Hello all! I have a question, recently I had a son with my Japanese wife, I’m English so at some point I’ll be applying for a UK passport for the wee one. My question is this: does his name for the passport have to be the same as the name on his birth certificate? For example, if we included a middle name on his UK passport, might that be refused/ problematic?
Thanks for any advice!!
7 comments
His Japanese passport will need to be in whatever the name on your wife’s koseki is. For his UK passport I’d suggest a trip to the embassy and find out what the home office issues to births abroad. But Japan doesn’t care since he’s on her koseki as baby-kun that’s what will go on his Japanese passport.
When registering the birth overseas for a consular birth certificate (I recommend doing this but it’s not required for the passport) and/or getting their UK passport, The UK allow 3 exceptions outlined here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/birth-registration-name-confirmation-form
Middle name is one of them (under exception 2). But that will mean your kid will technically have two legal names. Keep in mind that cause problems for them in later life, such exchanging driving licenses between UK and Japan, and vice versa. Although to be honest I think that will be more issue Japan side, than Uk side.
>birth certificate
Keep in mind the version of the birth certificate UK require you to submit (shussetodoke kisaijiko shomeisho) has to be the one with the municipality office stamp on it. Because without that stamp, it’s not a valid birth certificate, as outlined here: https://www.kifjp.org/child/threeprocedure_eng
>Right side of the Notification of Birth (Shusshou Todoke) There are spaces to be filled by the hospital. The form must be accepted by the municipal office, otherwise, this form will not be considered as a certificate of birth. 病院の「出生証明書」への記載があります。 役所に出して受理されないと出生の証明書にはなりません。
So if you made two shussetodoke kisaijiko shomeisho at the hospital and submitted one of them to the municipality office and the other one to the UK, that means you’re not submitting a valid birth certificate to the UK. If UK accepted, and later discovered it’s not valid, then that could cause issues for your kid. So just do it right first time and submit a VALID birth certificate to UK I.e you need to get the one your submitted to the municipality office issued to you with their stamp on it.
As your child is also a Japanese national, the UK will need their Koseki too. Both the birth certificate and Koseki will need to be professionally translated I.e you cannot do the translation yourself (unless you’re a certified translator then you probably can)
England might be different, but for a US passport, you are allowed to change. When I got the passport for my child from the US consulate, the person specifically asked if I wanted to add a middle name.
Just to make it as easy as pie , just copy it from your birth certificate. Why make a potential problem when you don’t have one.
What if some immigration agent wants to see both together. Because that’s the kind of fun stuff they like to do !
My understanding is that formally you would need to separately register your child’s birth in the UK.
To be honest, I wouldn’t bother though – either give up, or just add it on the application form (it is all online). Quite likely that it will just be accepted if it is a young child/first passport and if not they will let you know.
Can always change Japan too
Soo, although this isn’t really what you asked. BUT, please strongly consider having both names match in both passports. There can be hassles when traveling, such as the names on your flight tickets being different (e.g., you purchase tickets in Japan and enter the UK on your UK passport), credit cards when older, etc. etc. Most people I know who become adults with “two legal names” hate it, and end up legally changing one to match the other.