, 2013