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Change your name or personal details on your passport

1. How it works

You need to get a new passport if you change any of the following:

  • your name
  • your gender
  • your appearance, if you can’t be recognised from your passport photo any more (for example, you’ve had plastic surgery)

You won’t be allowed to travel if you book your travel under a different name to what’s on your passport.

It costs £72.50 to apply and you’ll be sent a new 10 year passport. Up to 9 months of unexpired time on your old passport will be added to your new passport.

Changes you don’t have to report

You don’t have to tell HM Passport Office or get a new passport if you:

  • change your address or contact details
  • get a new job
  • change your appearance slightly - for example, dye your hair or grow a beard
  • change your marital status (divorce, marry or form a civil partnership) but keep your name
  • change your title, for example, doctor or professor
  • become a national of another country as well as the UK
  • emigrate

How to apply

Fill in and sign your passport application using the name that you want to see printed on your passport.

Apply using the online service or get a paper form from a Post Office that offers the Check and Send service.

If you are sending documents with your application they need to be originals, not copies.

Countersignatures

You must get a countersignature if your appearance has changed and you can’t be recognised from your existing passport.

You don’t need a countersignature if you’re changing your name or adding a title.

Unexpired visas

Unexpired visas in your old passport may become invalid if you change your name. Check with the embassy or consulate of the country that issued the visa.

If you have a non-British passport

If you have dual citizenship (‘dual nationality’) and have a non-British passport, the name on your non-British passport must match the name and gender you want on your British passport.

If it doesn’t, change the details on your non-British passport before you apply for a new British passport.

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