Aadhaar name correction rejected after marriage or divorce

Reviewed on: 2026-07-04.

Lakshmi, a 29-year-old schoolteacher in Thrissur, Kerala, married in December 2025 and wanted to take her husband's surname on Aadhaar. Her marriage certificate, issued by the local registrar, recorded her only under her maiden name, Lakshmi Menon. She walked into the nearest Aadhaar Seva Kendra with that certificate and her old Aadhaar, paid the Rs 75 demographic-update fee, and asked the operator to change “Lakshmi Menon” to “Lakshmi Pillai”. Twelve days later the request came back rejected with a one-line message: “supporting document not acceptable”.

The reason was not that the certificate was invalid. It was valid. The problem was that nothing on the certificate connected “Lakshmi Menon” to “Lakshmi Pillai”. The verifier could see a bride called Lakshmi Menon marrying a man named Pillai, but the new surname she wanted was not printed anywhere as her own name. UIDAI's rule is simple and strict: the proof you submit must show both the old name and the new name, or a government document that records the change itself. A marriage certificate that names only the maiden identity cannot carry a surname it never records.

That single gap, a document that does not link the old name to the new name, causes most rejections after marriage or divorce. The fix is to submit a proof that shows both names, or a gazette notification, and to resubmit before you burn through UIDAI's lifetime limit of two name updates. If UIDAI keeps rejecting without a clear reason, the Right to Information Act lets you pull out the internal noting the verifier wrote, so your next attempt is built on fact, not guesswork.

Aadhaar is a 12-digit identity number issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), a statutory body established under section 11 of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016, which came into force on 12 July 2016 and was amended by the Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Act, 2019 with effect from 25 July 2019. UIDAI sits under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). The legal basis for changing your demographic information, including your name, is section 31 of the Aadhaar Act 2016, and the procedural detail is in the Aadhaar (Enrolment and Update) Regulations, 2016.

Three regulations matter for a name correction:

1. Regulation 16 sets out how a resident requests an update of identity information.
2. Regulation 19(3) is the lifetime limit. A resident may update Name twice, Date of Birth once, and Gender once. Once those limits are exhausted, further updates may be done “only in accordance with such process as the Authority may specify”, which is the exception-handling route.
3. Regulation 16A is the 10-year Proof of Identity and Proof of Address document refresh. It does not count as a name update, so you can refresh documents without spending a name slot.

UIDAI confirms the lifetime limit verbatim on its official FAQ: “Name: Twice in Life Time”. Gender is once, Date of Birth is once, Address has no limit, and Mobile has no limit. Both a spelling correction and a full surname change count equally against the two chances, so a careless early attempt can lock you out of a real correction later in life.

The fee, as of 2026, is Rs 75 (inclusive of GST) for a demographic update such as a name change, paid at an Aadhaar Enrolment Centre. This rate has been in force from 01.10.2025 to 30.09.2028 under UIDAI's revised fee schedule, the first revision in roughly five years. A biometric update costs Rs 125, but a demographic update done together with a mandatory biometric update (at ages 5 to 7 or 15 to 17) is free. Fresh enrolment is free. The old Rs 50 figure you may still see on older blogs is the pre-October-2025 rate and is no longer correct.

A critical fact that many citizens get wrong: a name cannot be updated online through the myAadhaar portal. myAadhaar supports address update, document upload, Aadhaar download, PVC card ordering, bank-seeding check, biometric lock and unlock, VID generation and a few other services, but Name, Date of Birth, Gender, Mobile, Email and relationship changes all require an in-person visit to an Aadhaar Seva Kendra. UIDAI's own FAQ and a November 2025 fact-check by the Financial Express confirm this. Any guide that tells you to “resubmit your name change online on myAadhaar” is wrong, and following it will cost you time and a rejection.

Knowing the flow tells you what to ask for in your RTI and where your file got stuck.

