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Change Your Name

How to change your name in India

Indian law changes nobody's name on its own. A marriage certificate is the evidence most offices take for a surname taken on marriage, a divorce decree is the evidence for dropping one, and any other change — a new first name, a whole new name, a husband taking his wife's surname — is made by your own affidavit, a notice in a newspaper and a notification in the Gazette of India. This guide starts where most people start, a marriage registered here, then covers a marriage that ends, a change for any other reason, and a marriage celebrated abroad, and gives the offices in the order they ask for each other's paperwork.

After marriage

If you married in India, the marriage is already a record. A Hindu, Buddhist, Jain or Sikh marriage is registered under section 8 of the Hindu Marriage Act 1955 with the Registrar of Marriages under your state's rules; a civil marriage, and a marriage between people of different faiths, is solemnised and registered by the Marriage Officer under the Special Marriage Act 1954; Christian, Parsi and Muslim marriages have their own registers and their own certificates. Whichever it was, the certificate the Registrar or Marriage Officer issued is the document every office below asks for, so get a certified copy or two before you start.

The name itself never changes on its own. There is no declaration to sign at the wedding and no deadline afterwards, because no law moves a spouse's surname; the marriage certificate is simply the evidence a record-holder acts on when you ask for the surname to be changed, and you exercise the choice record by record as you renew each one. The Unique Identification Authority of India lists a marriage certificate issued by a central or state government among the documents it accepts for updating the name on Aadhaar, the Income Tax Department's PAN service lists a marriage certificate issued by the Registrar of Marriages among the identity proofs it accepts, and the passport office treats a change of name due to marriage as its own category, evidenced by the marriage certificate. That is the ordinary path: certificate in hand, change the passport, then Aadhaar, then the PAN, then everything that copies them.

Where the marriage certificate is not enough is where the change is bigger than a surname taken on marriage. UIDAI's list is explicit: for a change in first name or a change in full name it wants a Gazette notification. The same is true in practice wherever an office is being asked for a name that no certificate connects to you: a husband taking his wife's surname, a couple joining both surnames into something new, a first name changed at the same time. For those you use the by-choice route below — affidavit, newspaper, Gazette of India — and the marriage certificate travels with it as the reason.

Decide before the passport step. The passport office distinguishes a minor change in name (a spelling that does not phonetically change the name) from a major one (everything else), and a change due to marriage from both; a passport re-issued in a new name is the identity document Aadhaar, the PAN registry and every bank will copy, so the spelling you choose there is the one you will live with.

After divorce

Nothing comes back on its own. If you took a spouse's surname and the marriage has ended, the surname stays on every record until you change each one, and there is no deadline for doing so. What changes is the evidence. UIDAI lists a divorce decree issued by a family court among the documents it accepts for updating the name on Aadhaar (with a document in the old name bearing your photograph if the decree carries none), and the Indian missions' passport FAQ says a change of name on account of divorce takes a court-certified copy of the divorce decree or a self-attested copy of the divorce certificate, filed as a re-issue of the passport. The Department of Publication's own guideline for a woman obtaining her maiden surname through the Gazette asks for a copy of the decree of divorce, or a no-objection certificate from the husband with a copy of his identity proof, and says it will not process a change of name while the matter is before a court; so if an office insists on a Gazette notification for the reversion, the decree is what the Department wants to see with it.

The divorce itself is a court matter. For Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs the Hindu Marriage Act 1955 provides divorce on the grounds in section 13 and by mutual consent under section 13B, in the family court or the district court; a civil marriage, and a marriage between people of different faiths, is dissolved under the Special Marriage Act 1954 on the corresponding grounds; Christian, Parsi and Muslim marriages have their own Acts and, for Muslims, personal law. Whichever it is, what every office afterwards wants is a certified copy of the decree from the court that granted it, so order two when the judgment is pronounced.

A divorce granted abroad is a different question. Whether an Indian court treats a foreign decree as final turns on whether both of you took part in that court's proceedings and on whether the ground is one Indian law also knows; a decree obtained by one spouse alone, on a ground Indian law does not recognise, can be challenged here. If your marriage was registered in India and the divorce was granted in the United States, keep the certified decree with its apostille, and expect a bank or a registrar to ask questions a passport officer does not; where it matters, the safe course is a declaration from an Indian court.

