Uganda - Apply for Change of Personal Name

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Procedure

HOW TO APPLY

1. Visit the National Identification and Register Authority Office (NIRA) or Uganda Registration Services Bureau Office (URSB) with all the required documents and the recommended fees
2. Request for an application form ,read through the instruction carefully and fill it correctly. Link of application form Notification of change
3. Submit the required documents to the attending official, who will verify and process your documents if all the information are in order and send them to the commissioner for Oaths
4. Upon acceptance of the application by the Commissioner for Oaths, the applicant is required to post legal notices in newspapers to announce the name change.
5. Not less than seven days after the publication of the notice, the person intending to change his or her name may apply in the prescribed form to the registrar of the births and deaths registration district in which his or her birth is registered.
6. The registrar shall, upon being satisfied that the requirements of this section have been carried out and upon payment of the prescribed fee, amend the register accordingly and shall sign and date the amendment.

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Required Documents

• A letter from a responsible person, such as a GP, solicitor, minister, priest or MP
• An advertisement in a local or national newspaper.
• A statutory declaration ( a statement, recording your intention to abandon your old name and adopt a new one)
• Name Change Affidavit

Office Locations & Contacts

Uganda Registration Services Bureau - Head Office,
Uganda Business Facilitation Centre
Plot 1 Baskerville Avenue,
Kololo,
Kampala
Toll Free: 0800 100 006
Call Center: +256 417 338 100
Phone: +256 414 233 219 / 0417338000
Fax: +256 414 250 712
Email: [email protected] (General Correspondences)
Email: [email protected] (For Enquiries)
Website:Link

Eligibility

• Any Ugandan citizen, being over the age of twenty-one years or a widower, widow, divorced person or a married person can change their names in person

Fees

• 5,000 Uganda Shillings

Validity

Explain the time until which the certificate/document is valid.
e.g. Birth Certificate Valid Forever

Documents to Use

Please attach documents which can be used by people who would like to follow this procedure.

Sample Documents

Please attach sample completed documents which would help other people who would like to follow this procedure.

Processing Time

• Five weeks if all the documents information are in order

Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications. 
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type="website">video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites.
Please remove the "&" inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver, 
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M" Video ID is "Y0US7oR_t3M". 
	

Instructions

Change of name of adult.

• Any person, being over the age of twenty-one years or a widower, widow, divorced person or a married person, who wishes to change his or her name shall cause to be published in the Gazette a notice in the prescribed form of his or her intention to do so.

• Not less than seven days after the publication of the notice, the person intending to change his or her name may apply in the prescribed form to the registrar of the births and deaths registration district in which his or her birth is registered. The registrar shall, upon being satisfied that the requirements of this section have been carried out and upon payment of the prescribed fee, amend the register accordingly and shall sign and date the amendment.

Change of name of child.

• The parents or guardian of any child under the age of twenty-one years who is not married, divorced, a widower or a widow may apply in the prescribed form to the registrar of the births and deaths registration district in which the birth of the child is registered to change the name of the child.

• The registrar shall, upon payment of the prescribed fee, amend the register accordingly and shall sign and date the amendment.

Required Information

• Birth given full name
• New Adopted names
• Date of birth
• Valid identity proof
• Citizenship
• Residential Address/email address
• Phone number
• Occupation
• Reason for change of name

Need for the Document

• The certificate is required for one who wishes to legally change their names provided you do not intend to deceive or defraud another person

Information which might help

Typically, you may legally change your name to whatever name you'd like. There are some exceptions, though:

• You can't change your name just to escape debt liability or to hide from criminal liability.
• You can't change your name in order to commit a crime.
• You can't change your name with the intention to mislead. This usually involves taking the name of a famous person. Courts typically do not allow this, unless you have a convincing reason that is not related to the famous person or the use of his or her name.
• You can't choose a confusing name one that includes numerals or punctuation. However, some courts have permitted people to spell out the numbers, for example "Seven" instead of "7".
• You can't choose a name that would intimidate, offend, or be considered obscene.
• You can't choose a racial slur.

Other uses of the Document/Certificate

• The certificate is required for one to be able to change identity information on other identification document that he/she possess e.g. birth certificate, marriage certificate, education certificate, property deeds, credit/debit cards, social security card, and insurance policies etc.

External Links

birth and death registration act
The judiciary
NIRA

Others

More information which might help people.