Help changing name on US passport while in Canada

[Love_Young]

Has anyone here from the US and currently living in Canada, changed their name on their passport recently?
If so, I could use some help. I am not sure how they want me to fill out some answers on the application. If anyone could help I would be so grateful.

 

[thebaileyohana]

I changed my last name on my US passport while I was here in Canada. I just filled out the application, got the 2 passport photos taken (make sure to specify that you need it for a US passport when you take them), booked an appt at the closest US consulate brought all the listed items needed,and went there to get my passport. Otherwise you can mail in ur app with passport etc. What questions did you have?

 

[Love_Young]

Well I don't know if you are able to pull up the application but I will link it to you.
http://travel.state.gov/passport/forms/ds82/ds82_843.html
I figured it would help guide you through the numbered parts of the application I am confused at and thank you by the way.

On question 1 of the app: Do I list the name I am wanting to go by (married name) or do I write the name that is still on my passport (maiden)?
On question 9 of the app: Do I write my full birth name in the blank or just my maiden name?
On question 11: When it asks for place name change took place, would this be where I got married?

Down below question 11 it asks for name of applicant. Do I write my maiden name or married name here?
On question 20: It asks for travel plans. If I don't have any, I do not fill this part out, correct?
Also, when I sign the application do I sign it in my married name or maiden name?

Sorry if all these questions are confusing but I know I am just overthinking them. Darn CIC for making me read too much into form questions now. Lol.

 

[Rinnerz]

I do a lot more reading around here than actual posting, but I'm a US citizen in Canada and had to go through the process of changing my last name on my US passport back in May of this year. It's important to note that they make an exception to the "only mail applications if you are in the US" rule when it comes to US citizens residing in Canada. I applied by mail and it all went smoothly.

Anyhow, your questions:

On question 1 of the app: Do I list the name I am wanting to go by (married name) or do I write the name that is still on my passport (maiden)?

Married name.

On question 9 of the app: Do I write my full birth name in the blank or just my maiden name?

I wrote my full birth name here, and wrote "(maiden)" at the end of it.

On question 11: When it asks for place name change took place, would this be where I got married?

Yep! I put down the city, province and country where we held our wedding. So for me, it was just: "St. John's, NL, Canada". You should be including a copy of your marriage certificate to prove the name change, and the certificate will have that same address on it anyhow. (So yay, extra proof.)

Down below question 11 it asks for name of applicant. Do I write my maiden name or married name here?

I put my married name.

On question 20: It asks for travel plans. If I don't have any, I do not fill this part out, correct?

Correct. I think I just put "N/A" for mine.

Also, when I sign the application do I sign it in my married name or maiden name?

I signed with my new signature, i.e. the one with my married name.

If you'll notice, you basically approach the application as if your name is already changed. Hope that helped.

 

[Love_Young]

Wow thank you so much Rinnerz. I sent you a PM by the way.
Oh how long did it take you to receive your passport back?
And the fee is $110 correct? I think it used to be $75 but they increased it recently.
And what envelope did you use to mail it and did you send it express or anything?
Did you get your pictures at Walmart or somewhere else?

Sorry for all the questions, just don't want to mess it up.

 

[Love_Young]

Also do I list my home address in the US as my permanent address or the address here?

 

[Rinnerz]

No problem

Oh how long did it take you to receive your passport back?

Once they have received your passport and application, you can check your status online on their site. The very day they received my passport, they had their system updated with my info. Soooo... if memory serves, they received it on May 26 and I definitely had it back by June 7. So about 2 weeks? Edit: I should add that my passport was officially issued May 28, so they were really quick about processing it. I did ask for Expedited Service and paid the extra fee, though. (If you do this, make sure you send it to the right address and mark "EXPEDITED" on the envelope.)

They also say they might mail you things separately, i.e. one envelope with your new passport, one with your old one and marriage certificate copy, and one with your passport card (if you applied for one). I got both passports and the marriage certificate copy in one envelope, and the passport card arrived a day or two later in a separate envelope I think.

And the fee is $110 correct? I think it used to be $75 but they increased it recently.

Yeah, I paid $75 but the site now says $110. Bah. Even the passport card fee has gone up by $10.

And what envelope did you use to mail it and did you send it express or anything?

I wanted to FedEx it to them, but FedEx won't deliver to P.O. Box addresses (which of course are the only ones you can send to for this). So I sent it by Canada Post. I remember it was express but I can't remember the exact service name now. It was just USA International Priority or something similar, and I used the Canada Post envelope they provided when I paid to mail it off. It got there in less than a week for sure, though. Just know that if you use this route, your envelope will switch hands from Canada Post to USPS at the US border and it will take FOREVER for the tracking number to update. Even though they received my application right on time, my Canada Post tracking number didn't update until just before I received my new passport in the mail. Yeah...

Did you get your pictures at Walmart or somewhere else?

I got them done at Walmart BUT! I would not recommend it. The lady there was quite arrogant and insisted she knew what she was doing, but the photos were actually a little too long; I had to cut the extra bit off the tops myself. I'd recommend Shopper's Drugmart over them any day, now.

Also do I list my home address in the US as my permanent address or the address here?

I wondered about this for a long time, too. In the end though, I put down my Canadian address, just so that everything was consistent. I had no problems.

 

[Love_Young]

Oh wow that was really fast. Maybe the expedited service is worth it. The only reason I don't know if I will ask for it is because it says they will only expedite for applicants in the US only.

Did you put your passport and application in a bubble envelope like it said and then put it into a priority envelope?
Did you write EXPEDITE on the outside of the priority envelope?

Yeah I think I will definitely go to Shopper's because they did well on my immigration pictures and also Walmart messed up my hubby's passport pictures his first time around so I am sure they would mess mine up too. : And I too listed the address here in Canada as my permanent address.

