Am I eligible to change my name in Australia?
Legal name change certificates are issued by Births, Deaths and Marriages (BDM) in the state where you usually reside. There are separate fees payable directly to BDM. Whilst the law varies slightly from state to state, you are eligible to change your name if you fit into one of the following circumstances:
- born in Australia
- born overseas and have resided in your home state for the past 12 months immediately prior to your application. If you reside in NSW you need to prove 3 years of residency.
- you have Australian Citizenship or permanent residency
- you have a protective order to protect you and/or your children from domestic violence
The law for most states requires you to provide one of the following documents:
- Australian Citizenship certificate
- Proof of permanent residency from Department of Immigration and Citizenship
- New Zealand citizenship certificate together with passport (read our special information for New Zealanders)
- New Zealand birth certificate
If you do not have one of the above documents you may not be eligible to change your name in Australia. To find out more, including if you are eligible to change your name in Australia, you should contact BDM for your home state.
I am eligible. What do I do next?
You need to determine that you will not have any problems with Australian immigration or your country of citizenship as a result of changing your name. Easy Name Change cannot make this assessment for you, nor do we provide any information on dealing with the immigration department in our name change kits. We recommend you contact Australian Immigration or your immigration consultant for further information. You may also contact your embassy for information on changing your foreign passport by showing an Australian legal name change certificate.
Once you have made your assessment and have decided to change your name you will need to complete a legal name change application form, provided by BDM in your home state. Vic and NSW have an online application that can be done in under an hour. If you are completing a paper form for the other states it often takes a week or two to finish the application and gather the necessary supporting documents needed. You will need to pay the legal name change application fee directly to BDM. This varies from state to state and ranges from $131.50 (Vic) to over $270 (SA).
We provide instructions and links for legal name change applications in all states. If your state has a form we can include this in your kit. Simply choose ‘legal name change’ for your state where prompted from our list of companies.
How come Easy Name Change does not provide name change advice for immigration?
Immigration is a complex area of the law and Easy Name Change is not immigration specialists. As each situation is unique and some are quite complex we do not provide any further information beyond what appears on this page.
If you have any further questions regarding your situation we recommend you speak to an immigration professional, the Australian Immigration Department or your embassy. Contact details are provided at the end of this page.
Can I use an Easy Name Change kit if I am a non-citizen?
Once you have determined that you will not have any complications with Australian immigration or your country of citizenship, an Easy Name Change kit is a massive time saver. The process of changing your name with all the various companies is the same regardless if you are a citizen or non-citizen.
Our kits provide the information and any associated forms for the legal name change If you purchase the certified kit we will review the form, verify your supporting documents and lodge for you! All customers receive personalised name change notifications which are pre-addressed and ready to send to your various companies. All you need to do is add supporting documents then sign and send! Don’t have a printer? Consider buying the Print & Post kit or the Certified kit to save the most time.
What about my name in my home country?
With passports issued by over 150 countries, we are not able to even provide general information on what implications may arise as a result of your passport being under a different name from your name in Australia. You should speak with your embassy to understand more. There may be a situation where you need to change names in 2 countries.
Booking international flights under a new name
A strong warning: be careful when booking international travel! You should only book flights under the name that currently appears in your passport. If you are planning on changing your passport before you fly we still recommend you book the flights under your current name as there may be a time delay or complication in processing your application. You can have airline tickets reissued in your new name if you provide a statutory declaration and evidence of your prior name and current name (your old and new passports). However, airlines will not let you change the name on your ticket to any name that has not appeared on a previous or current passport.