1. Step 1, the centre visit. You book a slot or walk into an Aadhaar Seva Kendra with your old Aadhaar and your supporting document. The operator scans the document, enters the requested new name, and captures your biometric confirmation. You pay Rs 75 and receive an acknowledgement slip with an Update Request Number (URN).
2. Step 2, document verification. The scan and the entered data go to a verifier, who checks the document against UIDAI's Schedule II List IV of acceptable proofs. For a name change after marriage or divorce the list includes a Marriage Certificate, a Divorce Decree, an Adoption Certificate, or a Gazette Notification of the new name with supporting PoI of the old name bearing a photograph.
3. Step 3, approval or rejection. If the document genuinely links the old and new names, the verifier approves and the new name propagates to the Aadhaar backend, usually within 3 to 7 days. If the document does not link the two names, or is unclear, the request is rejected and the Rs 75 fee is not refunded.
4. Step 4, the limit check. The backend also checks Regulation 19(3). If you have already used both name slots, the request is rejected for “limit exceeded” even if the document is perfect. That rejection triggers the exception-handling route, not a fresh centre visit.

Two things changed recently that directly affect a name correction after marriage or divorce.

First, the fee revision of 01.10.2025. The demographic-update fee moved from Rs 50 to Rs 75 (inclusive of GST) for the period 01.10.2025 to 30.09.2028. Every centre attempt now costs Rs 75, and a rejection does not earn a refund. This makes the old advice of “just try again online for Rs 50” doubly wrong: the price is higher, and the online route does not exist for names. Budget for at least two attempts at Rs 75 each, plus the cost of getting the right document, before you file an RTI.

Second, the UIDAI exception-handling Standard Operating Procedure dated 28.10.2021 (“Name And Gender Update Request under Exception Handling Process”) is the governing document once your two-name limit is exhausted, and it is being applied more strictly in 2026 as UIDAI tightens demographic integrity. The SOP lists the Schedule II List IV documents and makes clear that a name update consequent to a regional language update, an operator typo, or a transliteration error does not count against your two chances. If your rejection was actually a transliteration slip that the operator mis-coded as a name change, you can argue through 1947 or [email protected] that the slot should not have been consumed, and an RTI can expose how the verifier coded it.

File the RTI after you have made at least one clean resubmission attempt and one grievance through the UIDAI portal, so the RTI is asking for a recorded reason that already exists.

1. Step 1, read the exact rejection wording. Open your acknowledgement or the UIDAI grievance status page and copy the rejection message and your URN verbatim. Do not paraphrase. The CPIO will search by URN.
2. Step 2, identify the CPIO. For a name-update rejection the relevant subject matter at UIDAI Head Office is “Enrolment and Updation”. The current CPIO and First Appellate Authority list is dated 26.05.2025 and is available on UIDAI's RTI page. Regional Offices at Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Delhi, Bhopal, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Mumbai, Ranchi have their own CPIOs for state-specific matters. If your centre was in a state, file with that Regional Office CPIO for a faster reply.
3. Step 3, file online or by post. UIDAI is onboarded on the central RTI online portal at rtionline.gov.in, so you can file and pay the Rs 10 fee electronically. By post, send the application to UIDAI's Central Registry Section with the Rs 10 fee payable to “Unique Identification Authority of India”. Below-poverty-line applicants are exempt from the fee.
4. Step 4, ask precise questions. Vague questions get vague answers. Ask, in numbered points:
   1. “The specific reason recorded by the verifier for rejection of URN on date .”
   2. “The exact document deficiency noted in the internal file noting for the said URN.”
   3. “The list of documents UIDAI accepts, under Schedule II List IV, for a name change consequent to marriage or divorce.”
   4. “Whether the rejection was coded as a name update consuming a lifetime slot under Regulation 19(3), or as a non-counting correction such as a transliteration error.”
   5. “The status of my grievance number and the action taken on it.”
5. Step 5, cite the sections. Rely on section 6(1) to request the information, section 6(3) if your request must be forwarded to the correct CPIO, and section 7(1) for the 30-day deadline. Under section 8(1)(j), UIDAI cannot give you another person's demographic data, but your own file noting is not exempt because you are the information holder about yourself.
6. Step 6, watch the clock. The CPIO must reply within 30 days. If the reply is evasive or silent, file a first appeal under section 19(1) with the First Appellate Authority within 30 days of the expiry. If the FAA also fails, the second appeal lies with the Central Information Commission.

