Hi guys!
I recently married my Japanese partner in Japan on a tourist visa and then came back home to apply for the spouse visa. I've always wanted to take my husband's family name so it occurred to me I should do a name change before applying (not to mention it must be done within 6 months of marriage), and on top of that I heard middle names are a pain so I removed my middle name while I was at it. Now this is where I'm confused and hoping some other people might have gone through it before and can give me some advice.
My new passport apparently contains my maiden/previous names in parenthesis! It says basically:
Surname: Tanaka (Smith)
Name: Jane (Jane Kate)
My legal name in my country is only "Tanaka Jane" though and that's all it shows on my ID card! only my passport shows the previous names, apparently it's the law for the first passport after the name change (10 years validity) and meant to make it easier to verify previous identities in other countries (ironic that it only seems to complicate stuff).
So now I don't know what to put on my application form. I understand the name must match the passport completely, so should I be putting the whole thing including the parenthesis? That sounds really non-sensical?
Does anyone have a clue/went through a similar situation? what did you do?
I'm a bit of a worrier and will probably consult immigration/lawyer after the weekend but was just hoping to ease my mind.
Thank you!!
by Agitated-Session-539