My Married Name and New NRIC

My husband wanted me to take on his surname after we got married... and when I googled for procedures, I noticed a lack of information. It was only after posting on my facebook wall, did I understand what needed to be done (thank you FB friends for answering my queries!).

I just collected my new NRIC (identity card), so I thought I'd share with you what needs to be done, in case you ever need to know the procedures.

To add your married name to your Singapore NRIC is a fairly simple, inexpensive and painless procedure. I went down to the ICA building (It's just at Lavender MRT station), went up to the third floor and got a queue number. The average waiting time is about 6 minutes. 

You will need to produce your original marriage cert, any recent bill (Starhub etc) that's addressed to you (that is if you want to update your NRIC to your new home address) and one recent passport sized photo. There's a passport photo shop on the first floor where you can get this done for just ($5.50 for 4 pics).

You will need to pay $60 (via NETS) during this application as well.

Then the next day, you can go online (they will give you a collection slip which has the online details) to book a time slot for collecting your new NRIC. 

The good thing about this is, my maiden name is still on my NRIC, so it's no problem with my existing bank accounts and other documennts. I can choose to use either my maiden name or my married name (or both!) in my future documents etc, and both are recognised.

However, with this process, you can only add your husband's surname to your name. Meaning, you cannot change your name. So if you're Lee Min Ting. And your husband is Lawrence Tan... for example... your married name will be Mrs Tan Min Ting.  You cannot just change it to Mrs Kelly Tan, if Kelly is not in your original NRIC. You also cannot change other details like blood type, gender and race by getting married (obviously).

For such name changes (insertion of a totally different name), or to double barrel your name (e.g. Mary Tan-Chong), you will need a deed poll. A deed poll is a legal document which costs about $100 (roughly). And after this, you still need to replace your old NRIC with one bearing your new name ($60). Plus you will need to update all your bank accounts etc, and your old name will no longer be recognised (as in you can't have both old and new).

Hope this info is helpful for those who need it :)

P/s update: for those needing to legally change ur whole name, www.deedpollsingapore.com, helps source for affordable lawyers who charge $50 to $80, depending on timing.