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Help needed (police clearance certificate and surname)

S

Sergey6116

Registered Users (C)
Hi. 2 days ago a family I know had their dv interview. Everything was ok but the winner(wife) was asked for one more police clearance certificate because in their merriage certificate her hasbands surname is written as hers too.

But the problem is that she had never changed her surname and now she is't able to get a police clearance certificate with her hasbands surname cause she has never had such surname.

What would you advice to do in such situation? Thank you.
 
In most countries (where name changes during marriage are the norm), the marriage certificate is proof of the name change. So the woman called Mary Smith gets married to Bill Jones, she will now be Mary Jones. Both her maiden name (Mary Smith) and the new married name (Mary Jones) would be shown on the marriage certificate. THat then is all you need to show the police to get a police certificate since it proves that Mary Smith/Mary Jones are the same person.

Some countries will have different procedure/certificates, but it should function something like that - and that is probably the embassies expectation.
 
The problem is that in our country noone changes his/her surname when getting married and usually the marriage certificate here has nothing to do with surname change. :(.
 
Sergey6116 said:
The problem is that in our country noone changes his/her surname when getting married and usually the marriage certificate here has nothing to do with surname change. :(.
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I'm confused. You said that the name in the marriage certificate was the same as her husbands surname. So she DID change her name, no matter what the normal customs.

Am I understanding incorrectly?
 
Sergey6116 said:
Yes she has been lagally married to him for more than 30 years.
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Its kind of wierd because in this case it should enough with the legal mariage certificate, and the embassy
Should be aware that in your country names dont change after mariage!
May be you should get an affidavit, to certify that she is the same person on the
Police clearance and mariage certificat.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Sergey6116 said:
The problem is that in our country noone changes his/her surname when getting married and usually the marriage certificate here has nothing to do with surname change. :(.
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Then i agree it seems strange that the consular officer is unaware of this.

Perhaps another option if it exists is to see if the police can issue a certificate via fingerprint check. That should bring up any possible convictions regardless of name, and is quite common in a number of countries.
 
britsimon said:
I'm confused. You said that the name in the marriage certificate was the same as her husbands surname. So she DID change her name, no matter what the normal customs.

Am I understanding incorrectly?
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So am I :). When someone changes his/her surname his/her surname should also be changed in the password, right? But she has never had a passport with her hasbands surname, it's just an error in the marriage certificate.

@vladek15425 It can be an option.
@SusieQQQ A good idea too. I'll tell them to ask about this.
 
OK so I don't think it was an error on the marriage cert - that sounds normal to me. What she could have (probably should have) done is get a new passport with the married name.
 
So her 'right' surname is considered the one written in the marriage certificate and not the one she has had in her passports. Did I get it right?
 
Sergey6116 said:
Same thing just told me a russian guy in another forum. But then won't it be considered that she had filled the dv lottery registration form with wrong surname? That will be really sad.
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Well in that case then she needs an affadavit to explain that she is one and the same person. With that, she should be ok - but since she has had the interview already she now has to provide whatever she can to explain things and hopefully she can save the situation.
 
britsimon said:
In most countries (where name changes during marriage are the norm), the marriage certificate is proof of the name change. So the woman called Mary Smith gets married to Bill Jones, she will now be Mary Jones. Both her maiden name (Mary Smith) and the new married name (Mary Jones) would be shown on the marriage certificate. THat then is all you need to show the police to get a police certificate since it proves that Mary Smith/Mary Jones are the same person.

Some countries will have different procedure/certificates, but it should function something like that - and that is probably the embassies expectation.
Click to expand...

+1
 
Hm, this is definitely country specific... In terms of what name becomes official. Our marriage certificates have maiden name of bride - there is nothing on those that has bride firstname + groom surname - and the bride chooses to maintain her maiden name or take on her husbands surname (usually default is to husband's surname in official records and you just fill in a form if you don't want it changed). Any subsequent official document issued like a passport or drivers licence would be in the official name in official records - so if that had the maiden name it would supersede the marriage certificate.
 
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