Quick answer: Four documents are always needed: the existing licence, Aadhaar already corrected, your Class 10 marksheet, and photographs. What goes on top depends on your reason: a spelling correction needs an affidavit, a marriage needs the marriage certificate, and a published name change needs the gazette and newspaper pages. The RTO fee itself is modest. Budget for the day, not the rupees.
Most pages on this subject answer "what does it cost" with a number. Here the number is the least useful thing we can tell you, and the reason is worth a minute.
At a Glance
| Always needed | Licence, Aadhaar, marksheet, photographs |
| Spelling correction adds | An affidavit |
| Marriage adds | The marriage certificate |
| Name change adds | Gazette and newspaper pages |
| RTO fee | Modest |
| Real cost | A day, sometimes travel |
| Second visit | What you are paying to avoid |
| Gazette fee | Rs 1,100, only if publishing |
Key Takeaways
- One document list cannot cover three different reasons.
- The fee is small; the trip is the expense.
- You must attend, because of the photograph and signature.
- Many people travel to a district they left years ago.
- So the file being right first time is worth real money.
What No List Mentions: Quick Facts
| Photocopy sets | Several, of everything |
| The old licence itself | Not just a copy |
| Something with both names | To link old and new |
| Your application printout | From Sarathi |
| A pen | Genuinely useful |
| Cash as well as a card | Not every counter takes both |
| Time buffer | Half a day, not an hour |
| Phone with documents saved | For anything you forgot |
Table of Contents
- Three reasons, three lists
- What is always needed
- Why the fee is the wrong number
- Counting this in days
- What no list mentions
- Avoiding the second visit
- Central Gazette: the complete process and file format
- Areas we serve
- Key terms
- Related guides
- Why choose our office
- FAQs
Three Reasons, Three Lists
The distinction between a correction and a change runs through this whole subject and is set out on our correction versus change page. Here it decides what goes in the bag.
What Is Always Needed
- The existing licence, original, because it is the record being amended and they will want it in hand.
- Aadhaar already corrected, since the RTO compares against it and a mismatch there stops the application.
- Your Class 10 marksheet, which is the spelling authority in nearly every case on this subject.
- Photographs as the office specifies, and it is worth carrying a few spares.
- The Sarathi application printout, which is what the counter opens the file from.
Fix Aadhaar first if it is still wrong. Our Sarathi page explains why doing the licence first leaves your two most-compared photo IDs disagreeing with each other.
Why the Fee Is the Wrong Number
| Cost | What it actually is |
|---|---|
| RTO fee | Modest, and the part everybody asks about |
| Affidavit | Rs 100 to 500, where needed |
| Gazette | Rs 1,100, only for a real name change |
| A day off work | Often the largest single item |
| Travel to another district | Where the licence was issued elsewhere |
| A second visit | Doubles everything above |
Counting This in Days
Day one: fix Aadhaar if needed
Which may itself take a visit and some waiting, and everything downstream depends on it.
Day two: get the affidavit sworn
A notary takes an hour, and it can usually be combined with something else.
An evening: complete the Sarathi application
At home, unhurried, reading the summary screen before submitting.
Day three: the RTO visit
Allow half a day rather than an hour, and go early.
Plus travel, where the issuing office is elsewhere
Which for many people is the home district they left after school.
Then waiting, which costs nothing
The card arrives when it arrives, and that part needs no planning.
Three days spread over a few weeks, and one of them is unavoidable. Where a name change is being published as well, add the gazette timeline, which our timeline page covers.
What No List Mentions
- Several photocopy sets of everything, because a counter keeps some and the next desk wants more.
- The original licence, not a copy, which is the item people most often leave at home.
- Something carrying both names together, such as the affidavit, since that is the link being established.
- Cash as well as a card, because payment methods differ between counters.
- Photographs of every document on your phone, which has rescued more visits than any other item here.
None of that appears on an official list, and all of it comes from people who made a second trip for want of one of them.
Avoiding the Second Visit
Check the list against your own reason the evening before rather than in the queue, and put the bag by the door.
Central Gazette: the Complete Process and File Format
Our core service: only a genuine name change needs publication. Here is the whole route from Lucknow, with what each stage costs.
Stage 1: The affidavit
Cost: Rs 100 to 500 including the stamp paper and the notary, and about an hour. It is the cheapest item on the list and the one that most often decides whether a counter is satisfied.