For any other reason

There is no name-change petition and no court order in India. An adult who wants a different name for any reason makes the change by their own act and proves it three ways, in this order. First, a sworn affidavit — a shapath patra — stating the old name, the new name, your father's or husband's name, your address and the reason, sworn before a notary public or a magistrate; the Department of Publication asks for an affidavit attested by a First Class Magistrate where you are adopting a surname different from your father's or mother's, or adding a surname where you had none. Second, a notice of the change in a daily newspaper: the Department requires one, a daily local leading newspaper, in original, stating your father's or husband's name and your residential address; the notice must be from you and not from a lawyer. Third, publication in Part IV of the Gazette of India by the Department of Publication, Civil Lines, Delhi.

The Gazette step is the one with a form. You send the Controller of Publications the original newspaper; an undertaking signed by you giving your old and new name, your father's or husband's name and your address, declaring the facts true; the prescribed proforma, typed, in duplicate, signed in your old name with two witnesses' names, addresses, mobile numbers and signatures; a CD carrying the proforma's wording in MS Word without the witness portion, with your old name typed where the signature goes; a certificate signed by you that the hard copy and the CD match; two self-attested passport photographs and a self-attested copy of a photo identity proof; a request letter with your telephone number and email; and the fee, paid in advance on the Bharatkosh non-tax receipt portal with the receipt enclosed. The fee for an adult's change-of-name notice is INR 1,100 (2026), INR 3,500 where the notice comes from an Indian living abroad; adopting the name or surname of another religion without changing religion costs INR 250 more. Applications go by post or in person only, never through an agent or an advocate, and the documents must not be older than one year. The notification appears in the weekly Gazette, which is published only online since October 2015: you download it from egazette.gov.in, find your name, and that download is your copy, needing no certification from the Department. The Department publishes no processing time, says a status enquiry takes about a month because of the volume of post, and gives you six months to answer an objection letter before the case is treated as cancelled.

What counts as a good enough reason: the Department does not judge reasons. It reserves the right to reject a request it finds incomplete, vague, unlawful or misleading, and says in terms that the person notifying the change remains responsible for its legal consequences. What it will not publish at all is any change to a date of birth. A change of gender with the name is a separate category with its own proforma and a medical certificate. Central government employees make the change by a deed in the Ministry of Home Affairs' 1987 form rather than by undertaking, and an Indian living abroad sends the deed attested by the Indian embassy or high commission where they live.

If you married outside India

This section is for a marriage celebrated OUTSIDE India. If you married here, it is not your path: your marriage is already on a register and the section above is the one to read.

A marriage that was valid where it was celebrated is treated as valid in India, and there is no register you are required to enter it in. What India needs is a certificate it can read. India joined the Hague Apostille Convention on 14 July 2005, so a certificate from another member country is authenticated by an apostille from that country's competent authority — in the United States, the Secretary of State of the state that issued it — and the Embassy in Washington says it is mandatory for a document issued by a US government authority to be apostilled before it is presented to the Embassy at all. The missions' passport FAQ lists a marriage certificate issued by a foreign government, duly apostilled, among the documents that put a foreign spouse's name into an Indian passport. So the apostilled certificate is the document; keep two certified copies, because a copy you hand over does not come back.

You may also register the marriage with the Indian mission. The Foreign Marriage Act 1969 lets the Marriage Officer of an Indian mission register a marriage that was solemnised under the local law of the country where the mission sits, where at least one spouse is an Indian citizen, and the Embassy in Washington offers exactly that service — registration of marriages already solemnised in the USA — through its outsourcing partner for USD 25 plus the USD 2 Indian Community Welfare Fund contribution and the partner's own service charge (2026), on the apostilled certificate. It is optional. Most couples never do it, and no office in the steps below insists on it; it matters where an Indian record of the marriage will later be needed in India — a court, a property registrar, an inheritance — because it turns a foreign certificate into an Indian one.