 

[Rinnerz]

The only reason I don't know if I will ask for it is because it says they will only expedite for applicants in the US only.

Yep, it says that but they make an exception for US citizens in Canada, apparently. I paid the extra $60 for expedited service and their online system showed I had requested it. No matter what though, they will not give you Priority Overnight mailing service for returning your new passport to you; that's definitely US only. So don't send the extra $14.96 for that. They will use their own Priority Mail to mail your stuff back to you.

Did you put your passport and application in a bubble envelope like it said and then put it into a priority envelope?

Not that I remember. I had all my documents in one brown envelope (nothing was folded), and then inserted that into the cardboard priority envelope the Canada Post clerk provided. I can't remember why I didn't use a bubble envelope, but it certainly couldn't hurt.

Did you write EXPEDITE on the outside of the priority envelope?

Yep. After you have your documents in the Canada Post envelope, and it's addressed and sealed, write "EXPEDITE" in big, obvious, capital letters somewhere on the outside.

Edit: Oh, and make sure you send it to the right place if you want it expedited. The regular address and the expedited one are VERY similar, so it would be easy to mix them up. Expedited service address:

National Passport Processing Center
P.O. Box 90955
Philadelphia, PA 19190-0955

 

[Love_Young]

I am so glad you were here to share all of this with me. All I need to do now is pay the fee, get the envelopes, get the pictures, and then mail it off.

Will they let me make my maiden name as my new middle name and then add my married name?
I hope so because that is how I want it.

 

[Rinnerz]

About the maiden name thing: Hrmm. I think they would. I mean, plenty of people just append their spouse's last name to their own, instead of completely replacing it. You know, something like "Jane Smith-Roberts" instead of just "Jane Roberts", as an example. I see nothing anywhere that indicates it would be a problem, so I'd assume it would be okay. I just replaced my maiden name with my husband's entirely, so I'm afraid I can't offer anything more helpful than that.

Also, I don't know how you plan to pay, but I remember them saying they wouldn't accept personal cheques? Think so anyway, it's been awhile. We paid by international money order and it went through fine. Didn't know if that would help you or not.

 

[Love_Young]

About the maiden name thing: Hrmm. I think they would. I mean, plenty of people just append their spouse's last name to their own, instead of completely replacing it. You know, something like "Jane Smith-Roberts" instead of just "Jane Roberts", as an example. I see nothing anywhere that indicates it would be a problem, so I'd assume it would be okay. I just replaced my maiden name with my husband's entirely, so I'm afraid I can't offer anything more helpful than that.

Also, I don't know how you plan to pay, but I remember them saying they wouldn't accept personal cheques? Think so anyway, it's been awhile. We paid by international money order and it went through fine. Didn't know if that would help you or not.

I am thinking it shouldn't be a problem because I mean it isn't like I am making up a new name. Just taking one out and replacing it with another. I was planning on paying my international money order too. And the expedite might be a far bit expensive but I will probably do it that way because I don't like being without my passport for too long.
Did you just pay for both the expedite and processing fees together?

 

[Rinnerz]

And the expedite might be a far bit expensive but I will probably do it that way because I don't like being without my passport for too long.

That's exactly why I asked for expedited, too. Just didn't feel comfortable without my passport for too long. It was my only photo ID at the time too, which made it worse. That's partly why I also applied for the passport card, actually; it fits perfectly in your wallet and additional ID can never hurt. Of course, it was cheaper back then...

Did you just pay for both the expedite and processing fees together?

Yep. I added up all the fees and paid for everything in one money order. I then wrote my married name and date of birth on the back, along with what the fees were for.

So for me back then, it was something like:

"<Name>
D.O.B.: <date of birth>
US Passport fees = $75 (passport book renewal) + $20 (passport card) + $60 (expedited service) = $155."

I broke it down for them so that there'd be no mistakes.

 

[thebaileyohana]

haha guess i didn't get to respond fast enough to this one, but anyways they gave you correct answers! so good luck! when I did mine I was traveling the following month so I wanted to get it expedited which is why I went to a US consulate, and my new passport came back to me in exactly 1 week.

 

[umjorge2]

I'm reviving this 2 year old topic since I had some similar questions that were answered helpfully here. If not then I'll just start a new topic. I'm asking on behalf of my wife, who is a duel American Canadian citizen (I'm just a canadain citizen and we both live in Canada). We got married on May 19 of this year and now she is wanting to change over her American passport to my last name. We mailed out the application with everything last week so now I'm just wanting to know a few things that we didn't mess anything up.

My first question is what exactly shows on the application that she is wanting to change her last name to mine? We included our marriage certificate with the application but her name on the marriage certificate is in her maiden name (as far as I know, marriage certificates usually have the maiden name on them). She filled out the DS82 form as if her name was already changed over to mine, putting down my last name as hers. She indicated on line 11 that her last name is different by marriage then on her old passport (which was included in the mail) I'm just hoping that they'll know to use mine as indicated when she filled it out, and it wasn't suppose to show the name change on the marriage certificate for proof (marriage certificate just proves we're married). But if that’s the only document they ask for then no worries right?

My next question is if she forgot to put down my last name on line 9 will that be an issue for them? Again my last name is used on all the other name lines.

Then my last question is we sent in a US money order issued from a bank. They said that your name and birthday had to be printed on the money order somehow. Since we weren’t sure of this part and didn't want to deface the money order out of fear of voiding it, we were going to attach a separate note with that bit of info but alas she forgot to include it with everything when it was mailed out. Think that will be an issue for them? Her name and birthday are already on the application so just hoping that a small “mistake” like that won’t reject the application.