Names on British and Russian passports: why they may not match and what to do about it

Yelena McCafferty
3 hours ago
3 min read

A Russian version of this article is also available

If you hold both British and Russian citizenship, you may have already come across an unexpected problem: your name may be spelt differently in your passports. In the past, it was quite common to hold a UK passport in your married name and a Russian passport in your maiden name, and no one batted an eyelid. However, since 2015, the UK has taken a much stricter approach to names when issuing British passports. If you are a national of more than one country, you are expected to use one name consistently across all passports.

Changing your name in a Russian passport

To change your name in your Russian passport, you do not need to travel to Russia. You can apply for a change of name certificate through a Russian consulate. Once it has been issued, you can apply for a new international passport in your new name. Your internal Russian passport can then be updated the next time you travel to Russia.

The good news is that the UK Passport Office can issue a new passport once you provide a certified translation of a receipt from the Russian consulate confirming that your new passport application is being processed.

When the difference is just transliteration

In some cases, there is no need to change your Russian passport at all. The difference in names may simply be due to transliteration. Russian passport authorities currently use transliteration rules set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

This was not always the case. For example, a name previously spelt Maria will now appear as Mariia in a Russian passport, which creates an inconsistency between documents.

According to UK Passport Office guidance, caseworkers will not normally require you to change your passport in such cases. Instead, they will add an observation note: “THE HOLDER HAS A [country] [passport/travel document/identity document], NUMBER [number], ISSUED ON [date], IN THE NAME OF [name]. THIS DOCUMENT IS DUE TO EXPIRE / EXPIRED ON [date].”

Patronymics

A similar observation may be added if your Russian passport includes a patronymic (in Cyrillic only) which is not present in your British passport. In such cases, according to the instruction for caseworkers, the Passport Office will independently transliterate the patronymic from Cyrillic using the same ICAO rules and write the same observation as quoted above.

Do you need to declare your Russian passport?

Yes. You are legally required to declare it. The official guidance states: “Although we do not tell other countries if a customer has dual nationality, we still ask them to declare any valid or expired passports when they apply for a British passport.”

Do you need a deed poll?

Some people go to unnecessary lengths, aligning the spelling of their name with a Russian passport through a UK deed poll. In many cases, this is not required. If you want to use a preferred spelling (for example, Maria instead of Mariia) in your Russian passport, at the time of application you can provide evidence of that spelling being used in official documents, such as:

previous passports
marriage or divorce certificates
residence permits

Can you avoid an observation in your UK passport?

Given all of the above, you may wonder whether it is possible to avoid having an observation in your British passport when names are not aligned. UK Passport Office guidance states that exceptions may be considered where an observation could put the holder at risk. Examples include:

travelling to Russia with a passport showing Ukrainian citizenship or travelling from Russia to Ukraine showing Russian citizenship;
travelling between countries with political sensitivities (e.g. Israel and certain Arab countries)

In such cases, you may be asked to provide a written statement explaining the risk. The Passport Office will then consider whether the observation can be omitted. When preparing such a statement, it is worth noting that, according to its own official guidance, the UK does not share information about a person’s dual nationality with other countries.

Certified translation available

If you need a certified translation for passport or name alignment purposes, feel free to get in touch with us at enquiry@talkrussian.com. We also assist with expert letters required for the UK Passport Office with explanations of differences in spellings in Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Moldovan passports.