Stage 2: The Public Notice, in two copies
Each witness gives signature, full name and address, and both sign both copies at one sitting. Typing and printing costs almost nothing.
Stage 3: The CD and CD-Certificate
Stage 4: Newspapers, fee, covering letter and dispatch
Publish in two newspapers and buy four copies
One Hindi daily of your district and one English paper, complete original pages. A few hundred rupees per paper.
Pay Rs 1,100 on BharatKosh
With the function head, PAO and DDO checked and two receipts printed.
Write the covering letter
To The Controller, Publication Department, Civil Line, Delhi 110054, with your mobile number and email.
Assemble, check and photocopy
A full copy set kept at home.
Courier it, tracked
One to three days from most UP districts, a couple of hundred rupees.
Then Aadhaar, then the licence
In that order, for the reasons above.
Pack the Bag the Night Before
Photograph the packed bag if it helps. The point is that this preparation happens somewhere calm rather than at a counter.
Gazette Fees, Time and the File
| RTO application fee | Modest; confirm at your office |
| Affidavit | Rs 100 to 500 including stamp paper and notary |
| Adult gazette fee | Rs 1,100, only for a real name change |
| Newspapers | A few hundred rupees per paper |
| Courier | A couple of hundred rupees |
| Photocopies and photographs | Small, and worth over-buying |
| Our service | Basic from Rs 999, Complete from Rs 1,999, quoted separately |
The envelope in one line, where publication applies: covering letter with your phone and email, affidavit (notarised), Public Notice typed in two copies with two witnesses on each, CD in MS-Word format with the signed CD-Certificate, both complete newspaper pages, photo identity proof, address proof, photographs and the BharatKosh receipt.
Before You Travel: Check These
- Is Aadhaar already correct? If not, stop and do that first.
- Which of the three reasons is yours, and do you have that document?
- Is the original licence in the bag, not just a copy?
- Have you allowed half a day rather than an hour?
After the Gazette: What Updates Next
Aadhaar, then PAN, then the licence, then the vehicle registration if you own one. Keep the affidavit permanently, because the same link between two spellings gets asked for again by somebody else.
What Other Websites Get Wrong
- Wrong: one list of documents required. Right: three lists, depending on why the name is changing.
- Wrong: lead with the fee. Right: the fee is modest and the visit is the cost.
- Wrong: carry copies. Right: the original licence is wanted, and it is what people leave behind.
- Wrong: Aadhaar can wait. Right: a mismatch there stops the application at the counter.
- Wrong: allow an hour. Right: allow half a day and go early.
Areas We Serve in Uttar Pradesh
Fees and document lists are set office by office, so the RTO named on your licence is the one to confirm with. Across all 75 districts, most often these:
| Western UP and NCR | Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, Meerut, Agra, Aligarh, Mathura, Bulandshahr, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Hapur, Firozabad |
| Rohilkhand and Bundelkhand | Bareilly, Moradabad, Rampur, Shahjahanpur, Budaun, Pilibhit, Bijnor, Amroha, Jhansi, Banda, Mahoba, Chitrakoot |
| Awadh and central UP | Lucknow, Kanpur, Unnao, Raebareli, Sitapur, Hardoi, Barabanki, Lakhimpur Kheri, Sultanpur, Ayodhya, Amethi, Bahraich |
| Purvanchal and eastern UP | Varanasi, Prayagraj, Gorakhpur, Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Ballia, Deoria, Mirzapur, Basti, Ghazipur, Mau, Sonbhadra |
The travel cost falls hardest on people who learned to drive in a home district and now work elsewhere, which is why a single well-prepared visit matters more for them than for anybody else. Our chamber is at Chamber No. 19, Sadar Tehsil, Sector 5, Gomti Nagar Vistar, Lucknow 226010, with the city guide on our Lucknow page. Call 9540003316 or WhatsApp 9540005002 from any district.
Key Terms on This Page
Plain definitions for the words that come up at the counter:
- Sarathi
- The national portal used for driving licence services, including name corrections.
- Stamp paper
- Government-issued paper carrying a duty value, used for affidavits and similar declarations.
- Notary Public
- An officer who attests that a document was signed in front of them. They verify the signature, not the facts written above it.
- Affidavit
- A statement you swear is true, signed before a notary on stamp paper. The notary confirms you signed it, not that the contents are true.
- Name correction
- Fixing a name that was written wrongly by somebody else. Lighter than a change, because an older document already shows the right version.
- Department of Publication
- The office at Civil Line, Delhi that receives name change files and publishes the notification.