One case is genuinely unsettled: an online ceremony run by an officiant in another country while you were physically in India. Indian marriage law is written around a ceremony performed where the parties are, with a Registrar or officiant present, and no Indian court has ruled on a marriage solemnised by video from Indian soil under another country's law. A mission registers what a foreign government has certified, which is an administrative act and not a judgment; if the marriage were ever contested, an Indian court would decide the question for itself, and where each of you was standing during the ceremony is the point a challenger would raise. If one of you was physically in the country whose certificate you hold, the ordinary rule fits without strain.

What to bring

  • If you married in India: the marriage certificate issued by the Registrar of Marriages or the Marriage Officer, and a certified copy or two
  • Your current passport, your Aadhaar card, your PAN card, your voter card and your driving licence: each is changed against the one before it, and each office wants to see the others
  • After a marriage ends instead: a certified copy of the decree from the court that granted the divorce
  • For a change by choice, or any change bigger than a surname taken on marriage: the affidavit, sworn before a notary public or a magistrate; the original newspaper carrying your notice; and, once published, the page of the Gazette of India carrying your notification, downloaded from egazette.gov.in
  • For the Gazette application itself: the signed undertaking, the typed proforma in duplicate with two witnesses, the CD in MS Word, the certificate that hard copy and CD match, two self-attested passport photographs, a self-attested copy of a photo identity proof, a request letter with your telephone number and email, and the Bharatkosh receipt for the fee
  • If you married OUTSIDE India, these as well: your marriage certificate (a certified copy from the office that issued it in the country or state where you married) with an apostille from that place's competent authority; in the United States, the Secretary of State of the issuing state
  • If you register the foreign marriage with the Indian mission: both passports, the apostilled certificate, photographs, and the fee; the mission publishes its own list through its outsourcing partner
  • If you live abroad and are using the Gazette route: the affidavit or deed attested by the Indian embassy or consulate, in original

Steps, in order

  1. Step 1

    If you married outside India: have the certificate apostilled

    The competent authority of the country or state that issued it

    India has been in the Hague Apostille Convention since 14 July 2005, so an apostille replaces consular legalisation for a certificate from another member country. Order a certified copy of the marriage certificate from the office that issued it where you married, then have that copy apostilled by that place's competent authority; in the United States that is the Secretary of State of the issuing state. The Indian missions will not touch a US government document that has not been apostilled first, and the passport office lists the apostilled certificate as the document that puts a foreign spouse's name into an Indian passport. Order two certified copies, because the one you hand over does not come back.

    Fee
    Set by the authority that issues it; a US state charges per document (2026)
    Official page
    https://www.hcch.net/en/instruments/conventions/authorities1/?cid=41

  2. Step 2

    If you married outside India: decide whether to register the marriage with the Indian mission

    The Indian Embassy or Consulate General with jurisdiction over where you married, through its outsourcing partner

    Optional. Under the Foreign Marriage Act 1969 the Marriage Officer of an Indian mission can register a marriage solemnised under the local law of the country where the mission sits, where at least one of you is an Indian citizen; the Embassy in Washington lists it as registration of marriages already solemnised in the USA, booked through its outsourcing partner. Bring both passports and the apostilled certificate. No office in the steps below insists on it, and most couples skip it; do it if an Indian record of the marriage will later be needed in India, for a court, a property registrar or an inheritance, because it turns a foreign certificate into an Indian one.

    Fee
    USD 25, plus USD 2 for the Indian Community Welfare Fund and the outsourcing partner's service charge, at the Embassy in Washington (2026)
    Official page
    https://indianembassyusa.gov.in/pages/Mjg

  3. Step 3

    Get certified copies of your marriage certificate

    The Registrar of Marriages or Marriage Officer who registered it; the issuing office abroad if you married outside India

    Every office in the steps below works from the marriage certificate: the Registrar of Marriages' certificate under the Hindu Marriage Act or your state's registration rules, the Marriage Officer's certificate under the Special Marriage Act, or the church, Parsi or Muslim register's certificate, whichever registered your marriage. If you married in India and have only the temple or hall receipt, register the marriage first: the Registrar for the district where you married or where you live takes the application, and states set their own fee and their own late-registration rules. If you married abroad, the apostilled foreign certificate is the document, and the mission's registration certificate if you chose to get one.

