Guaranteed acceptance or your money backDispatched the same working dayAccepted by HM Passport Office, DVLA & HMRC
Drafted by paralegals since 2000
Ordering from abroad
You can order one if the UK is still your permanent home and you are only away for a while, to study, work or travel. GOV.UK rules a Deed Poll out for anyone permanently resident overseas, so once you have settled in another country, its rules apply instead. If ours suits you, we post it to you abroad for £14.99 or to a UK address, and you sign it where you are, with your witnesses watching.
It turns on where your permanent home is, not on where you happen to be today or which passport you hold.
Studying abroad, on a posting for work, travelling, or between homes. Order online, choose where we post it, and sign it wherever you are.
Order it and sign it before you go, while the UK is still your home. Your new name takes effect the moment you sign it in front of your witnesses.
Not open to you, according to GOV.UK, whose guidance excludes anyone living permanently overseas. Your name changes the way the country you live in provides, and a British passport follows from that.
Not sure which describes you? Ask a paralegal before you order. The Deed Polls Online handbook, our sister site, explains the rule for people living outside the UK, including what Britons settled abroad do instead.
The checkout asks whether you were born in the United Kingdom, and the answer sets one phrase in the opening words of your deed. Both versions are equally valid; the question is about the wording, not about whether you qualify.
One address does two jobs. The address you give at the checkout is printed in those opening words, and it is also where we post your Deed Poll. If you have it sent abroad, your overseas address is the one your deed will show; send it to a UK address and that is the one printed.
The opening of your deed, after your names and address
“… a Citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies by birth do hereby:”
“… a Resident of the United Kingdom and Colonies do hereby:”
Either way it is drafted, checked and posted the same working day you order. You pick the post at the checkout.
£14.995 to 7 working days
Choose International at the checkout and type in your overseas address in full; a postcode is optional. It travels by Royal Mail’s international service, and our dispatch email tells you it is on its way. How far it can be followed depends on the country it is going to.
Most countries can be chosen at the checkout; a few cannot.
From £2.991 to 5 working days
To your UK home, or to family or a friend who can send it on. The UK services are 2nd Class, 1st Class, Tracked at £6.99 and Tracked & Signed at £9.99, and that UK address is the one printed on your deed.
The rules are the same in any country. Each witness is an adult who is independent of you and is in the room, watching you sign in ink, and then signs and writes their own name and address. Your Deed Poll has a space for each of two, and we recommend using both.
Neither GOV.UK nor HM Passport Office’s guidance says anything about a witness’s nationality or the country they live in, so a colleague, a neighbour or a friend where you are staying will do. A video call will not.
For use in the UK it needs no notary, consulate or stamp. What HM Passport Office’s staff look for is your signature in both names, a witness, ink and a date, wherever it was signed. Finding a witness.
Where each signature goes: signing and witnessing.
Apply direct with HM Passport Office: from abroad, through GOV.UK’s overseas service. Its staff guidance asks applicants outside the UK who have changed their name for extra evidence, depending on the country. We do not help with passport applications, and nobody else needs to.
A foreign bank, registry or employer may want a notarised copy, an apostille, or both. The UK Legalisation Office charges £45 for a paper apostille. The handbook explains notaries, apostilles and legalisation, and our own guide covers when a notary is needed.
DVLA wants the original for your driving licence, and HM Passport Office for a passport applied for here. Banks, employers and many others take a certified copy, so several can run at once. Who to tell, in order.
Married abroad and taking your spouse’s surname? A marriage certificate from abroad may do the job without a Deed Poll. The handbook covers changing your name after marrying abroad, and when a Deed Poll is still the simpler route.
Only if the UK is still your permanent home and you are abroad for a while, for example to study or work. GOV.UK's guidance excludes anyone permanently resident overseas; if you have settled in another country, you change your name the way that country provides. Who can use one.
Yes. Choose International at the checkout: it costs £14.99 and takes 5 to 7 working days, by Royal Mail's international service, and we post it the same working day you order. Whether it can be tracked depends on the country. You can also have it sent to a UK address, which is then the address printed on your deed. Delivery options.
Yes. Each witness must be an adult who is independent of you and is with you in person, watching you sign in ink. The guidance says nothing about a witness's nationality or where they live, so a colleague, a neighbour or a friend where you are staying will do. Your deed has a space for each of two, and we recommend using both.
Not for use in the UK: HM Passport Office's staff look for your signature in both names, a witness, ink and a date, not an apostille. An authority in another country may ask for a notarised copy or an apostille before it accepts one, so ask it first. When you need a notary.
The one you give at the checkout, which is also where we post it. Have it sent to your overseas address and that address is printed in the deed's opening words; send it to a UK address, such as family who will forward it, and the UK address is printed instead.
Something else? Ask a paralegal and we will answer, usually the same working day.
Apply online in about five minutes. Your Deed Poll is hand-drafted, checked and posted the same working day, to you abroad or to a UK address, and guaranteed to be accepted.
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