How to change your last name in your passport in 2021: documents, procedure

Who has the right to change name

Not all residents of the Russian Federation can change their personal data. The Constitution of the Russian Federation has outlined a number of criteria that the applicant must meet in order to change his last name/first name without any problems.

This:

Citizenship. Only citizens of the Russian Federation can declare a desire to change their last name. This function is not available to foreigners with a residence permit or stateless persons (stateless persons);
Legal capacity. A person must be aware of the consequences of his actions and be responsible for them. If a person is incapacitated, the application is drawn up for him by his legal representative;
Coming of age. A person can independently apply for a change of surname only upon reaching the age of 18. For children from 14 to 18 years old, changing the last name in the passport is possible with the written consent of the parents.

Important! You can change your child’s details even before receiving a passport. Parents must personally submit an application and supplement it with compelling reasons.

What surname can the initiator take?

It’s worth saying right away that you don’t have to choose a new option among your relatives. If the initiator has expressed a desire to take the surname of his biological father, then he will have to officially confirm their relationship. This may require DNA testing. It is necessary to provide to the authorities where the surname in the passport is changed, a document confirming his paternity.

If you plan to take the surname of a relative, you will also have to confirm the relationship and submit the corresponding document.

Often personal details change due to the fact that a girl gets married. Both spouses decide this issue between themselves. They can leave their last names or choose one - wife or husband. Perhaps they will decide to take a double surname. This cannot be denied to them.

But you need to remember that if one spouse already has a double surname, then it will no longer be possible to combine them into a common one.

Reasons for changing a surname

The government does not set restrictions on how many times you are allowed to change your name. The reasons may be as follows:

Divorce/marriage;
Adoption of a child;
Determination of paternity;
Refusal of one’s own surname in favor of another (for example, belonging to a guardian or close relative);
The applicant's own wishes.

The last point can be justified by various factors. For example:

Unpronounceable;
Inconsistency with first name/patronymic;
Religious/national beliefs;
Desire to have the same surname as children/parents;
The owner does not like the surname.

Not only girls decide to change this information after marriage, but also men. The applicant for a replacement has the right to indicate in the application any reason that he considers adequate. The application will be considered on an individual basis.

Important! To obtain the surname of the biological father (provided that another person is listed on the birth certificate), you will have to provide official confirmation of paternity.

Conditions for change

Typically, the civil registry office approves any version of the applicant’s new surname. It does not necessarily have to duplicate information about a close relative. Alternatively, you can use any last name you like.

But there are certain conditions for choosing it. According to the law, you cannot appropriate personal data:

Actors, famous artists, poets and writers;
Famous media persons;
Politicians;
Historical figures;
Names of services or goods;
Names of cities, regions, historical monuments.

In rare cases, civil servants may take the applicant’s side and assign him the surname Bulgakov or Yesenin. But, as a rule, it is possible to achieve such “indulgences” only for an additional fee and in a special manner.

Form and content of the application

The application form is established by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia dated November 13, 2017 No. 851.

The application must be completed by hand or using a computer.

Important! Abbreviations, grammatical errors, typos and corrections are not allowed! Otherwise, the documents will be returned to the applicant!

According to administrative regulations, the form must be printed on punched card paper, size 210×148 (half A4 sheet).

The application must indicate:

information about the applicant (full name, registration address, place of residence, date and place of birth, contacts);
series and number of the existing passport;
reasons for passport replacement;
previous information about the name (last name, first name, patronymic).

Important! The applicant’s signature is certified by the employee accepting the application, so you must sign in his presence.

Reason for name change

There are no legal reasons for changing the name; only the personal desire of the citizen matters. He has the right to change a name that is difficult to pronounce or dissonant to a more pleasant one. For example, a child whose parents gave him a rather strange name (Legend, Svyatozar, Cosmos and others) has the right to receive any other name upon reaching the age of 14.

At what age can you change

You can change your name at any age, subject to the following conditions:

Children under 10 years old can change their name with the consent of both parents and guardianship authorities
if the child is from 10 to 14 years old, then the consent of the minor citizen will be additionally required
When submitting documents for minors aged 14–18 years, only parental consent is required
upon reaching adulthood, only the desire of the citizen himself is necessary

Package of documents for changing your last name

For the procedure to be successful, you need to collect the main package and select additional papers for it.

