You do not need to be an Australian citizen to legally change your name in Australia.
If you were born overseas, whether you can register a legal name change will depend mainly on where you live and the eligibility rules of your state or territory Births, Deaths and Marriages registry.
For example, NSW allows overseas-born adults to apply after living continuously in NSW for three years. Queensland allows overseas-born adults to apply if they currently live in Queensland and have lived there for the previous 12 months.
The rules vary around Australia, so always check the requirements in your own state or territory before applying.
If you were born in Australia, you generally apply through Births, Deaths and Marriages in the state or territory where your birth was registered.
If you were born overseas, you generally apply through the registry in the state or territory where you currently live, provided you meet its residency and eligibility requirements.
For example:
NSW specifically confirms that citizenship status itself does not determine eligibility for a name change.
For the general application process, costs and restrictions, see our guide to How to Legally Change Your Name in Australia.
The exact documents depend on your state or territory, but overseas-born applicants will generally need to prove their identity, place of birth and Australian residence.
You may be asked for documents such as:
NSW, for example, requires overseas-born applicants to provide identity documents as well as evidence of three consecutive years of NSW residence.
Documents issued in another language may also need to meet translation requirements.
Rather than relying on a general document list, follow the current checklist supplied with your state’s application.
If you are not an Australian citizen, registering your new name with BDM may only be one part of the process.
Before applying, consider how your new name will affect your:
An Australian change-of-name certificate does not automatically change records held by another country.
Your home country decides what evidence it will accept to change the name on its passport and other official records.
For that reason, it can be worth checking with your embassy, consulate or passport authority before registering your Australian name change.
Changing your name with Births, Deaths and Marriages does not mean your immigration records are automatically updated.
The Department of Home Affairs asks visa holders to notify it when relevant personal or passport details change. If you receive a new passport, the new passport details need to be linked to your existing visa or visa application. Home Affairs currently recommends doing this through ImmiAccount where available.
This is especially important before travelling.
Your passport, visa records and travel booking need to identify you correctly, so don’t assume that changing one record automatically changes the others.
Your Australian legal name change does not automatically change your foreign passport.
The country that issued your passport determines what evidence it requires before issuing a passport in your new name.
Depending on the country, your Australian change-of-name certificate may be accepted, or you may need to complete an additional process in your home country.
Check with the relevant passport authority, embassy or consulate before assuming your Australian certificate will be enough.
Easy Name Change cannot advise on the immigration, citizenship or passport laws of another country.
Yes, but be careful about timing.
The name on an international booking should match the passport you intend to use for the trip.
If you already have international travel booked, think carefully about whether you want to change your passport before or after travelling. Updating your passport can also mean updating the passport details attached to your Australian visa.
Airlines have their own rules for changing passenger names, so don’t assume an existing ticket can simply be transferred into your new name.
Once BDM approves your name change, you can begin updating your Australian records.
These may include:
Your Australian visa, foreign passport and overseas government records should be handled separately because different authorities control those records.
Yes.
Once your legal name change has been registered, updating your everyday Australian records is largely the same administrative task whether you are an Australian citizen or not.
Easy Name Change saves you from researching the name change process for every organisation individually. We provide personalised instructions, forms, letters and emails for the Australian organisations you need to notify.
Easy Name Change has been helping people through name changes since 2008 and has helped more than one million people worldwide.
You should manage your foreign passport and immigration records directly with the relevant government authorities, but Easy Name Change can make updating the rest of your Australian records much faster and easier.
Start by checking whether you are eligible to register a legal name change with Births, Deaths and Marriages in your state or territory.
If you hold a foreign passport or Australian visa, also check what you will need to do to update those records.
Once your legal name change has been approved, you can then work through the Australian organisations that need to be notified.