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Should I change name before or after sending Citizenship application.

june1990

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Jul 9, 2014
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Hi,
This is a repost. I just had to change the title to maybe even get a better response.
My fiancé and I are getting married this June, on March 31st i will reach my 1095th day of total allowed stay here in Canada before I can apply for my citizenship. I am not applying right away, I may wait for a week before I submit my documents since we are not on a rush. My only concern is, should I do it before or after wedding? I will be adding my soon-to-be- husband's last name after my last name. Is this going to be an issue? Will it slow down the process of my application? Anyone who had to change their name after the application please feel free to share your stories. Thank you!
 

itsmyid

Champion Member
Jul 26, 2012
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Hi,
This is a repost. I just had to change the title to maybe even get a better response.
My fiancé and I are getting married this June, on March 31st i will reach my 1095th day of total allowed stay here in Canada before I can apply for my citizenship. I am not applying right away, I may wait for a week before I submit my documents since we are not on a rush. My only concern is, should I do it before or after wedding? I will be adding my soon-to-be- husband's last name after my last name. Is this going to be an issue? Will it slow down the process of my application? Anyone who had to change their name after the application please feel free to share your stories. Thank you!
Based on what’s been discussed here , yes it will take longer
 

Novia2018

Full Member
Sep 8, 2018
20
5
Hi,
This is a repost. I just had to change the title to maybe even get a better response.
My fiancé and I are getting married this June, on March 31st i will reach my 1095th day of total allowed stay here in Canada before I can apply for my citizenship. I am not applying right away, I may wait for a week before I submit my documents since we are not on a rush. My only concern is, should I do it before or after wedding? I will be adding my soon-to-be- husband's last name after my last name. Is this going to be an issue? Will it slow down the process of my application? Anyone who had to change their name after the application please feel free to share your stories. Thank you!

Keep your maiden name for the citizenship process and change it when you ste applying for your passport. That was the advice given to me by the immigration officer.
 

EstherBarros

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Aug 18, 2014
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I would wait until after you get married, and you change all of your documents to your married name, to apply for citizenship. That is literally what I did. This way you also get a couple of months buffer time on your application, which is always nice.
I thought this was best as I would have less trouble changing the documents after.
It also depends on the name you want to see on your citizenship certificate. I wanted my new name, so I made sure to apply with all updated documents (including passport from country of origin). I don't think you can have the citizenship certificate amended UNLESS you do a legal name change after getting the certificate (you cannot change it just using a marriage certificate), so even if you were to go through the process with your maiden name and then apply for a passport with marriage certificate to have the married name on the passport, your citizenship certificate would still say your maiden name.
Finally, I think applying as one name then submitting documents during the process to have the name changed over-complicates things and will most likely increase processing time.
This is just my 2 cents :)
 
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KRP

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Jan 13, 2012
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I would wait until after you get married, and you change all of your documents to your married name, to apply for citizenship. That is literally what I did. This way you also get a couple of months buffer time on your application, which is always nice.
I thought this was best as I would have less trouble changing the documents after.
It also depends on the name you want to see on your citizenship certificate. I wanted my new name, so I made sure to apply with all updated documents (including passport from country of origin). I don't think you can have the citizenship certificate amended UNLESS you do a legal name change after getting the certificate (you cannot change it just using a marriage license), so even if you were to go through the process with your maiden name and then apply for a passport with marriage certificate to have the married name on the passport, your citizenship certificate would still say your maiden name.
Finally, I think applying as one name then submitting documents during the process to have the name changed over-complicates things and will most likely increase processing time.
This is just my 2 cents :)
Very true and gave my same opinion on previous thread of June1990.
 
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