Married name causing problems in visa application

[yungster]

I changed my name when I got married. I dropped my middle name and added my husband's name to the end.

Now I am applying for a China tourist visa. Submitted my birth certificate, marriage license, and current passport, and they are saying my marriage certificate is not sufficient proof of name change because I dropped my original middle name.

I don't know what documentation I can submit to prove my name change, and my visa agency has no clue. Does anyone know what I need to submit for my visa?

original name : <first name> <middle name> <maiden name>

New name: <first name> <maiden name> <husband's last name>

Seems like a routine name change. I had no problems changing my passport, but now it is causing problems with visa application.

[fanglu]

Have you already submitted the application? If not, give them your current passport and don't mention that you ever changed your name.

[Scoobyqueen]

I was advised to keep my maiden name as a middle name by my embassy that sorted out my new passport if you are able to do that in your country.

[roddy]

It might help if we knew what country this was. Similarly for those giving advice - I'm not sure every country hands out your old passport annulled when you get a new one...

[Scoobyqueen]

Apologies I should not have given that piece of advice not knowing which country it was. How stupid of me.

[roddy]

It's not stupid, but stuff like this varies a lot across countries. In the UK an official document called a deed poll might be what you need.

[yungster]

I have a U.S. passport. I also had to submit a birth certificate and the names are not matching up - middle name got dropped during name change. Not sure how to prove that those two names belong to the same person. In the U.S., you can change your name with just a marriage license, so I don't have any other documents proving the name change.

[roddy]

In that case it may even depend on what state you're in. Some kind of court document, affidavit, notarization?

I can see you can change your surname with a marriage license, that makes sense - but your given names? That seems unusual.

[yonglin]

In the U.S., you can change your name with just a marriage license, so I don't have any other documents proving the name change.

This is not true in NY (you can only change your last name, not your middle name -- I originally wanted to do a change similar to yours, but determined it was too much of a hassle). Thus, I'm inclined to think that this must be state specific.

What I'm really curious about is why you would submit your birth certificate/marriage license when applying for a Chinese tourist visa in the first place? I don't see any requirements for birth certificate/marriage licenses on the Chinese tourist visa application instructions. How would the embassy staff even know that you once went by another name?

Edit: I guess there is a field to put your "previous names" on the visa application form, but they don't seem to require any documentation on those?

Of course, things are a bit more complicated if you are a naturalized American who was previously a PRC citizen...

[gato]

What about asking the state agency where you changed your name to provide some documentation about the change?

You must still have the same social security number. What about your old social security card with your former name?

[Lu]

Like Yonglin, I wonder why you need a birth certificate in the first place. I've always gotten a visa with just my passport (and the necessary other stuff like hotel reservations/letter that I have a job, stuff like that). If you can apply with just your passport, assuming that that is in your current name, there shouldn't be a problem. I also find it weird that a Chinese embassy in, I assume, the US doesn't know how to handle this, surely you can't be the first time they've ever seen a namechange like that. Can't they tell you exactly what kind of document they want from you?