Changing Name after PR Received

[Tuggie]

I am new to this forum, but I have a question and have seen a few others ask it as well, but did not see any answers/suggestions given.

I married in Canada in April 2008 and am using my married name in Canada (on my SIN card, my OHIP card, my Ontario DL, my bank accounts, etc.

However, since my USA social insurance card and my USA passport still show my maiden name, I had to apply for PR using my maiden name.

I wonder if it is best to leave this as is (since I filed inland - Vegreville, and will not receive PR until March 2011 -- hopefully!!!) until after I receive my PR card.

I really don't want to surrender my USA passport (to update my name) until after I receive my Canadian PR card.

Is there anyone else in this situation? Anyone already been through this situation?

Please reply.

Thanks,
Tuggie

 

[RobsLuv]

If you don't get a new passport with your new name on it while your PR is in process, you will have your PR card issued in your maiden name and, at some point, you'll have to spend additional money to get it changed.

It's really not a huge issue to get your name changed on your US passport, even while you're in Canada. You can do it by mail and, in my experience, it takes around a month to accomplish. If you're not planning to travel in the meantime, it's not a big issue to send in your passport, get the new one back and then send a copy of it to the PR processing office so they can update their files and issue PR in your married name. Just be sure you're not too close to visa issuance (since you say you got married in April 2008, but you don't say when you applied for PR) because you won't want to have your passport gone when CIC finally asks for it to issue your PR. If you're close to being done, you might just have to wait until after PR and then go through the routine of getting the passport changed, and then your PR card changed.

If you're still going to be waiting awhile, check out this info on the US State Department website. They're reporting a processing time of 4-6 weeks.