BRITISH NEWLYWED DENIED PASSPORT

From 'I do' to 'We don't do that': UK jobsworths' bureaucratic blockade stops Ann from taking husband Jeffrey's surname

GETTING married in Spain does not normally mean a change of surname, although it's easy enough to do if you want. Spanish women never do, but other nationalities just need to show a passport with their married name for it to be updated on all their records.

When Ann Mather became Ann Sale, she duly applied for a new passport – but has been knocked back.

Not just by UK authorities, but also by the Canadian passport office – so she cannot become 'Mrs Sale' in any of her three countries.

Ann told CBNews all about her frustrating fight against thick wads of red tape and 'not my department' responses to what should have been a simple return-of-post transaction, but which has turned out to be like a hospital refusing to deliver a baby unless the mum shows a birth certificate whilst refusing to give a birth certificate until the baby's delivered.

A second chance at happiness

Ann moved to the UK from her native Canada in 1963 and, for 31 years, has held joint nationality and two passports.

“I rarely use the Canadian one,” she admits.

“Only for occasional visits to the USA, because that way I don't need a visa.”

She was married to Robert Mather when she got her first British passport, and they moved to Spain together in 2004, becoming residents ' on the basis that we were UK citizens and therefore within the EU'.

Four years after losing Bob and grappling with her grief, Ann realised she was ready to live and to feel again: she met and fell in love with Jeffrey Sale, and saw her future reappear in front of her.

They married in November and, ready to embrace this new and happy twist of fate after so much pain, Ann wants to take her new husband's surname.

This involves a bit of a paper trail in any country, and in Spain means amending your NIE card and residence records, driving licence, SIP card, and tax documents – but can be done without much fuss if you're a foreigner just by showing your renamed passport.

So the new Mrs Ann Sale duly applied for a fresh one from the UK, sending back her current – and still in-date – passport along with her marriage certificate.

Sounds easy enough.

“Fell on deaf ears”

But the UK passport office has refused to give her a new document.

“I have to change my Canadian passport to reflect my new surname, and also send at least one other official or legal document confirming I'm now Ann Sale,” says Ann.

“Of course, I haven't got any official documents with ' Ann Sale' on them, because I can't change any paperwork in Spain without a passport showing that's what my name is.

“I explained that to the passport office, but it fell on deaf ears.”

Ann guessed she could change her legal documents in Spain if she showed a Canadian passport with her new surname instead of a British one, but this was a risky move: her UK passport shows she is an EU citizen, but if she was officially considered Canadian, her residence rights could be affected.

“However, I couldn't see any alternative, so I contacted the Canadian embassy in Madrid,” she says.

“You'll just have to move to Canada”

And she got the same answer from the Canadian passport office as she had from the UK: without an official document from Spain with her new name on it, she will not get a passport to show it.

Yet without the passport, she cannot get an official document either: a bureaucratic catch-22 where neither the chicken nor the egg talks to each other.

“The lady in the Canadian embassy said I should fly to Canada, remain there until such time as I qualified for a Canadian driving licence, and apply for this as Ann Sale, since I could do that without needing a passport. Very funny!” says an exasperated Ann, who has no desire to spend months living in Canada and away from her home and husband in Spain.

“I asked whether there's another way around this, pointing out that the wording in their policy says this is 'normally' the case – and mine is not a 'normal' set of circumstances,” Ann continues.

“I've offered to submit a sworn affidavit or any other such document as may legally confirm my intention to adopt the name of Ann Sale in all matters, but the answer is no: 'rules are rules', apparently!”

'Legal right' to hold passport in married name

British and Canadian subjects have the legal right to hold a passport bearing their new surname after this has changed through a marriage recognised at law.

Yet via this ongoing vicious bureaucratic circle, Ann's right has been breached.

And without a passport, she is blocked from exercising her lawful right to officially adopt her husband's surname.

Just to further confound the matter, Ann's appeal to the UK passport office in Belfast has been rejected.

“I've replied yet again, sending yet another copy of a solicitor's letter confirming I cannot change any official documents in Spain without a passport in my new name, and asked for my appeal to be referred upwards to the Director-General in line with their own complaints-handling policies,” Ann says.

“But I've just had a reply telling me they've sent my case back to the passport office instead! Why on earth have they done that? It's absolutely ridiculous!” she storms.

“This truly is bureaucracy gone crazy, isn't it?”