Change lastname.

[Neenvin]

Hi everyone,
I am currently sponsoring my husband and his application was trasferred to manila VO last week. My concern is, I didn't change my lastname on my passport and my ontario ID (similar to driver license) only. I changed my lastname for my health card, SIN card and bank card. I also stated on the application that I currently use my last name and my husband's lastname.
Would that affect my husband's application or make our relationship not genuine?
If I change my lastname on my passport and Ontario ID while in process, would that delay the application? And also should I email manila VO or call cic about the change?

 

[fiona_baby]

Tricky. I was in a similar situation when I applied for spousal sponsorship in May this year. My name in my passport was my maiden name. I did not bother changing it because at that time, I was poised to have the Citizenship Ceremony where I used my married name. I don't have a driver's license but my health card, my SIN etc were changed to reflect my husband's surname. There seemed to be no problem with this. I used the name in my passport in my application but included a copy of the Manitoba Change of Name certificate in my application as well as copies of my Tax bearing my husband's surname. It was a good thing that my tax return reflects my married status as well as the change of name certificate as I read somewhere that official documents like these are good evidence of the genuineness of our marriage. I guess it doesn't hurt to attach explanation/proofs that would confirm one's identity.

Anyway, my husband received an AOR2 this July asking for my birth certificate (sponsor). Perhaps they are trying to verify my name. Unless this request is a general request, I assume that this is in line with the discrepancy in my name. Nonetheless, at this point, there seems to be no problem with our application, everything seems to be going ok. The Manila office replies very quickly, in our case, they reply within a day, not with an automatic response, but with a real email, regarding our submission. At first, we unknowingly submitted a blurry scanned copy of my birth certificate and they immediately emailed us to resend another copy as they had trouble reading it. So we did. There's no more advisory after this so I think (and I hope) that all's good.

So in short, no. I don't think there's problem with your application regarding its genuineness/credibility. But I guess, you have to change your name in your driver's license ASAP. I am also debating whether I should submit a copy of my citizenship certificate bearing my new last name but I don't think this is necessary because my name in ECAS is already updated to match my husband's surname.

Good luck.