Canadian passport with given name "XXX", will OCI have "XXX" too ?

[dober]

So I also have just the 'given name' mentioned in my Indian passport.

So, while filling Canadian application form -

Canada passport Surname - Can I leave this field blank?

Canada passport Given name - I'll write the 'given name' as mentioned in my Indian passport.

Any suggestions?

Hi everyone,
I hope people Googling this issue finds this thread. I was in this situation a week back and thanks to the good people at the Mississauga Central Parkway passport office was able to find a solution. Everybody at the office was so helpful and patient(security manager, team leader, agent who processed my application). I told that them that I did not want XXX in my application and although, Service Canada doesn't provide any guidance online for this but the agents at Passport Offices (not the generic Service Canada office but those offices that specifically work on Passports only) can make use of their system to write "notes" on the file and have your passport processed in Ottawa to ensure that your Canadian passport indeed has blank for Given Name instead of "XXX". Happy to report that the Canadian passport was received with blank , not XXX.

@footyluv,

1. Canadian Passport Last Name: for your Canadian passport and application, the Surname or Last Name - will be your "Given Name" from the Indian passport. See details here, https://www.servicecanadapassport.ca/single-name-on-passport/. This is what the Service Canada folks will also tell you.

2. Canadian Passport First Name: this will either be "blank" or XXX. It really depends on who you talk to. Yes, it will vary. I say this from my personal experience. Firstly, don't go to a generic Service Canada office. The agents at those offices don't specialize in passports. Rather go to Service Canada's Passport Office. The agents at such offices will give you the proper guidance. So, in the application you can't indicate whehter you want XXX or blank. The agents will assume you want XXX. You have to explicitly ask (yes, verbally!). At which point, the agent will write up notes in their systems and ask for the passport to processed in Ottawa.

Also, some agents will tell you that the "New" passport system is the only system that can accommodate your request for blank but point them to this article, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/western-students-passport-xxx-name-1.6502666 from Jun 2022 which has a quote from the IRCC spokesperson,

"In a followup email late Monday, another IRCC spokesperson, Peter Liang, said passport holders with XXX as their first name can return their valid passport and have it replaced with a blank in their given-name field at no extra charge."

This quote from Peter Liang is evidence that there is a way in the old system which can be made use of to ensure applicants avoid the whole XXX business. The problem is that all ServiceCanada agents are not aware of this. Even if you call into their call-centre, some agents might tell you that XXX is the only solution. In any case, go the Passport Office and ask them how do you avoid XXX on your passport and point them to the quote from Peter Liang and in any case, the folks at the Mississauga Central Parkway passport office are always helpful.

Hope this information is useful. Folks have a way to avoid XXX in their Canadian passports.

 

[armoured]

Service Canada doesn't provide any guidance online for this but the agents at Passport Offices (not the generic Service Canada office but those offices that specifically work on Passports only)

Just to clarify, Service Canada and the Passport Office are different entities (the passport office having some specific status in law that I forget and that really doesn't matter for these purposes).

The passport office is NOT a subset of Service Canada. I think the best way to characterize it is that the passport office is the entity responsible for passports, and that Service Canada only provides a very simplified set of services to those who want to apply for passports. Basically they help you fill out the form and send it to the passport office. Service Canada is more like a helpful post office desk in this context.

That's basically it. Service Canada has, as you discovered, very little detailed knowledge of more arcane or obscure bits of the passport regulations, and certainly no decision making ability.

 

[Koki Sbrar]

Good day senior members ,

**My future case timeline is little bit different from Mr. @manharnarang as I do not want to apply and pay for Canadian passport two times.

I have just received my Canadian citizenship certificate last week. As I have same issue like other members (Indian passport--- Given name - Tee Jay, Surname - EMPTY; Canadian citizenship certificate---- Given name - EMPTY, Surname - Tee Jay). So, to get my name on Canadian passport--- as - Given name - Tee, Surname - Jay;

Please have a look on my future timeline and advise me.

1.
1a) Apply for surrender certificate with old name (Indian passport--- Given name - Tee Jay, Surname - EMPTY); and I will write a letter saying that I do not have a Canadian passport yet in this application package. Hopefully I will get my surrender certificate. Please comment if this is possible without the Canadian passport.

1b) Apply for provincial name change

1a) and 1b) are in parallel

2. Once name change certificate received, I will apply for provincial documents like drivers license, health card etc. Then, apply for Canadian passport with citizenship certificate (Given name - EMPTY, Surname - Tee Jay) + provincial name change certificate. Hopefully I will get my Canadian passport--- as - Given name - Tee, Surname - Jay;

3. Apply for OCI with this Canadian passport (Given name - Tee, Surname - Jay) + provincial name change certificate + Canadian citizenship certificate (Given name - EMPTY, Surname - Tee Jay). Hopefully I will get OCI card (Given name - Tee, Surname - Jay)

4. At last, I will apply for the correction in my Canadian citizenship certificate to get (Given name - Tee, Surname - Jay). This step can time its sweet time; I wont be bothered .

5. The surrender cert and OCI cards will be having different names, The surrender certificate also would not have my Canadian passport number on it. I hope that will be fine. Please advise.

Please share your comments.

Thank you

 

[armoured]

1b) Apply for provincial name change

1a) and 1b) are in parallel

2. Once name change certificate received, I will apply for provincial documents like drivers license, health card etc. Then, apply for Canadian passport with citizenship certificate (Given name - EMPTY, Surname - Tee Jay) + provincial name change certificate. Hopefully I will get my Canadian passport--- as - Given name - Tee, Surname - Jay;

...