    Fee
    The state's marriage registration rules set the fee for registration and for certified copies (2026)

  4. Step 4

    If the marriage ended: get certified copies of the decree

    The family court or district court that granted the divorce

    Order certified copies of the decree from the court that pronounced it; two is the right number, because the passport office wants a court-certified copy and Aadhaar wants to see one too. The Hindu Marriage Act 1955 provides divorce on the grounds in section 13 and by mutual consent under section 13B, the Special Marriage Act 1954 does the same for a civil marriage, and the other personal laws have their own Acts; what every office afterwards reads is the decree, not the ground. If the divorce was granted abroad, keep the certified decree with its apostille, and expect a registrar or a bank to ask more than a passport officer does.

    Fee
    The court's copying fee for certified copies (2026)

  5. Step 5

    Swear the affidavit of change of name

    A notary public, or a First Class Magistrate

    The affidavit is the first of the three proofs and the one the others are built on: it states your old name, the new name, your father's or husband's name, your address and the reason, and you swear it before a notary public or a magistrate. The Department of Publication asks for an affidavit attested by a First Class Magistrate of your area where you are adopting a surname different from your father's or mother's, or adding a surname where you had none, so use the magistrate for those; a notary is enough for the rest. Use the same spelling of both names on every paper from here on — the Department rejects a case where the affidavit, the newspaper, the proforma and the CD do not match.

    Form
    Affidavit of change of name (shapath patra)
    Fee
    The notary's charge and the stamp paper your state prescribes; no national figure is published (2026)
    Official page
    https://deptpub.gov.in/document-category/con-guidelines/

  6. Step 6

    If you live abroad: have the affidavit attested at the Indian mission

    The Indian Embassy or Consulate General for where you live, through its outsourcing partner

    The Department of Publication's guideline says an Indian living abroad submits the deed or undertaking attested by the respective Indian embassy or high commission, in original. Book the attestation of an affidavit through the mission's outsourcing partner, put your signature on it before the officer, and send the attested original with the rest of the Gazette application. The same attested affidavit is what the passport section will ask for when you re-issue the passport in the new name from where you live.

    Fee
    USD 20, plus USD 2 for the Indian Community Welfare Fund and the outsourcing partner's USD 19 service charge, at the Embassy in Washington (2026)
    Official page
    https://indianembassyusa.gov.in/pages/Mjg

  7. Step 7

    Publish the change in a daily newspaper

    A daily local leading newspaper; most take classified notices online

    The Department of Publication requires the change to be advertised in one of the daily local leading newspapers, in your own name and not a lawyer's, stating your old and new name, your father's or husband's name and your residential address, and it wants the whole original newspaper page, not a clipping. Weekly, evening and fortnightly papers are not accepted. Match the wording of the affidavit exactly. Many people publish in two papers, one in English and one in the language of their state, because some offices and employers ask for both; it costs little more and the Department only needs one of them.

    Fee
    Each newspaper sets its own classified rate (2026)
    Official page
    https://deptpub.gov.in/document-category/con-guidelines/

  8. Step 8

    Publish the change in the Gazette of India

    Controller of Publications, Department of Publication, Civil Lines, Delhi 110054

    Send, by post or in person and never through an agent, the original newspaper, your signed undertaking, the prescribed proforma typed in duplicate and signed in your old name with two witnesses, a CD carrying the proforma's wording in MS Word without the witness portion, your certificate that the hard copy and the CD match, two self-attested passport photographs, a self-attested copy of a photo identity proof, a request letter with your telephone number and email, and the Bharatkosh receipt for the fee, paid in advance. The documents must not be older than one year and are not returned. The notification appears in Part IV of the weekly Gazette, online only: download it from egazette.gov.in, find your name, and that download is your copy, needing no certification. Answer any objection letter within six months or the case is treated as cancelled.

