- Joined
- Jan 22, 2013
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A friend of mine is a virtual Prisoner in Australia as ATM she is unable to obtain a passport from any country.
Born in England in 1952, when she was 2 or 3 years old her parents assumed a new surname. It is well documented that many people in the UK have done this for one reason or another and there are no official records to substantiate said name change. The 1950’s were a different time too when such changes were simply accepted.
In the early 1960’s her mother obtains a passport in her new assumed name. Unlike today, registered name change documents are not required. During that time children don’t have or need a passport, mother simply writes her children’s details in the passport and has the entry stamped by some authority or whatever. Said children now travel overseas with their mother, all on the one passport. So in the mid 60’s the family travels to Australia as Assisted Migrants and a Permanent Resident Visa for mother and her children is rubber stamped in the mother’s passport. Father has his own passport and visa.
Jump to 2015 and my friend now decides she wants Australian Citizenship and passport so she can do a bit of travel. Let the fun begin!
Twice applied and twice refused, her application will not be approved unless she can show/prove how she went from her birth name as per her British BC to the name she travelled on to Australia, the name in her mother’s passport that contains her Permanent Resident Visa. This is simply not possible as the name was assumed and never recorded. Asking somebody whose parents are deceased to now prove something that occurred 60 or so years ago when she was an infant seems somehow ridiculous. Every document she has is in her current married name, marriage certificate, medicare card, tax file number, property deeds, drivers licence, you name it she has it. Even worked for the Queensland Government for 30 something years.
So why can’t she obtain a British Passport you ask? Similar story. She simply cannot prove she is the person whose name appears on her birth certificate as this is her one and only document that bears that name. The British Passport Office refuse to issue a passport unless she can prove she is that person. Much like when you apply for an Australian PP you need to show ID such as Medicare Card and Drivers Licence etc.
She did attempt to change her name from what is on her BC to what it is now but BDM refuse to do it as they cannot change a name from something that it is not (her birth name) to something that it already is (her married name), they can only register a change from what it is to something else.
Born in England in 1952, when she was 2 or 3 years old her parents assumed a new surname. It is well documented that many people in the UK have done this for one reason or another and there are no official records to substantiate said name change. The 1950’s were a different time too when such changes were simply accepted.
In the early 1960’s her mother obtains a passport in her new assumed name. Unlike today, registered name change documents are not required. During that time children don’t have or need a passport, mother simply writes her children’s details in the passport and has the entry stamped by some authority or whatever. Said children now travel overseas with their mother, all on the one passport. So in the mid 60’s the family travels to Australia as Assisted Migrants and a Permanent Resident Visa for mother and her children is rubber stamped in the mother’s passport. Father has his own passport and visa.
Jump to 2015 and my friend now decides she wants Australian Citizenship and passport so she can do a bit of travel. Let the fun begin!
Twice applied and twice refused, her application will not be approved unless she can show/prove how she went from her birth name as per her British BC to the name she travelled on to Australia, the name in her mother’s passport that contains her Permanent Resident Visa. This is simply not possible as the name was assumed and never recorded. Asking somebody whose parents are deceased to now prove something that occurred 60 or so years ago when she was an infant seems somehow ridiculous. Every document she has is in her current married name, marriage certificate, medicare card, tax file number, property deeds, drivers licence, you name it she has it. Even worked for the Queensland Government for 30 something years.
So why can’t she obtain a British Passport you ask? Similar story. She simply cannot prove she is the person whose name appears on her birth certificate as this is her one and only document that bears that name. The British Passport Office refuse to issue a passport unless she can prove she is that person. Much like when you apply for an Australian PP you need to show ID such as Medicare Card and Drivers Licence etc.
She did attempt to change her name from what is on her BC to what it is now but BDM refuse to do it as they cannot change a name from something that it is not (her birth name) to something that it already is (her married name), they can only register a change from what it is to something else.
