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Does anyone have any experience having a name changed in a PR card?

O

ontarioo

Member
Jan 7, 2011
10
0
My spouse landed last week at Niagara Falls and we asked the immigration officer about having the name on the PR card changed to my wife's married name. He gave us a really vague answer about "working through CIC" We had applied for PR under her maiden name to avoid waiting around for her native country to reissue a passport with her new surname. We would have had to send her passport away for an indeterminate period of time while the machinations of bureaucracy crawl at a snail's pace.

I see the document checklist for having a PR card reissued doesn't list a marriage certificate as an acceptable document to have a name changed on a PR card? This must be a mistake? We were married in Ontario and don't see why it would be unacceptable to CIC considering it's acceptable evidence or Service Canada, Service Ontario, and the banks.
 
O

ontarioo

Member
Jan 7, 2011
10
0
My wife and I are finding out the hard way that it's best to keep your maiden name until you're well established in Canada (once you have PR card, SIN, health card, Canadian driver's licence, job, car, and bank accounts) or just wait until you have citizenship or keep your maiden name forever. Apparently it never occurred to federal and provincial bureaucrats that a woman that wasn't born in Canada might adopt her husband's surname at marriage. ::)
 
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