    Form
    Gazette of India Part IV change-of-name proforma and undertaking (Department of Publication)
    Fee
    INR 1,100 for an adult's change-of-name notice from within India, INR 3,500 from an Indian living abroad, paid on Bharatkosh; INR 250 more to adopt another religion's name without changing religion (2026)
    Time
    The Department publishes no time and says a status enquiry takes about a month
    Official page
    https://deptpub.gov.in/document-category/con-guidelines/

  9. Step 9

    Apply for a passport re-issue in the new name

    Passport Seva, Ministry of External Affairs, at your Passport Seva Kendra

    A change of name is a re-issue of the passport, applied for on the Passport Seva portal with an appointment at a Passport Seva Kendra, and the passport is the identity document Aadhaar, the PAN registry and every bank will copy next, so do it first. The office sorts the change into a change due to marriage, a minor change (a spelling that does not phonetically change the name) and a major change (everything else), and the document advisor on the portal names the exact papers for each. The missions' FAQ names the marriage certificate for the first and a court-certified copy of the divorce decree after a divorce; for a major change bring the affidavit, the newspaper notices and the Gazette page, which is the document every office reads. Bring the current passport and whatever the advisor names for your case.

    Fee
    INR 2,500 for a 36-page passport or INR 3,500 for 60 pages; INR 5,000 or INR 6,000 under Tatkaal (from 1 July 2026)
    Official page
    https://www.passportindia.gov.in/

  10. Step 10

    Re-issue your Indian passport through the mission where you live

    The Indian Embassy or Consulate General for where you live, through its outsourcing partner

    The missions' FAQ is plain: to change the name on the passport after a marriage or a divorce, or for any other reason, you apply for a re-issue through the outsourcing partner and choose the change of particulars, and the partner's checklist names the documents for your case. The FAQ itself names the marriage certificate (apostilled if a foreign government issued it) and, after a divorce, a court-certified copy of the decree or a self-attested copy of the divorce certificate; for any other change bring the attested affidavit, the newspaper notices and the Gazette page. It is not advisable to travel in your previous name once you have started using the new one.

    Fee
    USD 125 for a 36-page passport or USD 175 for 60 pages, plus USD 2 for the Indian Community Welfare Fund and the outsourcing partner's service charge; Tatkaal USD 250 or USD 300 (from 1 July 2026)
    Official page
    https://www.indiainnewyork.gov.in/pages?id=WEEvaENpL3VyK3BxTER3cTFYYVJqUT09&subid=WXJDQ3lrelBNL1pqM3hwRWFobHQ2dz09&nextid=OVl6anJmcGhUYmFwNmNTbWtRcHM1dz09

  11. Step 11

    Update the name on your Aadhaar

    An Aadhaar enrolment or update centre (UIDAI)

    A name update is an assisted update at an enrolment centre, not an online one; the myAadhaar portal takes address updates only. Bring your Aadhaar and the proof UIDAI's list names for your case: for a surname taken on marriage, the marriage certificate issued by a central or state government (with a document in the old name bearing your photograph if the certificate carries none); after a divorce, the family court's decree, on the same condition; for a change in first name or in the full name, the Gazette notification; the new passport works for any of them. Your Aadhaar number does not change.

    Form
    Aadhaar enrolment and update form
    Fee
    UIDAI sets a charge per update; ask the centre (2026)
    Official page
    https://uidai.gov.in/en/enrolment-and-updates

  12. Step 12

    Correct the name on your PAN

    Income Tax Department, through Protean or UTIITSL

    Your PAN never changes, but the name against it does. File a request for changes or correction in PAN data online through either of the Income Tax Department's service providers, tick the name field, and attach the proof: a marriage certificate issued by the Registrar of Marriages is on the providers' list of identity proofs, and a Gazette notification or the new passport serves for any other change. A physical card is printed and posted to the address on the record, in India or abroad.

