Name Split in Passport, COPR and PR Card

[keypad]

Thank you so much for your reply.I was filling the form and the name in the foundation id is considered as a surname ,so should I leave the given name portion empty or should i fill the name as xxxx yyyy in surname and given name too.Also,Do the indian passport office ask for any kind of advertisements in newspapers as i m just going to split my name.Finally,can I apply for reissue of passport before having a pr card?
Thank you so much for your help

Sorry, I couldn't understand which part of the form you are talking about. You need to fill this form to start your legal name change process in BC.
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/health/forms/vital-statistics/vsa529.pdf

and you should be living in BC for at least one year.
No need for any newspaper advertisements if you are just splitting your name.
I started my passport process after getting the new PR card and attached a copy of the same with the application. A few people applied before getting their PR card, though I am not sure what supporting documents they attached with their application.

 

[Parmeet kaur67]

Sorry, I couldn't understand which part of the form you are talking about. You need to fill this form to start your legal name change process in BC.
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/health/forms/vital-statistics/vsa529.pdf

and you should be living in BC for at least one year.
No need for any newspaper advertisements if you are just splitting your name.
I started my passport process after getting the new PR card and attached a copy of the same with the application. A few people applied before getting their PR card, though I am not sure what supporting documents they attached with their application.

Thank you for your reply.I just came to know that the duration of being staying in bc before applying for name change has reduced to 3 months.And after filling the form ,do we directly go to vital Statistics office?I had a talk with 2 customer service representatives and they confused me,after filling the form and getting the fingerprints,should i visit vital Statistics Vancouver directly or there was written on website service bc representatives can witness your signature,do we need to go to service bc too?or it is done at vital Statistics too?I got pretty confused regarding these.Would be highly grateful if you could help me clear on this?

 

[keypad]

Thank you for your reply.I just came to know that the duration of being staying in bc before applying for name change has reduced to 3 months.And after filling the form ,do we directly go to vital Statistics office?I had a talk with 2 customer service representatives and they confused me,after filling the form and getting the fingerprints,should i visit vital Statistics Vancouver directly or there was written on website service bc representatives can witness your signature,do we need to go to service bc too?or it is done at vital Statistics too?I got pretty confused regarding these.Would be highly grateful if you could help me clear on this?

Yes, you are right. They have changed the one-year requirement to only 3 months.
After getting fingerprint verification, you can either go to service BC location and get your documents attested and submit the application there.
Or you can get the attestation done with any Notary Public and mail your application to Vital Statistics.
No need to go to the Vital Stats office, they don't collect the applications there.
Everything is mentioned in the application form.

 

[nitash.agrawal]

1) In my Indian Passport :
Surname:
Given name: XXXX YYYY

2) I recd all my Canadian documents (PR, Driving Licenxe, COPR, SIN) in the following name (since surname is mandatory in Canada)
Surname: XXXX YYYY
Given name:

3) So went to BLS office in Brampton, Canada and corrected my Indian Passport. Now my Indian Passport says:
Surname: YYYY
Given name: XXXX

4) Applied for renewal of Canada PR Card and asked for a name change

Immigration officered replied saying that they would need a legal change name document or court order to make name change in Canada PR card. Indian Passport in not enough. (I live in Ontario)

5) So have applied for a name change last week in Service Ontario..Once Service Ontario provides me name change certificate (processing time is 6-8 weeks).. I will forward the same document to immigration team and hopefully they will issue me a new PR with updated name...

Hello snitin,

I am in the process of completing the name change process for my wife. her Indian passport is now updated with splitted name XX - YY as required . And we are filling out the Legal name change for Ontario.

1. Was there any police verification / background check needed to be done ?
2. Did you have to go to the office of the commisioner of oaths for signing that form ?
3. What documents were required to submit at the Service ontario ?
4. In your post, i read you mailed the documents.
So did you send a certified copy ?

Thanks,
Nitash

 

[nitash.agrawal]

Hello all,

Finally, I got my name split done on each of my documents. Whatever problems I was facing due to missing last name are now resolved. I am describing my journey here for all those who are still deciding or want to know the process.

