Some advice would be appreciated on my wife's scenario. I've tried searching for name change threads but couldn't find (or somehow overlooked) this specific scenario.
She would like to change her passport to my surname. As we've already booked multiple flights to and from Switzerland over the coming months due to family occasions, we're looking at the possibility of changing her passport name after we move to Switzerland.
Will this pose a problem? Will it be possible to update her B permit at a later date to reflect the name change? Is it even required?
I assume having a passport name (her main form of ID) which differs to her permit name or residence card may cause difficulties for changing anything down the line such as opening additional bank accounts, purchasing a utility service, job changes, giving birth etc?
Some background:
- Both of us are EU Citizens (same nationality)
- Married in our country of residence and nationality
- Moving to Basel in October (undecided yet whether it's Stadt or Landschaft)
- Both of us will have B permits
Any advice, links, further reading or previous experience would be much appreciated!
Having not lived there yet and having never lived in a country that may have many procedural differences depending on your community or region, it's all new to me. Hence my use of 'perhaps'
Thanks again for your responses, it's good to know that it is possible.
Perhaps it's easier to see how much it would cost for a name change for her tickets, then you can get a new passport in your own country, and on arrival in Switzerland there's nothing left to be arranged for this.
Most of the flights have been booked with Lufthansa which according to their website, do not permit name changes. So we would have to cancel the booking or at least my wife's ticket and pay again. I agree that this would be the most straight forward option. Our fault for beginning to integrate ahead of time and organise our visits home
Just to clarify in case there was any misunderstanding, we are already married rather than planning to get married. It seems though that this also won't be a problem, which is great!
My wife also left her passport, and therefore all Swiss documentation, in her maiden name when she moved over here, and there was indeed no problem, but some incidental costs, to get everything changed later when the passport needed renaming anyway. Be aware that each official change, e.g the B permit, the driving licence, car registration etc. will incur a fee, usually something like 40chf or so, so your savings may not be quite as much as you think.
To be clear, they don't care about the type of name change that OP is asking about - i.e. that she takes his last name as her own. Since the last few years they get picky about other types of changes such as combining names. There are a few threads on that.
MFS, when I first arrived in Switzerland everything was done under my maiden name - rental contract, insurance, driver's license, residence permit, etc. It took months for me to get an updated passport with the married name so I traveled under my maiden name until I had all the paperwork ready to switch.
I did have to pay a small fee for the name change to the residence permit, and driver's license but no issue with the rental contract or insurance.
She may find it handy to have a few certified copies of your marriage certificate to show if asked. I showed mine more than once, and the municipality kept one copy so I was glad I had multiples.
Congrats on your marriage and good luck with your move.
I did this and it was not a huge problem. My case was even weirder because I waited until we'd been married for five years to finally change my name. Now I still use both names (maiden professionally and online and married in my personal life) and it's constantly confusing. HA! But, the long and short is once she has the new passport, take both the old and new passports (or send a side-by-side copy) everywhere you need to change the name and it's as easy as that. Mostly it's just tedious!
The perhaps part: Most government stuff in Switzerland is quite fast (safe a few things, like getting the permit initially, but not the "DMV"). On the other hand there is a charge for this easy service. Literally. Either on the spot or by a payment slip sent by mail.
Thank you all for the helpful replies. My wife will now likely be getting a job offer soon so that combined with the fact her name can easily be changed later, cemented the decision to wait until after the move. We'll wait until spring when our flights are out of the way. Cheers EF.
I wasn't suggesting she change the name on the ticket. I suggest she bring proof she is both people. Both old and new passport and marriage certificate.
I have changed my maiden surname to that of my husband's surname after 8yrs of marriage on my passport (Non EU). Can anyone of you pls guide me the process on how to proceed?