You can draft and file the RTI with the help of https://righttoinformation.wiki/tools/ai-rti-draft-app.html, and check whether the CPIO's reply actually answers your questions with https://righttoinformation.wiki/tools/pio-reply-checker-app.html.

1. Copy of your Aadhaar card (old name) or the e-Aadhaar printout.
2. The acknowledgement slip with the URN of the rejected request.
3. The document you submitted at the centre, scanned or photocopied (marriage certificate, divorce decree, or gazette notification).
4. The UIDAI grievance reference number and its reply, if you raised one.
5. A printout of the rejection message from the UIDAI portal.
6. Proof of the Rs 75 fee payment at the centre (the receipt).
7. For BPL applicants, the BPL certificate to claim the RTI fee exemption.

1. Resubmitting the same marriage certificate that just failed. It will fail again, costs you another Rs 75, and may consume your second lifetime name slot under Regulation 19(3).
2. Trying to change your name online on myAadhaar. The portal does not offer name updates. You will waste a day and end up at a centre anyway.
3. Submitting a black-and-white, cropped, or blurred scan. UIDAI rejects poor-quality scans even when the document is valid. Scan in colour with all four corners visible and text sharp.
4. Asking for a name format the proof does not show. If the marriage certificate shows “Lakshmi Menon w/o Pillai” you cannot ask for “Lakshmi Menon Pillai” with an extra middle name the document never carries. The new name must match the proof exactly.
5. Forgetting the ripple effect. Once Aadhaar is corrected, your bank, PAN, passport, voter ID and ration card names all need the same change, or authentication mismatches start failing elsewhere.
6. Losing the URN. Without the URN you cannot file a grievance, an RTI, or a first appeal. Save it the day you get it.
7. Spending both name slots early. A maiden-to-married change and later a married-to-maiden reversion after divorce will use both slots. Treat each attempt as your last.

To the Central Public Information Officer,
Unique Identification Authority of India,
Bangla Sahib Road, Behind Kali Mandir, New Delhi - 110001
(or the Regional Office CPIO where your centre is located)

Sub: Application under section 6(1) of the RTI Act, 2005 for information
regarding rejection of Aadhaar name-update request URN __________ dated ______.

Sir/Madam,

I, ____________________, holder of Aadhaar No. ____-____-____, filed a
demographic name-update request at the Aadhaar Seva Kendra at __________ on
__________. The Update Request Number is __________. The request was rejected
on ________ with the message "__________________________". I have raised
grievance No. __________ on the UIDAI portal, to which the reply was
__________________________.

I seek the following information under section 6(1) of the Right to Information
Act, 2005:

1. The specific reason recorded by the verifier for rejecting URN __________,
   including the exact document deficiency noted in the internal file noting.
2. The list of documents UIDAI accepts under Schedule II, List IV of the
   Aadhaar (Enrolment and Update) Regulations, 2016, for a name change
   consequent to marriage or divorce.
3. Whether the said rejection was coded as a name update consuming a lifetime
   slot under Regulation 19(3), or as a non-counting correction such as a
   transliteration error or operator typo under the UIDAI SOP dated 28.10.2021.
4. The status and action taken on my grievance No. __________.
5. The certified copy of the verifier's noting sheet and the supervisor's
   approval or rejection remarks for URN __________.

I am willing to pay the prescribed fee for copies. As the information sought
relates to my own Aadhaar record, no third-party exemption under section 8(1)(j)
applies. Kindly furnish the information within 30 days as required by
section 7(1) of the Act.

