Sean asks:
Bride has officially changed her name. Has new birth certificate with new name on it. Her passport still has her old name on it. Can I accept her passport as photo ID for completion of NOIM?
I’ve written before about what to do if the names differ on the documents used for date and place of birth (e.g. birth certificate) and for proof of identity (e.g. driver’s licence). However in the previous post, the party had changed her name by usage (and therefore had a driver’s licence in her new name) but never bothered to change it formally (so didn’t have a birth certificate in her new name). This situation is the other way around.
This bride is in a much simpler position. She’s changed her name formally and therefore has a new birth certificate or change of name certificate, she just hasn’t gotten around to changing the name on her photo ID yet. Understandably, she was reluctant to pay to change the name on her licence given she would want to change it again after the wedding when she planned to take her husband’s name by marriage.
However in this case, there is a simple solution. First, a reminder of why we are sighting photo ID at all. The Marriage Act 1961 requires celebrants to see a birth certificate or passport as proof of the party’s date and place of birth. If the document shown to you is a birth certificate, how do you know it belongs to the person sitting in front of you (i.e. how do you satisfy yourself as to their identity, as required by the Act)? The easiest way is to see a form of photo ID with the same name as the birth certificate, and a photo of the person sitting in front of you.
When you change your name legally through Births, Deaths and Marriages, you are issued with a new birth certificate (if you were born in Australia) or a change of name certificate (if you were born overseas), “showing your name at birth and your new name. A history of the changes will also be shown on the back of the certificate.”
Therefore, the document that Sean’s bride shows him to prove her date and place of birth (her new birth certificate), will show her name at birth (which presumably is the one on her passport and driver’s licence) and her new name (which is the one she wants to use on her marriage paperwork). As long as Sean can match the photo ID with one of the names on her birth certificate, he’s good to go!