Related Guides on This Site
Whichever counter you reach next, there is a guide for it here:
- name change in a driving licence: the main guide covering every situation.
- the Sarathi portal: how the application actually works.
- licence after marriage: where two applications are needed, not one.
- vehicle RC: the other RTO record, with its own list.
- correction versus change: which of the three reasons is yours.
- what a name change costs: every stage, priced.
- how long it takes: the whole timeline end to end.
- the affidavit guide: stamp paper, notaries and formats.
- Aadhaar name change: the document to fix before this one.
- problems and mistakes: what to do when an application stalls.
- contact the office: Lucknow office, phone and WhatsApp.
Why We Price This in Days
People ring asking what the fee is, and the honest answer is that the fee is not the number that matters. Somebody taking a day off and travelling to a home district is spending far more than the RTO charges, and the whole value of preparing properly is that they spend it once. So we ask what the reason is, build the list for that reason, and check the bag before anybody books a ticket. Vipin Chauhan, B.Tech LL.B, counts visits rather than rupees.
- We ask why the name is changing: since that decides the list.
- We check Aadhaar first: the commonest cause of a wasted trip.
- We build the list for your case: not a generic one.
- We plan for one visit: because the second is the expensive one.
Associate office at Chamber No. 19, Sadar Tehsil, Gomti Nagar Vistar, Lucknow, serving all 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh, Monday to Saturday, 10 AM to 6:30 PM. Call 9540003316 or WhatsApp 9540005002.
Tell Us the Reason
Uttar Pradesh Name Change
Associate Office: Chamber No. 19, Sadar Tehsil, Sector 5, Gomti Nagar Vistar, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh 226010
Head Office: Metro Pillar 337, Hardev Nagar, Street 1, Shop No 1 (Shri Sham Documentation)
Call: 9540003316
WhatsApp: 9540005002
Email: info@uttarpradeshnamechange.com
Hours: Mon to Sat, 10 AM to 6:30 PM
Tell us whether this is a wrong spelling, a marriage or a published name change, and which district issued the licence. Those two answers build the list.
Get Call and Name Change Format
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Licence Documents and Fees: FAQs
What is always needed?
The original licence, Aadhaar already corrected, your Class 10 marksheet, photographs and the Sarathi application printout.
Why is there no single document list?
Because what you need depends on why the name is changing: a wrong spelling, a marriage, or a published name change each ask for something different.
What does a spelling correction need on top?
An affidavit linking the two spellings, with the marksheet as the authority behind it.
What does a marriage need?
The marriage certificate, and address proof too, since the address has usually changed as well.
What does a published name change need?
The gazette notification and both complete newspaper pages.
How much is the fee?
Modest, and worth confirming at your own office. It is the smallest part of what this actually costs you.
What is the real cost then?
The day. You have to attend in person, and many people travel to the district that issued the licence years ago.
Why must I attend at all?
Because a licence carries your photograph and signature, and the office granting a permission wants to see the person it is granting it to.
What causes a second visit?
Aadhaar still wrong, the wrong document set, a missing original, or too few photocopies. All four are avoidable at home.
What should I take that no list mentions?
Extra photocopies, the original licence rather than a copy, cash as well as a card, and photographs of every document on your phone.
How long should I allow at the RTO?
Half a day rather than an hour, and go early.
Do I need a gazette?
Only for a genuine name change. A spelling correction needs no publication.
Official Sources
- The Parivahan Sarathi service for change of particulars on a driving licence.
- Regional Transport Office document and fee schedules, which differ between offices.
- Notarial practice on affidavits and stamp paper values in Uttar Pradesh.
- Department of Publication requirements for gazette notification of a name change.
Facts here are checked against these sources and our own casework across the state. RTO fees and document lists are set locally and revised, so confirm both with the office named on your licence before travelling.
The Short Version
Two things make this different from every other documents-and-fees question on this subject. There is no single list, because what you carry depends on why the name is changing: a spelling that was always wrong needs an affidavit and your marksheet, a marriage needs the certificate and address proof, and a genuine name change needs the gazette and both newspaper pages. Bring the wrong set and you have spent a day finding out. And the fee is the least important number, because the real cost of this one is that you have to be physically present, often at an office in a district you left after school. So the useful question is not what the fee is but how to make one visit enough. Four things cause the second visit, all of them fixable at a kitchen table the night before: Aadhaar still uncorrected, the wrong document set, the original licence left at home, and too few photocopies.