Change your name in your passport

The name in your passport

The name in your passport can be:

• your registered birth name
• your married or civil union name
• the name on your New Zealand citizenship certificate
• your name changed by deed poll or statutory declaration.

The name in your passport cannot be an unregistered name, such as a nickname.

Changing your name

Details and documents you need to include

You need to tell us:

• your previous name and your new name
• the date of your name change, and
• the reason for your name change.

If you changed your name in New Zealand

You do not need to provide any supporting documents if you were born:

• in New Zealand, or
• outside of New Zealand and you registered your name change in New Zealand after 25 January 2009.

You will need to provide the document that shows detail of your name change if you:

• were born outside of New Zealand, and
• registered your name change in New Zealand before 25 January 2009.

If you apply online, you will need to upload a scanned copy of the document during the application process.

If you apply using a paper application form, you will need to send us the original document.

If you changed your name outside New Zealand

You need to provide us the official document confirming your name change. This document must be translated into English if it is in another language.

Document translations

If you apply online, you will need to upload a scanned copy of the document during the application process.

If you apply using a paper application form, you will need to send us the original document.