The documents in the main package include:

Good reasons for changing your name, surname or patronymic

A citizen wants to bear a premarital surname if the marriage was dissolved or if the spouse died.
The applicant wants to have a common surname with the children if the spouse died and the surname was premarital.
Last name, first name or patronymic sound dissonant or difficult to pronounce.
A citizen wants to bear the surname or patronymic of the person who took part in the upbringing if the father or mother did not fulfill their duties. Or, on the contrary, he wants to take the surname of his biological parents if he was adopted and bore the surname of the adoptive parent.

This is an incomplete list of reasons on which you can change your name. But in general, everything else comes down to the above.

Where to go to change your name

Replacement of personal data occurs in two stages. At each of them, the applicant applies to different authorities:

Civil registry office at the place of registration. A citizen comes there with a request to change his last name, first name or patronymic. You can only come in person or apply through a legal representative if the applicant himself is a minor/incompetent. The same authority issues a certificate of replacement of personal information;
Main Department of Migration Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs or MFC. The applicant comes there with the received certificate to issue a passport with a new name. To save time and avoid standing in line, you can submit an application to replace your passport online on the State Services website.

Important! You can change your last name/first name/patronymic name only at the Civil Registry Office offices and only by applying yourself.

Where to apply

Depending on the type of document to be replaced, you will have to visit several government agencies:

To apply for a new passport - the Migration Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation.
To obtain SNILS - branch of the Pension Fund.
To obtain a TIN - a branch of the Federal Tax Service.
To replace a driver's license, contact the traffic police department.

There are also alternative options. You can write an application to change your last name after marriage at the MFC or submit it online through the State Services portal. In the second case, scanned copies of documents that would be necessary when visiting the registry office are attached to the application.

State duty when changing data

Replacing any personal data is a paid procedure. An applicant for a new surname or first name will have to pay a state fee in the amount of 1,600 rubles.

In addition, you will subsequently need to pay a state fee for replacing documents. It will cost:

300 rub. for issuing a passport;
200 rub. for printing out a birth certificate for a child;
2000 rub. for replacing a driver's license.

If a citizen intends to change his first or last name again, the price is set at 350 rubles. The third and subsequent procedures will cost the same amount.

Important! Money for changing personal information is transferred using the old full name. The recipient is the territorial civil registry office at the place of registration.

Documents for the apartment

Title documents for the apartment

The law does not provide for the obligation to re-register documents for an apartment when the surname of the copyright holder changes. In subsequent transactions, a document confirming the change of surname is sent for registration of the transaction along with other documents in order to avoid suspension and subsequent refusal of registration10. If you wish, you can submit information about the change of surname to the Unified Register of Real Estate Rights in advance.

Registration documents at the place of residence

The law does not provide for the procedure for making changes to registration documents, including the house register, in connection with a change of surname11. This usually happens automatically when you replace your passport. There is no liability for failure to make changes. If questions arise, a change of surname can be confirmed with a marriage certificate or similar document.

Documents related to housing and communal services

Legislation and standard contracts for the supply of energy resources do not provide for the obligation to notify a change of name of the management organization, the board of a partnership or cooperative (hereinafter referred to as the management company). However, the owner of the residential premises should still check the contract. It may stipulate the obligation to notify the management company about a change in surname, the procedure for such notification (term, list of documents) and the consequences of violating this condition. This is due to the fact that management companies must provide resource supply organizations with information about a change in the owner’s last name no later than 10 working days from the date of its change12.

Deadlines for passport replacement

Documents with invalid data must be replaced within a month after receiving a certificate of their change. If this rule is not followed, penalties will be applied to the violator.

These are cash payments in the amount of:

From 3000 to 5000 rub. in Moscow and St. Petersburg;
From 2000 to 3000 rub. in the regions.

The total amount is determined by the inspector individually. It depends on the time period during which the citizen walked with an expired passport.

Certificate of change of personal data

An application to change your name is considered within 30 days; in rare cases, the process can take up to 60 days. If the package of documents is incomplete, or the application is completed with errors, the citizen will be notified of this and asked to correct the mistake.