Date: __________
Place: __________
Signature: ____________________
Name: ____________________
Address: ____________________
Mobile: ____________________

If the CPIO does not reply within 30 days, or replies evasively, file a first appeal under section 19(1) with the First Appellate Authority named in UIDAI's list dated 26.05.2025. You can estimate your statutory deadlines with https://righttoinformation.wiki/tools/timeline-calculator-app.html.

Twice in a lifetime, under Regulation 19(3) of the Aadhaar (Enrolment and Update) Regulations, 2016. A spelling correction and a full surname change both count equally against the two slots. Plan each attempt as if it were your last, because marriage and divorce together can use both within a few years.

It works only if the new name you want is your existing first name plus the spouse's surname already printed on the certificate as the husband's name, and even then some verifiers insist on a clearer link. If your new name differs in any other way, get a gazette notification that states both names. The certificate alone often cannot connect the two identities, which is the single most common reason for rejection.

No. The myAadhaar portal allows address updates, document uploads, Aadhaar downloads, PVC orders, biometric lock and unlock, and a few other services, but not Name, Date of Birth, Gender, Mobile, or Email changes. Those require an in-person visit to an Aadhaar Seva Kendra. UIDAI's FAQ and a Financial Express fact-check from November 2025 both confirm this.

Rs 75 inclusive of GST for a demographic update at an Aadhaar Enrolment Centre, in force from 01.10.2025 to 30.09.2028. A biometric update alone is Rs 125. A demographic update done together with a mandatory biometric update at ages 5 to 7 or 15 to 17 is free. The fee is charged per attempt and is not refunded if the request is rejected.

A certified copy of the divorce decree or the court order is the standard proof under Schedule II List IV. If the decree does not record your maiden name clearly, add a gazette notification. For help getting the certified copy from the family court when it is delayed, see getting a certified copy of a delayed divorce decree.

No. It is the fallback when no single document links your old and new names. Many post-marriage updates go through on the marriage certificate alone, provided the certificate shows the connection. The gazette is the cleanest universal proof because it states both names in one government document, but it costs about Rs 1,100 in Central Gazette fees plus affidavit and newspaper-ad costs, and takes four to eight weeks.

Rs 1,100 for an adult, payable online through the BharatKosh (NTRP) portal at bharatkosh.gov.in under the head “Controller of Publications”. The fee has been Rs 1,100 since 01.04.2016. The Department of Publication, under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, publishes the gazette weekly, usually on a Saturday. There is no official Tatkal route; anyone promising one-to-two-day turnaround for extra money is running a scam.

Fix the mobile link first at an Aadhaar Seva Kendra, because a name update needs biometric confirmation and an OTP on the linked number. Our guide on a delayed mobile number update covers tracking and escalation.

Download your Aadhaar update history, which lists earlier names with dates. See using Aadhaar update history as proof for a bank or court.

That is the exception-handling route under the UIDAI SOP dated 28.10.2021. Enrol at the nearest centre with the required documents; once the request is rejected for limit exceeded, call 1947 toll-free or email [email protected] requesting exception processing through the UIDAI Regional Office, quoting your EID. Attach the EID slip, the gazette notification, and supporting PoI. The Regional Office processes the request after a detailed enquiry. The same logic, of a one-shot lifetime limit blocking a genuine correction, is explained for Date of Birth in the DoB correction limit-exhausted guide.

Grievance on the UIDAI portal first, then CPGRAMS at pgportal.gov.in, then an RTI for the recorded reason. If the RTI reply is evasive, file a first appeal under section 19(1). For related Aadhaar-update RTI tracks, see RTI for a rejected Aadhaar update, RTI for an Aadhaar update delay, and RTI for an Aadhaar update stuck.