**Note: I did this in BC but most of the things will be same for other provinces too except step 1.**

1. First of all, I needed to apply for a legal name change process. This was done with Vital Statistics. It took almost 5-7 weeks to get my legal name change certificate.
2. Next, I went to my nearest Service Canada location to get my SIN number updated. This process took half an hour and issued me updated SIN letter on the spot.
3. Then I went to ICBC to get my driver's licence and BC Services Card updated. They also took close to half an hour (including wait time) and updated my licence as well as services card in their records. However, I received my new licence and services card in a month or so. Other than this, I had to sent a copy of my name change certificate to HIBC and requested them to update their records.
4. Along with step 3, I sent my application for PR card replacement with amended name. They took close to 2 months.
5. Then I applied for my home country passport renewal with proper first name and last name. Surprisingly, they took only a week to issue me my new passport.

This entire process took almost seven months and finally sorts out every issue related to missing last name in my documents.

Thanks to everyone who guided me through out the process.

Hey Keypad,

I see your comment on the Step 3 for sending a copy of the certificate to HIBC

I am working on the same name change process from Ontario. HIBC is the equivalent of OHIP
Do i need to send something to them, or it gets all updated together in Service ontario ?

Any information will help.

Thanks in advance.

 

[keypad]

Hey Keypad,

I see your comment on the Step 3 for sending a copy of the certificate to HIBC

I am working on the same name change process from Ontario. HIBC is the equivalent of OHIP
Do i need to send something to them, or it gets all updated together in Service ontario ?

Any information will help.

Thanks in advance.

Hello nitash.agrawal,

I can't comment on this. This may or may not be the requirement for OHIP. I have got experience with the HIBC only.

Regards

 

[nancyjean]

1) In my Indian Passport :

Surname:
Given name: XXXX YYYY

2) I recd all my Canadian documents (PR, Driving Licenxe, COPR, SIN) in the following name (since surname is mandatory in Canada)

Surname: XXXX YYYY
Given name:

3) So went to BLS office in Brampton, Canada and corrected my Indian Passport. Now my Indian Passport says:

Surname: YYYY
Given name: XXXX

4) Applied for renewal of Canada PR Card and asked for a name change

Immigration officered replied saying that they would need a legal change name document or court order to make name change in Canada PR card. Indian Passport in not enough. So trying to connect with some lawyers to get a court order.

This is the latest info I have currently on this matter ..Hope this helps..Will keep you all posted...Let me also know if you guys have some info to fix this problem.

Hi,
Could you tell me what explanation you gave to split your name in Indian passport. I am going to renew my passport tomorrow and I have to prepare a lor for the name split. After I receive my new passport I am going to be applying for my PR, health card etc and I want to apply them with the split name. Please advice.

 

[nitash.agrawal]

Hi,
Could you tell me what explanation you gave to split your name in Indian passport. I am going to renew my passport tomorrow and I have to prepare a lor for the name split. After I receive my new passport I am going to be applying for my PR, health card etc and I want to apply them with the split name. Please advice.

Hello nancyjean - When we filled out the Indian passport renewal form, we mentioned in the section "How your name should be displayed"
Reason :
Splitting name for First name + Last name , for proper documentation.

There was no issues / questions raised.
The passport was updated with correct name and returned within 10 days from embassy / BLS

Hope this helps!

 

[nancyjean]

Hello nancyjean - When we filled out the Indian passport renewal form, we mentioned in the section "How your name should be displayed"
Reason :
Splitting name for First name + Last name , for proper documentation.

There was no issues / questions raised.
The passport was updated with correct name and returned within 10 days from embassy / BLS

Hope this helps!

Hi, Do I have to submit any documentation? I saw in the BLS website that I need to submit a LoE for the split. Did you submit LoE? If yes, I was wondering any specific reason you mentioned in your letter. I dont have any documentation since whatever I have I followed as per the current passport name. If I just say that when I apply for PR and other things I dont want surname to be blank hence splitting the name? something like this can I give as reason? Thanks

 

[nitash.agrawal]

@ Keypad: Not sure about British Columbia then..You may have to talk to someone there personally I guess...here as I said (in Ontario) the format was <LastName>, <FirstName>.

Good news is - I got my PR card updated today with split name. So everything is done. So just to re-iterate for everyone - here is the process for splitting the name:

1) Get a name change certificate from your province you are residing. (Since I live in Toronto - I applied the same in Service Ontario through mail). Name Change Certificate came after 8 weeks.