4. At last, I will apply for the correction in my Canadian citizenship certificate to get (Given name - Tee, Surname - Jay). This step can time its sweet time; I wont be bothered .

I don't know about the Indian citizenship / OCI aspects, the Canadian specific bits are all correct (and the least likely to give significant delays IMO).

 

[Koki Sbrar]

Thank you for the response @armoured.

can anyone else comment and express experience/opinions ?.

 

[abbas.pasha]

Thank you for the response @armoured.

can anyone else comment and express experience/opinions ?.

You can only apply for Surrender Certificate (SC) once you have Canadian passport. BLS/CGI have stop accept letter stating that Canadian passport application is in process or yet to apply for one
Once you get name change process completed then apply for Canadian Passport and update your provincial documents as well.
Only once that is done, apply for SC. After you get the SC by BLS, only then apply for OCI.
SC takes about 2-3 weeks of processing (keep a grace of an extra week)
OCI takes about 6-8 weeks of processing
The above SC and OCI are for Toronto jurisdiction. Vancouver may be a touch faster. Ottawa is slower it seems.
You may require an affidavit saying from notary mentioning that your Indian passport has this name where as it slightly different in the Canada passport and notary has checked all the name change supporting documents and providing this affidavit
Suggest you to put your queries for SC here: https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/indian-passport-surrender.771938/
and OCI here: https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/oci-process.254662/

 

[Koki Sbrar]

Thank you Sir @abbas.pasha ..... Really appreciate your response.

Lastly, Once I am done with everything, do i really need to get my name corrected in citizenship certificate or it is not needed much ?-

""4. At last, I will apply for the correction in my Canadian citizenship certificate to get (Given name - Tee, Surname - Jay). This step can time its sweet time; I wont be bothered .""

Please suggest.

 

[abbas.pasha]

Thank you Sir @abbas.pasha ..... Really appreciate your response.

Lastly, Once I am done with everything, do i really need to get my name corrected in citizenship certificate or it is not needed much ?-

""4. At last, I will apply for the correction in my Canadian citizenship certificate to get (Given name - Tee, Surname - Jay). This step can time its sweet time; I wont be bothered .""

Please suggest.

good question, I think you can live with the current certificate and since you will be applying for name change process you will have supporting documents to suppliment. only once you are done with all the things.. i.e. Canadian Passport, DL, Health Card, SC, OCI and you have the energy left you can get this citizenship certificate updated.

 

[Koki Sbrar]

good question, I think you can live with the current certificate and since you will be applying for name change process you will have supporting documents to suppliment. only once you are done with all the things.. i.e. Canadian Passport, DL, Health Card, SC, OCI and you have the energy left you can get this citizenship certificate updated.

Thank you again @abbas.pasha !!

 

[armoured]

Thank you Sir @abbas.pasha ..... Really appreciate your response.

Lastly, Once I am done with everything, do i really need to get my name corrected in citizenship certificate or it is not needed much ?-

""4. At last, I will apply for the correction in my Canadian citizenship certificate to get (Given name - Tee, Surname - Jay). This step can time its sweet time; I wont be bothered .""

It is true that the corrected citizenship certificate will quite possibly never be needed - other proof of citizenship (passport) or old certificate plus name change certificate will be sufficient for everything I could ever think of. Indeed, apart from getting passport one of the earlier times, I struggle to think of any circumstances in which I've ever needed my citizenship docs.

So yes, take your time doing that - key thing is get your passport first because I think you need to surrender the old certificate (or at least send it with the change request).

If you don't get around to it, probably won't matter. Still might do just for good order.

 

[Aslam717]

I want to comment on Given Name blank on my passport applied in person in Halifax July 2023. When I asked them to leave black the Given Name, they told me they cannot do that and the passport will not be printed without putting XXX in the Given Name. So I received it accordingly.

 

[Robin1812]

Sent in my name change application, at the beginning of July. Called Service Ontario and they are working on Applications received in May and told me to expect to receive the name change certificate not before October. And apparently new applications are not entered into the system yet so cant be expedited. I wanna travel in October but cant apply for passport.

 

[armoured]

Sent in my name change application, at the beginning of July. Called Service Ontario and they are working on Applications received in May and told me to expect to receive the name change certificate not before October. And apparently new applications are not entered into the system yet so cant be expedited. I wanna travel in October but cant apply for passport.

Why can't you apply for passport? Apply for passport under current (legal) name. When you return and name change docs complete, apply for a new passport.

Also complain to your MPP, this is a basic function of government and should not be taking six months.

 

[jaydevadhikari]

Hi all! My wife doesn't have a surname as well in her Indian passport. On her citizenship certificate, it puts her first name (say Jane) in surname field and given name is blank.

Her passport has XXX in Given Name and Jane in surname.

We do not have any plans to change names right now as we have a trip to India upcoming in early December. So, what documents would she need for surrender certificate and OCI? We are okay with her given name being XXX on OCI as well for now. We can let the airlines know of this when we travel.

 

[ghkn0002]

Hi guys. Need your help please.
New Canadian passports allow first name to be blank and last name is ‘ghkn’
How do I apply OCI. Should I put xxx as first name? But my Canadian Passport has it blank.

please advise if anyone has been in the same boat