Yes. UIDAI does not distinguish between a single-letter spelling fix and a full surname change; both consume one of your two lifetime name slots under Regulation 19(3). This is why resubmitting a careless typo as a “fresh name update” is a costly mistake, and why you should verify the exact spelling the operator enters on the enrolment screen before you confirm it with your biometric. If the slip was purely a transliteration or operator data-entry error caught the same day, raise it through 1947 or [email protected] under the exception-handling SOP dated 28.10.2021, arguing the slot should not have been consumed, and use an RTI to obtain how the verifier coded the request.

No. RTI can only get you the recorded reason, the document list, and the internal noting. It cannot order UIDAI to approve the change, and it cannot issue your marriage certificate or divorce decree; those come from the registrar and the court. If the marriage certificate itself is delayed, see RTI for a delayed marriage certificate and RTI for marriage registration.

1. Aadhaar Act, 2016 and the Aadhaar (Enrolment and Update) Regulations, 2016 (sections 11 and 31; Regulations 16, 16A, 19(3)): https://www.uidai.gov.in/images/Aadhaar_Act_2016_English.pdf and https://www.uidai.gov.in/images/The_Aadhaar_Enrolment_and_Update_Regulations_2016_with_Schedules.pdf
2. UIDAI SOP dated 28.10.2021, Name and Gender Update Request under Exception Handling Process: https://www.uidai.gov.in/images/SOP_28.10.2021-Name_And_Gender_UpdateRequest_under_Exception_Handling_Process.pdf
3. UIDAI official FAQ on lifetime update limits: https://uidai.gov.in/en/1045-english-uk/faqs/enrolment-update/myaadhaar-online-update-service/13905-how-many-times-aadhaar-data-can-be-updated.html
4. UIDAI FAQ on the exception route once the name-change limit is reached: https://uidai.gov.in/en/297-english-uk/faqs/enrolment-update/aadhaar-updation/18725-what-should-i-do-if-i-have-reached-the-name-change-limit-and-need-another-correction.html
5. UIDAI fee schedule (Rs 75 demographic, Rs 125 biometric, in force 01.10.2025 to 30.09.2028): https://www.uidai.gov.in/images/Aadhaar_Enrolment__and__Update__-__English.pdf
6. UIDAI RTI page and list of CPIOs and FAAs dated 26.05.2025: https://uidai.gov.in/en/about-uidai/right-to-information.html and https://www.uidai.gov.in/images/List_of_CPIOs_FAAs_at_UIDAI_HO_26052025.pdf
7. myAadhaar online services FAQ confirming name update is not available online: https://uidai.gov.in/en/contact-support/have-any-question/1045-english-uk/faqs/enrolment-update/myaadhaar-online-update-service.html
8. Department of Publication, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (Central Gazette office): https://deptpub.gov.in
9. BharatKosh (NTRP) payment portal for the Rs 1,100 gazette fee: https://bharatkosh.gov.in
10. CPGRAMS for escalation: https://pgportal.gov.in
11. Central RTI online portal: https://rtionline.gov.in
12. UIDAI toll-free helpline 1947 and [email protected] for triggering exception handling.

• RTI for a rejected Aadhaar update
• RTI for an Aadhaar update delay
• RTI for an Aadhaar update stuck
• Aadhaar Date of Birth correction when the limit is exhausted
• Using Aadhaar update history as proof for a bank or court
• Aadhaar mobile number update delayed at an enrolment centre
• Aadhaar authentication failure at a bank or ration shop
• Getting a certified copy of a delayed divorce decree
• RTI for a delayed marriage certificate

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*This page explains the Aadhaar update and RTI process as laid down by the Aadhaar Act 2016, the 2016 Enrolment and Update Regulations, and the UIDAI SOP dated 28.10.2021. It is not a substitute for a lawyer. If your name correction is rejected, act in writing at every step and keep your URN safe.*

If this guide helped you, the RTI for beginners guide is a good next read for the wider Right to Information framework, and you can draft your application with https://righttoinformation.wiki/tools/ai-rti-draft-app.html.