    Form
    Request for new PAN card or changes or correction in PAN data
    Fee
    INR 107 with a card posted in India, INR 1,017 with a card posted abroad, INR 72 for an e-PAN only (2026)
    Official page
    https://tinpan.proteantech.in/faqs/pan/faq-pan-procedure.html

  13. Step 13

    Correct your voter record

    Electoral Registration Officer for your constituency (Election Commission of India)

    Form 8 is the Election Commission's one form for an existing elector: it covers shifting of residence, correction of entries in the existing electoral roll, a replacement card and marking as a person with disability, under rules 13(3) and 26 of the Registration of Electors Rules 1960. Tick correction of entries, give your EPIC number, enter the corrected name and attach the proof: the marriage certificate, the Gazette page or the new passport. File it on the Commission's voters' portal or hand it to the Electoral Registration Officer. The form carries no fee line.

    Form
    Form 8
    Fee
    The form carries no fee (2026)
    Official page
    https://ceodelhi.gov.in/ElectorForms.aspx

  14. Step 14

    Amend your driving licence

    Your Regional Transport Office, through the Sarathi portal

    A change of name on a licence is a change of particulars, applied for on the Sarathi portal for your state and completed at the Regional Transport Office that holds your record. Upload the new passport or the Gazette page and the marriage certificate, and take the originals and the current licence to the appointment. The RTO collects the fee the Central Motor Vehicles Rules set, and Sarathi shows it before you pay.

    Fee
    Set by the Central Motor Vehicles Rules and shown on Sarathi before you pay (2026)
    Official page
    https://sarathi.parivahan.gov.in/sarathiservice/stateSelection.do

  15. Step 15

    Tell your bank, your employer's provident fund, your insurer and your school

    Each institution

    Each sets its own rule. Banks and the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation take the new Aadhaar or passport with the marriage certificate or the Gazette page, and the provident fund name has to match Aadhaar for a claim to go through. Do these last, since they copy whichever identity document you have just replaced.

    Fee
    No fee (2026)

Questions people ask

We married here in India. What do we have to do?

Get certified copies of the marriage certificate, and nothing else to register: the Registrar of Marriages or the Marriage Officer already holds the record. If you have only a temple or hall receipt, register the marriage with the Registrar for the district where you married or where you live before anything else. No apostille, no embassy and no Gazette come into it for a surname taken on marriage; the certificate is the document the passport office, Aadhaar, the PAN registry and every bank ask for.

Do I need the Gazette to take my husband's surname?

No. UIDAI accepts a marriage certificate for the name update, the passport office treats a change of name due to marriage as its own category on the certificate, and the PAN service lists the certificate as proof. The Gazette is needed where the change is bigger than that: UIDAI says in terms that a change in first name or in the full name takes a Gazette notification. A husband taking his wife's surname, a couple joining surnames into a new one, or a first name changed at the same time, all use the affidavit, newspaper and Gazette route.

How does the Gazette route work, and what does it cost?

Three proofs in order: an affidavit sworn before a notary or a magistrate, a notice in a daily local leading newspaper, and a notification in Part IV of the Gazette of India. For the Gazette you send the Controller of Publications in Delhi the original newspaper, a signed undertaking, the typed proforma in duplicate with two witnesses, a CD in MS Word, a certificate that the two match, two photographs, a copy of your identity proof, a request letter and the Bharatkosh receipt. The fee is INR 1,100 for an adult's notice from within India and INR 3,500 from an Indian living abroad (2026). The Gazette is online only; you download your own copy from egazette.gov.in.

Do I need two newspapers?

The Department of Publication asks for one, a daily local leading newspaper, in original, and refuses weeklies and evening papers. Many people publish in two, one in English and one in the state's language, because some offices and employers ask for both; the Department needs only one of them.

We married abroad. Is the marriage recognised in India?

A marriage that was valid where it was celebrated is treated as valid in India, and there is no register you must enter it in. What every office wants is the certificate with an apostille from the competent authority of the country or state that issued it; India has been in the Apostille Convention since 2005. You may also register the marriage with the Indian mission under the Foreign Marriage Act 1969, which the Embassy in Washington offers for USD 25 plus the welfare-fund contribution and its partner's service charge (2026). It is optional, and useful where an Indian record of the marriage will be needed later in India.

We married online or by video. Does that count?

