OldJuddian

My daughter's passport renewal was just refused by the Durham office.

"For security purposes, we cannot issue a British passport if you hold a passport
(British or foreign), travel or ID document in a different name."

So I wish had ignored the part about sending full copies of other passports. In this case it was a Japanese passport.

As it happens everyone in my family, apart from myself, have different legal names in the countries that they hold passports for mainly down to how middle names are treated. In this case she has two middle names in the UK but only one in Japan. It's the missing 2nd middle name that is causing the problem.

I find it ironic that for a British Citizen born in the UK is not able to get a UK passport due to how another country interprets the name.

Particularly annoying is their opening line "Unfortunately you did not enclose all necessary supporting documents."
Oh yes I did Everything asked for was submitted.

Now I've sent the long birth certificate and lets see how this ends.

BritInParis

Do the surnames in the Japanese and British passports match?

OldJuddian

Yes, first 'name' is the same and the surname is the same. The core problem is no middle names in Japan, so

on UK Birth certificate & UK passport (not using real names)
First Name: Amy
Middle Names: Beth Carol
Surname: Down

On Japanese passport
First Name: Amy Beth
Middle Names: <There are no middle names in Japan>
Surname: Down

(We had advice back when she was born to add a middle name on the end of the first name for the Japanese registration, otherwise she would have been just Amy Down in this example)

or in one line
UK: Amy Beth Carol Down
Japan: Amy Beth Down

So the names that appear are identical, but there is one middle name missing on the Japanese passport.

Hopefully this ends up as being approved after supervisor review. At least their response time has been quick today. Waiting on the supervisor judgement.

Tr1boy

My wife had somewhat similar issues with her Australian and British passports (and driving licences etc) because the western nations treat her Korean first name as two names (so I guess it's the opposite issue).

We make sure we fill out the 'also known as' box on any forms which seems to suffice. It can be tricky matching things up though.

OldJuddian

Thanks for the advice, that makes sense.

I heard this morning that the passport will be issued and it will have an official note that her Japanese passport has a "different" name.

scot47

The attitude is often - "This is way it is done in Britain so everyone else has to do it the same way." There is not much awareness of other cultures here !

Novocastrian

You could substitute "Britain" with any of France, Canada, Germany, USA and probably a large number of others.

Pulaski

Or in this case "Japan" because it is Japan's refusal to recognise middle names that has caused the problem.

Novocastrian

Good point. I listed only the countries in which I've lived.

scot47

Well of course the foreigners are to blame !

Pulaski

I knew you'd eventually come around to my way of thinking!

Novocastrian

Not mine though. I'm the only Internationalist in the Village.