Canadutch
Today I am FOADing the Canadian Embassy in The Netherlands, and possibly the Dutch influence on them. How friggin’ hard can it be to change your surname when you get married?! I mean, seriously!! These people make me insane!
I’ve been trying to sort out a new passport because we are going back to Canada in October on holiday. My old passport expired about 2 years ago and I haven’t bothered to renew it. I never really needed it until now so it kept slipping my mind.
I called the Canadian Embassy in Den Haag because I had to find out exactly what documents they needed and while I had them on the phone I asked what was needed for a married name change.
The lady told me that in order to change the name on my passport to say my married name instead of my maiden name I had to provide them with a photo identification with my married name on it. Sounds simple enough… or so you’d think.
The problem is, any time I’ve tried to get any ID’s with my married name on it, they tell me that I need to have that name on my passport! So in order to get my name changed on my passport, I have to have it changed on a photo ID, but to have it changed on a photo ID it needs to be changed on my passport.
So now I can’t figure out how the heck I’m meant to change my name? Why does the simplest thing have to be so damn difficult?!!
For a minute I was about to slip into one of those ‘This fucking country and their….’ rants but this is the Canadian embassy with Canadian rules. So I can’t even blame the Dutch for this one. UNLESS it has something to do with Dutch rules they have to follow, I bet that’s it. I bet it’s not that hard to change your name on your passport in Canada. I’m going to investigate!
also, they have new regulations for your passport picture as far as: face direction, dimensions, don’t smile and some more. I had a hard time finding a photographer or camerashop in my town [80.000 pop.]that was willing to take my picture. Dutch and European regulations are more strickter yet, you can’t even wear glasses, you have to take them off and have your picture taken without them.
so if you are planning to have a facelift, think about it, you may need your old face back!
Wew have the same problem. The issue is that if you are married in the Netherlands, the wife cannot not legally take on the surname of the groom. In all official documents the wife will always keep her own name in the Netherlands. Also the dutch marriage certificate still has both names on it. In order to get your name changed in Canadian passport you need to present a marriage certificate which indicates that you wish to take on your husbands surname. So we are stuck in a circle. The Netherlands do not allow you to change you name and Canada will not awknowledge it unless your marriage certificate demonstrates it. In addition, Canada has eliminated the possibility to add a page in the passport which states that you are married to a person with a different last name. Now we have a little on on the way who will have a different name from his Mom and undoubtedly this will raise issues when mom and kid travel…….
Yup. This be one of the main reasons I am NOT changing my name.
Will they let you change the pic ID if you show your marriage license? That’s what I had to do for something I needed changed.
These days it is as much a pain to change your name to the married name when you live here.
I think the first comment is your best bet.
Bureaucracy, gotta love it.
Good luck indeed. When we moved from Canada to the Netherlands, we could not register as a family unless we had our marriage licence which was issued in Canada properly notarized. So my wife and 2 kids registered as 4 individuals living under 1 roof.
I mentioned to them that my children, born in Canada, were written into my Dutch passport by the Dutch Embassy in Toronto, but this was not good enough to recognize us as a family, but in about 20 minutes they issued both of my children their own personal Dutch passport. Go figure :)
Geez. Good luck. There must be a secret formula somewhere.
Hm… seems like you should be able to show up with your old id’s using your maiden name, and your marriage certificate showing your married name, for the passport renewal. Somehow that has to work since that would be the situation everyone is in when they need to update their name.
Hi Breigh,
I came across your website via Stitched In Holland. I am also from Nova Scotia (Halifax), married to a Dutch man (from Noordwijk), and have been living in The Netherlands (Wassenaar) for the last 10 years.
Would you believe one of my neighbors on the street I live on hails from Mahone Bay?
Anyway, regarding your official name change, when I married my husband, the only way I could change my name on my passport was to first apply for a new social security card with my married name added to it. In order to do that, I had to send our original marriage certificate to the Dutch Embassy in Ottawa, have it certified, and then send it, along with my application form for a new social insurance card to the Head Office Of the Registrar General in Thunder Bay.
Once I received my new social insurance number, I could then apply to have my married name added to my passport.
As for your FOADing of the Canadian Embassy in the Hague… I couldn’t agree with you more! Since they started renovating the building in 2006, the staff members (which have the collective intelligence of a herd of sheep) have been moved to a minute office beside the actual embassy, and it seems to me that they have not updated their files containing vital information for Canadians living here.
I was just there yesterday, and the woman from Consular Affairs who “helped” me couldn’t even provide me with the proper details of the information I need to supply in order to get a long copy of my birth certificate.
I had to go back twice, in person, before they finally provided me with the correct application form!
Anyhow, if you are any where near as frustrated as me, might I suggest that you write a formal complaint and send it to: The Department of Foreign Affairs, Consular Affairs Bureau (CNP)
125 Sussex Drive
Ottawa, Canada K1A 0G2
I know too many people who have been given the run-around by the Canadian Embassy and it’s about damn time that their staff were held accountable for their lack of professionalism and general idiocy.
BTW, if you’re in search of some food from home, Restaurant Mondani is nice place for dinner in Lochem. http://www.mondani.nl
Canada Food sells some divine ice wine from Pelee Island and and Mission Hill:
http://www.Canadafood.nl
And finally, a friend of mine from Montreal imports Maple Syrup products in Leiden: http://www.mapleabroad.nl
Cheers!