Information on Name Change and Name Declaration

Transcription

1 Information on Name Change and Name Declaration Generally, the German civil law does not allow a change of name, unless the name change took place due to marriage, divorce or adoption. If you changed your name in Canada as a result of getting married, divorced or being adopted (in Canada) after your last German passport has been issued, please read the following information before applying for a passport. You may have to submit a name declaration first. Content I. Married Name 2 1. When do I have to submit a Name Declaration? 2 2. Which options do I have? 2 3. How can I submit a name declaration? 3 4. Name change after a divorce 4 5. How long will the whole process take? 4 6. When can I apply for a new passport under the new name? 4 II. Name of a Child 5 1. In which cases is a name declaration necessary for children? 5 2. How can I submit a name declaration for a child? 5 3. What options do I have? 5 4. Name of children after name change of the parents 6 5. What is the procedure? 6 6. When can we apply for a passport for the child? 6 III. Fees 7 IV. Where can I get further information? 7 1

2 I. Married Name 1. When do I have to submit a Name Declaration? Changing your last name, especially after getting married or divorced, is quite uncomplicated in Canada. The process is simple and personal documents (e.g. driver's license, citizenship card) will be issued in the new name easily. Usually, there is no need to take further steps in order to use your new name in everyday life and for legal matters in Canada. This is different in Germany! The German civil law does not allow a name change in general but only in the case of marriage, divorce, or adoption. If you changed your name in Canada due to one of the aforementioned reasons, this name change has to be recognized in Germany to achieve full validity under German law. Therefore, you have to submit a name declaration before being able to use your new last name in any German document. In most cases a name declaration will be needed, if one of the spouses applies for a new German passport after getting married. 2. Which options do I have? According to section 1355 of the German Civil Code (BGB), you can choose either the wife's birth name or the husband's birth name as the married name (family name). If no married name is chosen, the spouses will continue bearing the names they had before the wedding. Additionally, the spouse, whose name is not chosen as married name, can add his or her birth name (or the name he or she had before the wedding) hyphenated before or after the married name by name declaration. For example, if Mr. Müller got married to Ms. Meyer, they can choose between Müller and Meyer as married names. If Meyer is chosen as married name, the husband can add his birth name Müller and change his name to Müller-Meyer or Meyer-Müller. If Müller is chosen as married name, the wife can add her birth name Meyer and change her name to Müller- Meyer or Meyer-Müller. Please note that a child born into this marriage will bear only the family/married name chosen by the parents but not the hyphenated compound name. This is intended to avoid long chains of names. When getting married in a foreign country, it might be impossible to choose a common married name because many jurisdictions do not provide the same options as the German law does. Quite often, the foreign jurisdiction does not offer the same opportunities of choice to both of the spouses. Thus, both of the spouses will keep the names they had before the wedding under German law. 2

3 However, the German family law provides the option to determine the married name by a certified name declaration after the marriage took place. According to section 10 subs. 2 of the EGBGB (Civil Code Introduction Act), the spouses can choose between German law and the law of a country of which either one of the spouses is a citizen. If the spouses choose German law, their options are determined by the German family law. If the spouses decide to choose foreign law (i.e.. Canadian law if one spouse is a Candian citizen), this law will determine the options with regard to the name. Therefore, please consider carefully which law you want to choose. Please note, that if a different law than German law is chosen, you may have to submit a name declaration for each of your children (see below). Under Canadian law for example, the name chosen for the first child will not extend to all other children as under German law. The German civil registrars offices (Standesämter) therefore recommend to always chose German law if the favored name can be chosen according to German law. 3. How can I submit a name declaration? Typically in Germany, the spouses declare their choice of name to the German registrar while getting married. If no such declaration is given to the German registrar at the time of marriage, the name declaration can be submitted later but then has to be certified. This means that, if you decide to submit a name declaration outside of Germany, the signatures under this declaration have to be certified by a German embassy or consulate. In Canada signatures for name declarations can be signed at the Consulate General in Toronto and the Consulate General in Vancouver as well as the Honorary Consuls in Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax and Winnipeg. A declaration certified by a Canadian notary public is not sufficient. For submitting a name declaration, you and your spouse have to appear in person at the consulate. Please book an appointment with the consulate and bring the following documents (original + 2 copies of each): Valid passport or German ID-Card of both spouses (other photo-ids such as a driver s license are not accepted by the German registrars offices) marriage certificate birth certificates of both spouses if one of the spouses was married before: divorce decree (divorce decree absolute) if you have children together: birth certificates of all children if the German passport of either spouse was issued in Germany: deregistration ( Abmeldebestätigung ) from the municipality in Germany proof of residence status in Canada for both spouses (i.e. valid permanent resident card or visa or Canadian passport) 3

