Affidavit of One and the Same Person

This is the document that unblocks more Philippine applications than any other, and almost nobody has heard of it until a consular officer asks for one. An Affidavit of One and the Same Person is a sworn statement saying that the person named on document A and the person named on document B are you, and explaining how you came to have two versions of your name.

Around 590 people a month search for it from the United States — more than search for most of the procedures it is attached to, which tells you how often it comes up as an unexpected obstacle.

Why you need one

Philippine consular procedures are anchored to your PSA birth certificate. That document holds the name the Philippine state considers yours. Your American documents — passport, naturalisation certificate, driving licence — may say something else, and the mismatch has to be resolved on paper before anything can proceed.

Common causes:

Marriage. You took a spouse’s surname in the United States, and your PSA record still carries your maiden name.
Naturalisation. Many people simplified, anglicised or shortened a name when they became US citizens — sometimes formally through the naturalisation petition, sometimes just in practice.
Middle names. The Philippine convention puts the mother’s maiden surname in the middle. American forms often drop it, abbreviate it to an initial, or convert it into a second given name.
Spelling drift. An accent, a hyphen, a doubled letter, a “Ma.” that became “Maria” — enough to make two documents disagree.
Court-ordered changes, adoption, annulment, declaration of nullity or divorce.

⚠️ The affidavit explains the difference — it does not change your name

Your Philippine passport name will still follow your PSA document. A consulate cannot use a non-PSA document as the basis for changing a name in the Philippine records.

If what you actually want is the PSA record itself corrected, that is a different procedure, handled in the Philippines through the local civil registrar or the PSA under the laws on clerical error correction and change of first name. The affidavit is what lets you proceed despite the discrepancy.

Where it gets asked for

Dual citizenship petitions — the posts list it explicitly as the fix for a variance between the birth certificate and the foreign passport or naturalisation certificate.
Passport applications, where the name on your last Philippine passport and your current US documents differ.
Civil registry filings, where a parent’s name is inconsistent across the child’s documents.
Property, pension and bank matters in the Philippines, where the title or the account was opened under an earlier name.

What it has to contain

The consulate will not draft it for you — that rule applies to every notarial act. A workable affidavit says, in your own words and under oath:

Both names in full, exactly as they appear on the documents concerned.
Which document carries which name — “my PSA birth certificate registered as X; my United States passport issued as Y”.
How the difference arose — marriage on a stated date, naturalisation, a court order with its case number.
That both names refer to one and the same person: you.
An acknowledgement that you accept all obligations, responsibilities and liabilities incurred under either name. Posts word this requirement almost identically, and it is not optional.

The supporting proof

An affidavit on its own is an assertion. What makes it work is the evidence attached:

Marriage certificate, if the change came from marriage.
Judicial decree — change of name, adoption, annulment, declaration of nullity, divorce or its equivalent.
The naturalisation certificate, where the change was recorded in the petition for naturalisation.
Any Philippine-issued official document showing the variant name.

Two ways to have it sworn

At the consulate. Book a notarial appointment, bring the unsigned affidavit and your ID, sign in front of the consular officer. The fee is US$25 per document, or around US$25–35 when it is filed as part of a dual citizenship petition, plus US$10 for expedited release. The result is a Philippine notarial document, ready to use — no further step.

Before a US notary public. Faster and available locally, but a US notarisation is not recognised in the Philippines on its own. It then needs an apostille from the Secretary of State of the state where it was notarised. Since 15 May 2019 the consulate cannot authenticate it for you.

Which is quicker depends on your distance from your post and your state's turnaround. If you are going to the consulate for the underlying procedure anyway — a dual citizenship oath, a passport application — having the affidavit notarised in the same visit is the obvious answer.

Get ahead of it

The reason this document causes so much frustration is timing. People discover they need it at the counter, on the day, with the appointment already used. Before you book anything, lay your PSA certificate next to your US passport and read both names character by character. If they differ in any way — including a middle initial — prepare the affidavit and its supporting documents first.

Then find the post with jurisdiction over your state in the consulate directory, and check its notarial rules in the appointment guide: some posts release slots only once a week.