Well, many people have told me that changing your name after marriage can be a year-long process, and a few have told me that it is really easy.
At first, upon initial website surfing, I thought it was going to be a real hassle, but once I ordered a marriage certificate from Vital Statistics, everything was a piece of cake. Oh, and you will need your birth certificate too.
1. Order a marriage certificate from Vital Stats. It will take about a month to get, so if you are rearing to get your name changed, do this shortly after your wedding. You will need to show this certificate to all services for a name change, so bring it with you!
2. Head down to your local Autopac Agent, and for $10, they will issue a new driver's license. All you need to do is show them your marriage certificate and state what you would like your new last name to be.
3. Call Revenue Canada. All you need to do is tell them your new name. Piece of cake!
4. Hit up a Service Canada building. Bring your marriage and birth certificate. They will update their database and you will get a new S.I.N. card in the mail. I got mine in 2 weeks.
5. Contact Manitoba Health for a new health card. You can either go to the downtown location or if you are lucky, the Service Canada location you visit (see 4.) will be able to fax over your name change to the main MB Health location.
6. If you plan on traveling, remember to get a new passport with your new identity. You will need to go through the normal process of filling out paperwork, get a guarantor to sign, and will need to provide your birth certificate. You also need proof of identity, so make sure you have already changed over your driver's license into your new name.
7. Don't forget to let your bank, work, phone company, visa, etc. know of your name change. I know that it is getting pretty confusing signing two names while I wait for my visa to come in the mail!
So, really, I've found changing my name to be fairly straight forward, once I got the marriage certificate. Hope this helps out someone. :)
1 comment:
...strange things to do in Canada / Manitoba... here in Germany it's totally different.
However, the more difficult thing about changing my last name was to get used to be called with it. And at work, there were both types of people: those you only used my new name from the first day on, and others who would use my old name still for years!
Looking forward to seeing you in spring, Mrs Maas!
Claudia
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