Getting British Passport issue! Old name. I am Polish by birth and just received my British citizenship.

I have a very big problem with getting my British passport.
I am 16 therefore my mum deals with the legal side of things however recently we have run out of options so i decided to come to the general public for help.

Me and my mum are both Polish by birth however we have just received our British citizenship.
We know the Polish government does not accept dual nationalities however my mum does not want to cancel as it takes to much hassle.
My mum is married to a British man and we have lived in the UK for 10+ years. Mine and my mums Polish passports are in our old name however they HAVE been cancelled. Yet this is not enough for the British government. They refuse us a passport because we have a different surname on our old CANCELLED Polish passports.

They request that we change our name on our OLD CANCELLED Polish passports or to get new Polish passports with our new name however we all know this would cause a lot of hassle with the Polish government and trying to get a Polish citizenship cancelled is way to much hassle for what its worth. So now we are in a so called stalemate. Don't know what to do at all. We are not criminals looking to participate in fraud and we have shown a clear link between our old name and new name and even showed the home office how we cancelled our old Polish passports.

Now,
has anyone else experienced such problems and if so, how did you solve them?
Open to any suggestions and help as we had to cancel our holiday which i am extremely annoyed at.

Any hateful comments or stupid suggestions will be ignored.

FYI: I've looked everywhere.

Yours sincerely,

A fellow sad 16 year old.

Probably the only way to solve this problem would be to get a new Polish passport with a new name on it and then a British passport.

The Polish government doesn't mind if you have British citizenship, you're simply not allowed to identify yourself to the Polish authorities using the British citizenship. Just get new Polish passports and the problem is solved.

(out of interest, if you have British citizenship confirmed, why don't you just use Polish documents anyway? There's no practical difference...)

You will need to re new your Polish passport until you are 18

Good for you!

(btw, sorrry for that, but i was getting errors in posting)


that's false. Polish government has no problems accepting dual (or multiple) citizenships of its citizens. However, in Poland, only Polish one matters.


(edited as quotes cannot be longer than 50 words)

if your mum got married (and change her surname) before being granted the citizenship, then it was her duty to change the name on Polish ID (by updating the birth certificate, and applying for new ID cards)- she couldn't change it here in the same way british citizens can (as she wasn't one back then).

ok, it would be easier if you could clarify few things:
1. How did your mum changed the name (I've assumed that because of the marriage- correct me if i'm wrong)?
2. When did she do it (before or after the marriage)? How did you do it (by registration as a british citizen or otherwise)?

Untill the (Polish) birth certificate is amended, the name is not changed in Poland, according to polish laws.
In UK one can change their name by executing the deed poll, no birth certificate changes are required.

And yeah, I've got naturalised as well, and as well i've changed my name (in PL and in UK).

" In UK one can change their name by executing the deed poll, "

I don't think you even need to do that if you are a woman and get married....you just start using the new name.

Anyway OP, I think what you really need is an immigration lawyer although I appreciate that could be expensive.

@Roz, you're right as far as a married woman is concerned. And in theory anyone in the UK can just start using a new name, there is no legal requirement to change it by deed pole.

actually, it's not really a truth.
if you decide to go from Jan Kowalski to John Smith you **have to** use documents stating that you are John Smith; you have to cease using documents with and "old" name. If you are Polish citizen (I'm not sure about laws of other countries, especially Commonwealth ones), the only way to do it is to change the name. but there is a haczyk (;)) - you can, in Poland, change into name like that only if you are actually using it abroad (i.e. in other country) and you can prove it (by driving licence or passport- prefferably the latter one)- you need to write them, and basically ask them and explain why you wish to change the name.

If you wish to change driving licence, you need to send deed poll to DVLA, same with banks etc.

oh, i've found some info deedpoll.org.uk/WhoCanApply.html#Nationality

but to OP:
yes, either contact lawyers (which aren't cheap) or go to your local Citizen Advice Beauroux (how the crack spell it?)- it's free, more information can be found here citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/how-we-provide-advice/advice/