Guidance

Isle of Man: Knowledge Base profile

Published 18 September 2025

About: Isle of Man

This document contains useful information about the Isle of Man which will assist His Majesty’s Passport Office staff process passport applications.

The Isle of Man is one of three Crown Dependencies of the United Kingdom (UK).

The Crown Dependencies are not part of the UK but are self-governing dependencies of the Crown. This means they have their own directly elected parliament, government and courts of law.

Most rules and regulations are the same as the UK.

Contacts

If you have any questions about the document and your line manager or senior caseworker cannot help you or you think that the document has factual errors then email the Guidance team.

If you notice any formatting errors in this document (broken links, spelling mistakes and so on) or have any comments about the layout or navigability of the document then you can email the Guidance team.

Publication

Below is information on when this version of the document was published:

• version 1.0
• published for Home Office staff on 5 May 2025

Changes from last version of this document

This is a new document.

Isle of Man: names

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about names in the Isle of Man.

Change of name

The Isle of Man allows individuals to change their name.

Isle of Man: nationality

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about nationality in the Isle of Man.

Dual nationality is recognised in the Isle of Man.

Isle of Man: legitimacy and parental responsibility

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about legitimacy and parental responsibility in the Isle of Man.

Legitimacy

The Isle of Man recognises a difference between legitimate and illegitimate births.

A child will be considered:

• legitimate:
  • if their parents were married at the time of the birth
  • if their parents married after the birth and father was domiciled in the Isle of Man at the time of the child’s birth
  • if at the time of the child’s conception either parent considered the marriage to be valid
  • if the father was domiciled in the Isle of Man at the time of the child’s birth
• illegitimate:
  • if their parents never marry and the father was not domiciled in the Isle of Man at the time of the child’s birth

Parental responsibility

All married or unmarried mothers automatically gain parental responsibility (PR) for a child born to them.

Before 1 November 2013:

• married parents both have PR if their names are shown on the birth certificate
• unmarried fathers did not automatically have PR (even if they were named as the father on the birth certificate), they can get PR with:
  • a parental responsibility agreement
  • court order
• divorced parents will have PR, (unless there is a court order) when both of the following apply:
  • they were married at the time of the child’s birth, or afterwards
  • their names are shown on the birth certificate

From 1 November 2013, married and unmarried fathers automatically gained PR, when they are recorded on the birth register and their details are shown on the birth certificate.

Isle of Man: adoption

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about adoption in the Isle of Man.

Adoption is legal in the Isle of Man.

Isle of Man: surrogacy

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about surrogacy in the Isle of Man.

Surrogacy is legal in the Isle of Man.

Isle of Man: gender recognition

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about gender recognition in the Isle of Man.

Transgender citizens are recognised in the Isle of Man.

Isle of Man: civil partnerships and marriage

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff about civil partnerships and marriage in the Isle of Man.

Same sex and opposite sex civil partnerships are legal in the Isle of Man.

Same sex and opposite sex marriage must be registered to be legal in the Isle of Man.

Isle of Man: documents

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about documents from the Isle of Man.

Birth certificates

Births in the Isle of Man must be registered within 42 days from the date of the birth.

Death certificates

Deaths occurring in the Isle of Man should be registered within 5 days of the date of death.

Identity documents

Customers living in the Isle of Man will hold a Crown Dependency variant British passport if they applied for their passport in the place they live.

Customers may hold a non-variant British passport if they apply directly to HM Passport Office.