Changing Canadian Passport to Married Name

[Cassie 8]

This is a great question! I haven't changed my passport yet to my married name, for a variety of reasons. I have traveled three times with my "maiden name" passport with no difficulties...yet! I haven't been told by any officials to go and get it changed, methinks I will take a trip to the local passport office when I am home in Canada to talk to them about it.

Glad to know having my passport in my maiden name probably won't cause any difficulties. Please let us know what you find out when you go to the passport office in Canada.

I will definitely do that!

[G&A 1]

I'm not blaming you, I'm blaming the peeps that waited until the last minute that caused the backlog! You had no choice, you had to wait until after you were married. It's been widespread knowledge for a long time that this was coming down the pike, you would think people who want to travel would have realized this would happen and prepare ahead of time....meh, I guess I have more faith in the mass populace than I should!

Always good to have faith! I know what you mean though, my SO has KNOWN that he'll need a passport to come back and forth to Canada, but he's still putting it off!!! Guess I'm be coming home by myself to visit. sorry off topic.........

If he is the american he actually doesnt need a passport to come to Canada. As of today atleast. I called teh CBSA (Canadian Border Services Agency) because BOTH my husband (in USA) and I (in Canada) are waiting for passports. He has a scheduled trip to come to Canada and visit next week. If you are an american comming into Canada you need proof of citizenship (ie. birth certificate or cert of naturalization) and one gov issued photo id (ie. Drivers). But he might have a prob getting back into the US hehehe. However, due to the massive american backlog i believe all you need is your ID and proof that you submitted your passport application.

So there...he has no excuse!

[Cassie 8]

The U.S. State Department has temporarily lifted a new rule that requires Americans to carry passports for air travel to and from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda, placating Congress and irate summer travellers.

The suspension should allow the department to catch up with a massive surge in applications that has overwhelmed passport processing centres since the rule took effect this year. The resulting backlog has caused up to three-month delays for passports and ruined or delayed the travel plans of thousands of Americans.

Until the end of September, travellers will be allowed to fly without a passport if they present a State Department receipt, showing they had applied for a passport, and government-issued identification, such as a driver's licence.

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/06/08/us-passports.html

[G&A 1]

I sent my passport in to have my married name added BEFORE the deadline (June 1st). However, because they are back logged and it is taking them 4-12 weeks to OPEN your envelope (which puts me way past the deadline of June 1st) they will no longer add my married name even if they received my package before June 1st. Just an FYI for others waiting for their passports. So basically, its going to take them a month and a half to open my package and send it back to me.

WOW the canadian gov at its best!

Update on my passort situation in case some of you are in the same boat as me:

I called this morning and spoke to a nice older lady for about 35 min. I told her that Passport Canada received my package before June 1st and I was told that my request would not be processed. She informed me that it WOULD be processed and that whoever I talked to before was incorrect (The other girl actually confirmed that It would not be processed with a colleague...but whatever.). I asked her if she would confirm this with a manager/supervisor. She put me on hold and came back and told me it was confirmed. My passport would be processed. She also said that the other people i spoke to SHOULD have sent an email with my fed ex tracking number to the passport printing people to let them know that is was not a new application. She did that and she said it should speed up the process for me. If you are waiting for your married name to be added to your existing passport you should call and ask them to send this email because your package is sitting in a bin with new applications. It will be moved to a bin for supplementary services which hopefully will move along quicker. Morale of the story...when dealing with ANY gov agency you have to talk to atleast 4 people before you decide which is the correct answer. I will believe it when I have my passport WITH my married name added.

A of G&A