4 Please note that all birth and marriage certificates have to be presented in the socalled long form (registered form) which also contains the names of the involved person's parents! If you did not get married in Germany or Canada, please present an original marriage certificate which is either provided with a so-called apostille by the issuing country or legalized by a German embassy or consulate in the issuing country. 4. Name change after a divorce If you have a married name and this marriage was dissolved you can resume your birth name. However, if the divorce was not decreed by a German court it has to be recognized in Germany before it can achieve full validity under German jurisdiction. In order to have a Canadian divorce recognized in Germany, please submit the marriage certificate, the divorce judgment of the court and the final divorce decree (divorce decree absolute) in original. More information can be found on our website: 5. How long will the whole process take? Usually, processing the name declaration takes a few weeks, 6 months at most. In some cases, especially if Canadian law is chosen, this might extend even longer. Unfortunately, the Consulate has no influence on the duration of the procedure since the case is being handled in Germany. In case a Canadian divorce decree has to be recognized in Germany first, the procedure will take a few months. 6. When can I apply for a new passport under the new name? With submitting the name declaration your passport does not automatically become invalid. You can only apply for a passport under the new name once you have received the name change certificate issued by the competent German registrar's office. More information on how to apply for a passport can be found on our website: 4

5 II. Name of a Child 1. In which case will a name declaration be necessary for children? A name declaration for children will be needed if either the child s parents are married but have not chosen a common married name according to German law or the child s parents are not married to each other and/or the child s parents do not have joint custody. Please note that the child will automatically receive the parents married name (family name) as a birth name if the parents are married, have joint custody and have chosen a family name as their married name according to German law. In this case a name declaration is not necessary and even not possible under German law. 2. How can I submit a name declaration for a child? Name declarations have to be submitted to the competent registrar s office in Germany. Outside of Germany the declaration can be signed in front of a German consular officer who will certify the applicants signatures and forward the declaration to the competent registrar s office in Germany. The name declaration only becomes valid after the declaration is received and reviewed by the German registrar s office. For a fee the registrar s office will issue a name change certificate which you need in order to apply for a passport under the new name. Please keep this name change certificate and present it with all future passport applications. 3. What options do I have? If at least one of the child s parents is not (only) a German citizen, the parents will first have to decide which law shall be applicable regarding the child s name. They can choose the law of any country that either parent is a citizen of. If both parents are only German citizens, German law will be applicable automatically. In this case the parents do not have any choice of law. According to German law, if custody rests with only one parent and the parents (if married) did not choose a common married name, the child will automatically receive the name of the parent having sole custody (section 1617a BGB). Once the parents have chosen German law or if German law is applicable automatically, the parents can choose the name of either parent as the child s name. However, a compound name (consisting of married name and birth name of one parent) cannot be chosen as a child's family name (see above). A declaration made for one child will be binding for all other children of the same parents (section 1617 subs. 1 BGB). 5

6 4. Name of children after name change of the parents If the parents married name changes or if the parents choose a married name after the child is born, this name change only extends to the child automatically if the child is not yet 5 years old. For children 5 years and older a separate name declaration is necessary. Children 14 years and older have to make a declaration themselves and therefore have to appear at the consulate in person. 5. What is the procedure? In general the procedure for the name of a child is the same as mentioned above regarding the married name. The child s parents will have to appear in person at the consulate and sign the name declaration. If the child in question is 14 years or older it has to formally agree to the name declaration and therefore also appear in person. Please book an appointment with the Consulate and bring the following documents (original + 2 copies of each): Child s birth certificate If the parents are married: marriage certificate Birth certificates of all other children of the same parents Valid passport or German ID-Card of both parents (other photo-ids such as a driver s license are not accepted by the German registrars offices)child s birth certificate if the German passport of either parent was issued in Germany: deregistration ( Abmeldebestätigung ) from the municipality in Germany if the child is 14 years or older: valid passport or German ID-Card of the child proof of residence status in Canada for both spouses (i.e. valid permanent resident card or visa or Canadian passport) Please note that all birth and marriage certificates have to presented in the so-called long form (registered form) which also contains the names of the involved person's parents. 6. When can we apply for a passport for the child? If the child already has a birth name according to German law (i.e. because only one parent had custody at the time of birth, see above) and the parents wish to change this name, a passport or child s passport under the new name can only be applied for after the parents have received the name change certificate issued by the competent German registrar s office. Until then a passport or child s passport can only be issued under the name the child has first received automatically according to German law. If the child as of yet has no birth name according to German law and the name declaration is necessary to determine the child s name for the first time, a passport or child s passport can be applied for immediately after the name declaration has been submitted at the consulate including all necessary documentation. The passport or 6

7 child s passport will then include a remark that the determination of the last name is preliminary. This means that you will have to present the certificate of name/name change issued by the German registrar s office when applying for the child s next passport. More information on how to apply for a child s passport can be found on our website: III. Fees Signatures under name declarations have to be certified by the consular officer. The fee for this amounts to approx. 40 CAD (depending on the current exchange rate). In addition there is a fee of min. 15 CAD for the certification of photocopies as well as the fee charged by the competent registrar s office in Germany for the issuance of the certificate of name/name change. IV. Where can I get further information? Further information on childrens names can be found on the website of the registrar s office no. 1 in Berlin (Standesamt I Berlin): All information provided in this leaflet is based on the findings and experiences of the German Foreign Missions at the time when this leaflet was issued. We cannot guarantee the correctness and completeness of this information. 7