2) Once I got the certificate - took it to local Service Ontario office. They updated my name in Driving License, Health card.

3) Took the certificate to local Service Canada office. They updated my name in SIN Card.

3) Mailed the copy of the name change certificate to CIC (Immigration). Use the application of PR renewal

4) Received the PR card with updated name from CIC office.

5) Only thing which will not be updated is COPR because I changed my name after becoming a permanent resident. (FYI-COPR name change is only done if there was a mistake done by immigration officials.)

Hello Nitin,

What are the forms required to be submitted @ Service Ontario / Service Canada.

In the process, we have received the LEGAN NAME CHANGE CERTIFICATE
with FIRST AND LAST NAME separated.

Thanks

 

[preet2019]

@ Keypad: Not sure about British Columbia then..You may have to talk to someone there personally I guess...here as I said (in Ontario) the format was <LastName>, <FirstName>.

Good news is - I got my PR card updated today with split name. So everything is done. So just to re-iterate for everyone - here is the process for splitting the name:

1) Get a name change certificate from your province you are residing. (Since I live in Toronto - I applied the same in Service Ontario through mail). Name Change Certificate came after 8 weeks.

2) Once I got the certificate - took it to local Service Ontario office. They updated my name in Driving License, Health card.

3) Took the certificate to local Service Canada office. They updated my name in SIN Card.

3) Mailed the copy of the name change certificate to CIC (Immigration). Use the application of PR renewal

4) Received the PR card with updated name from CIC office.

5) Only thing which will not be updated is COPR because I changed my name after becoming a permanent resident. (FYI-COPR name change is only done if there was a mistake done by immigration officials.)

@snitin11 - Thank you so much for posting process. This is really helpful. I am filling the name change form right now. I have recevied the Canadian Citizenship and want to have the name changed before surrendering my Indian passport.

I have a quick question. In the name change form, what did you answer for the question "Why do you want to change your name" question.

Currently, my name is written as XXXXX YYYYY in the last name field on my Canadian Citizenship certificate. And XXXXX YYYYY written in the given name field for my Indian Passport.

Any help would be highly apprecited.

Thanks,
Harpreet

 

[nitash.agrawal]

@snitin11 - Thank you so much for posting process. This is really helpful. I am filling the name change form right now. I have recevied the Canadian Citizenship and want to have the name changed before surrendering my Indian passport.

I have a quick question. In the name change form, what did you answer for the question "Why do you want to change your name" question.

Currently, my name is written as XXXXX YYYYY in the last name field on my Canadian Citizenship certificate. And XXXXX YYYYY written in the given name field for my Indian Passport.

Any help would be highly apprecited.

Thanks,
Harpreet

Hello Harpreet,

I recall filling this for my spouse on the Indian passport for the name split

Why do you want to change your name:
We would like to split the name to correct all documentation and synchronize them in accordance to my correct First and Last name.
At present, this is incorrect on my current passport with the entire name in the "First Name" section.
Please do the needful

Hope this helps!

~ Nitash

 

[nitash.agrawal]

Hello Nitin,

What are the forms required to be submitted @ Service Ontario / Service Canada.

In the process, we have received the LEGAN NAME CHANGE CERTIFICATE
with FIRST AND LAST NAME separated.

Thanks

This was completed - FYI for others

1 form of name change was required along with the legal name change certificate
They updated the OHIP and Drivers License
New documents with correct name will be mailed in 4-6 weeks

Hope this helps!

 

[preet2019]

Hello Harpreet,

I recall filling this for my spouse on the Indian passport for the name split

Why do you want to change your name:
We would like to split the name to correct all documentation and synchronize them in accordance to my correct First and Last name.
At present, this is incorrect on my current passport with the entire name in the "First Name" section.
Please do the needful

Hope this helps!

~ Nitash

Thanks a lot Nitash. Really appreciated.

 

[Symq]

I received my PR card and the time of applying for other services is when I realized that full name is in given name. I have got the name rectified in the passport but for Name Change in Ontario, the Service Ontario site puts the condition "Have lived in Ontario for past 12 months". Any ideas on how to go about this since it has not been anywhere close to 12 months since landing?