Nobody can tell you for certain. Indian marriage law is written around a ceremony performed where the parties are, and no Indian court has ruled on a marriage solemnised by video from Indian soil under another country's law. A mission registers what a foreign government has certified, which is an administrative act rather than a judgment. If one of you was physically in the country whose certificate you hold, the ordinary rule fits; if both of you were in India, expect the question to be asked wherever the marriage is contested.

Do I have to change my name after marriage?

No. Nothing in Indian law moves a spouse's surname, so keeping your own name on every record is the default and needs no paper at all. If you do take a spouse's surname, the marriage certificate is the evidence, and you change each record when you renew it.

My marriage ended. Can I get my maiden name back?

Yes, and the divorce decree is the evidence. UIDAI lists a family court's decree for the Aadhaar update, and the missions' FAQ says the passport takes a court-certified copy of the decree or a self-attested copy of the divorce certificate. Where an office asks for a Gazette notification, the Department of Publication's guideline for adopting a maiden surname wants a copy of the decree, or a no-objection certificate from the former husband, and it will not process a change while the matter is before a court.

I was divorced in the United States. Is that enough in India?

Often, but not always. Whether an Indian court treats a foreign decree as final turns on whether both spouses took part in that court's proceedings and on whether the ground is one Indian law also knows; a decree obtained by one spouse alone on a ground Indian law does not recognise can be challenged here. A passport officer reads the certified decree with its apostille; a registrar or a bank may ask more. Where it matters, a declaration from an Indian court is the safe course.

In what order should I change the records?

Passport first, because it is the identity document Aadhaar, the PAN registry, the Election Commission and every bank will copy; then Aadhaar, then the PAN, then the voter card and the licence, then the accounts. Each office wants to see the ones before it, and the provident fund name has to match Aadhaar before a claim goes through.

Does my Aadhaar number or my PAN change?

No. Both are permanent; only the name recorded against them changes. Aadhaar is updated in person at an enrolment centre with the proof UIDAI lists for your case; the PAN change request is filed online through Protean or UTIITSL and a new card is posted, in India or abroad.

I hold both Indian and US citizenship. What changes?

Nothing, because India does not allow it: an Indian who takes another citizenship loses Indian citizenship and surrenders the passport. If you are an Overseas Citizen of India cardholder, your name lives on your US records, which the US checklist changes, and the OCI card is re-issued against the new US passport, which is the mission's OCI service and not this guide. This guide is for an Indian citizen.

Build my checklist for India

The steps above become a checklist you can work through and tick off, with the office, the form and the fee on every one. It is free, and it is the whole plan if India is where your records are.

Build my checklist for India

If you live in the United States

If you are an Indian citizen living in the United States, your US records change with the US checklist: Social Security, your state licence, banks, and the rest. The Indian side is separate and worth doing anyway. Your Indian passport keeps its name until you re-issue it through the Indian Embassy or Consulate General for where you live, via its outsourcing partner; the missions treat a change of name as a re-issue, and the FAQ names the apostilled US marriage certificate for a marriage and a court-certified copy of the decree for a divorce; for any other change bring the affidavit attested at the mission, the newspaper notices and the Gazette page. The passport fee abroad is USD 125 for a 36-page booklet plus USD 2 for the Indian Community Welfare Fund and the partner's service charge (from 1 July 2026). Registering the US marriage with the mission under the Foreign Marriage Act 1969 is optional; the apostilled certificate is the document India reads. The Gazette route works from abroad: the Department of Publication takes the application by post, charges INR 3,500 for a notice from an Indian living abroad (2026), and wants the affidavit or deed attested by the mission, in original. Aadhaar is the one record that has to wait for a visit, because a name update is an assisted update at an enrolment centre in India; the PAN correction can be filed online from anywhere and the card posted to a US address for INR 1,017 (2026). A US court order changing your name does not change any Indian record on its own: bring it home as the reason on the affidavit, and the Gazette notification is what the Indian offices will then read.

Your US records, from Social Security to your state license and the everyday accounts, change with the US checklist; it prepares each form and letter in the order the agencies check them.

Start the US checklist

Change Your Name is a self-help form-preparation service, not a law firm; this page is general information about India, not legal advice.

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