After consideration, the responsible civil registry officer makes a decision. If it is affirmative, the applicant is issued a certificate of change of personal data.

This is an important paper that may be required in the following cases:

When issuing new documents (passport, SNILS, driver’s license);
To prove ownership of real estate, during registration of which old data was indicated;
To enter into an inheritance. There are situations when the testator draws up a will, indicating the initial details of the heir. A certificate of change of personal data will confirm that the citizen with the new surname is the heir;
To confirm the relationship between parent and child. For example, in a situation where the child is registered under the father’s name, and the mother took her maiden name or the surname of her second husband.

Is it possible to change your last name in another city?

There are times when a person needs to change his passport, but he is far from his place of permanent registration. For example, I went to work or study. What to do in this case if for some reason he cannot get to his permanent place of residence? Such cases often occur, especially when it comes to marriage; many girls often leave home and find their other half there, with whom they want to enter into a marriage.

It is not necessary for a person to be at his place of registration. To change his last name, he can contact the nearest passport office, where he will tell about his problem. In this case, it is possible to obtain a new document at the place where the person is staying temporarily. But for this you will also need to write an application by filling out a form. It is imperative to tell why the person is not at the place of registration and cannot apply to the registry office.

Perhaps this is due to work, study, or it’s just a spontaneous move and you can’t go home at the moment. What is needed to change your last name? The entire package of documents required by the passport office representative. In this case, it will take more time to obtain a new passport; if after marriage, on average, it takes up to 14 days to issue a new document, then in this case it may take about a month. The main thing is not to delay submitting the application, because according to the law, no more than a month is allotted for this. If you do not meet the deadline, a fine may be charged, and since it is provided for by law, the use of an old passport may be equated to possession of a false document.

Why may they refuse to change your last name?

The Constitution does not list the grounds on which a person may be denied a new surname. Every citizen of the Russian Federation has the right to change personal information at his own discretion.

However, there are a number of reasons why representatives of the Civil Registry Office have the right not to fulfill a request to provide a certificate to replace personal information. This:

Submitting an incomplete package of papers or errors/blurs in the application;
Failure to pay state duty for replacement;
Inability to change the child’s data at the request of the guardianship authorities;
Reluctance of a minor to change his last name (if he is already 10 years old and his parents decide to submit an application without his knowledge);
Lack of parental consent to change the data of a child from 14 to 18 years old;
The presence of an abbreviation or numbers in the requested name.

If a negative decision is made on the application, the citizen will certainly be given a written justification and all submitted documents will be returned.

How to appeal a refusal

If the applicant for a new surname considers the refusal illegal, he has the right to appeal this decision. The algorithm will be like this:

The applicant receives an official written refusal from the registry office employee;
The first pre-trial claim must be written to a superior official. It can be submitted in person or sent through the State Services portal. The application is studied no longer than 10 days;
If the initial claim does not give the desired result, you will have to resort to the help of the court. Attached to the statement of claim are the documents that the applicant submitted to the registry office to change the data.

The court will consider the claim within 30 days from the date of filing. If there is such a need, the court may extend the period for studying the case by another 30 days. If the answer is positive, the civil registry office will have to replace the required data on the day the applicant provides the responsible officer with the court decision.

It is not difficult for a Russian citizen to change his first or last name. It is enough to select adequate data and contact the territorial registry office with an objective justification of the reason.

With the help of MFC and State Services (step by step)

To change your name through the multifunctional center (MFC) you must:

Prepare the package of documents presented earlier.
Make an appointment with a specialist. This can be done at the MFC branch, using the terminal, by phone or on the official website of the organization according to the following scheme:

Login to the site (can be done after registration or using the data from the State Services portal) and select the subsection “Sign up for the MFC”

choosing a center branch in the city

selecting a service located in the section “Repeated certificate of civil registration”

selecting the date and time of visiting the center

Submission of documents.
Documents receiving.

Recently, it has become possible to submit documents to change your name online using your personal account on the Public Services service.

The procedure is carried out in the following sequence:

login to your personal account. If access to your personal account is not previously opened, you will need to register and confirm the details of the created account.

choice, located in the “Family and Children” section (currently the service is not available in all regions of the Russian Federation)

filling out an application similar to a written form

choosing a place, date and time for personal submission of documents.