There are many different reasons why you may chose to legally change your name, perhaps you just got married, or you prefer it for a professional reason. Regardless of the reason, you need to change your name on legal documentation, including your passport. There are steps you will need to take when conducting a passport name change.

You are required by law to change your name on your legal documents at any point that you change your name. A passport name change is necessary as well, as part of this process. When doing this you will need to verify with proper documentation that you have changed your name.

You may also want to hold onto some of your original documentation for future purposes. In some states if you relocate and change your license you will need to prove who you were and who you are. This will involve showing documentation that expresses the name change, such as marriage certificates and divorce documents.

Completing a passport name change can be done in different ways. The method used will be based on how long you have had your passport. This length of time also affects the fee for the name change on the document.

If it has been less than a year since you first received your passport, you will not need to pay a fee and the application you need will be different than if you have had your passport for a longer period of time. The proper form in this case is the DS-5504 form. This form will need to completely filled out and mailed in. You may also be required to provide two photos that are recent and meet passport specifications.

The DS-5504 form can be mailed into the National Passport Processing Center. In this case there is not a fee for processing the passport name change. You will need to mail this form and the proper documentation to PO Box 90107 in Philadelphia, PA, 19190-0107.

If you have had your passport in excess of a year, then you will need to handle your passport name change in a different manner. DS-82 is the correct form for this process. This form will require a fee and also two recent and correctly sized color pictures. This form gets mailed to the address indicated on the application.

Be sure to provide certified copies of your marriage certificate or name change document. Notarized Photostatted copies are not accepted. If you don’t have the proper paperwork then you will need to acquire it before sending in the paperwork for the name change.

In the case that you do not have this documentation, you can obtain your documents at the county clerk’s office in the county where you were married. Keep in mind that the typical processing period for a American passport name change is 3 to 4 weeks. It you need this sooner you can pay a fee to speed it up a week or so. You may also contact the Congressional office in your state to get the pasport process expedited.

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